Does Denver have fine dining restaurants? Yes — but they might not look how you expect.

Denver’s fine dining scene is more alive than ever, but with a more casual atmosphere

Customers dine at Annette in Stanley Marketplace in Aurora on Nov. 28, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Caroline Glover doesn’t necessarily consider Annette a fine-dining restaurant because of its bare wooden tables and laid-back atmosphere, but “I do think our style of hospitality is very geared towards fine dining whether or not you realize it while you’re sitting there,” she said.

Her customers and fellow restaurant industry folks — not to mention accolades, like the 2022 James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Mountain Region — definitely realize it.

“I absolutely consider Annette fine dining,” said Denise Mickelsen, a former food writer who now works for the Colorado Restaurant Association. “Colorado is known for being rather casual. Even our fine dining restaurants don’t need linens on the table to define themselves as fine dining.”

Ten or 15 years ago, fine dining in Denver was defined by white tablecloths, waiters in suits, a tableside Caesar salad. Steakhouses were top of mind when it came to special-occasion meals while long menus catered to every diner’s needs. These days, servers at Michelin-star restaurants, like Bruto, dress in T-shirts and aprons while they meticulously walk customers through the story of the ingredients on their plates – everything from the name of the boat captain who caught their fish to the pig who sniffed out a fresh-shaved truffle.

So, while there have been rumblings in the past few years that fine dining is dead, plenty of people are willing to spend $500 on a fancy dinner, even if the staff aren’t wearing suits.

“Fine dining is not a dying breed; it’s just evolving,” Glover said.