There was a time when Denver was all meat and potatoes. At one point branded a “cow town” thanks to its 19th-century cattle trade, historic stockyards, and agricultural economy, so by the 20th century, the Colorado capital was naturally packed with steakhouses. And the roots of this meat-heavy food culture run deep. The city’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn Exchange, opened in the 1890s and still serves a cowboy-coded menu of fried alligator tail, elk medallions, and buffalo prime rib.
But there is far more to Denver’s food culture than its meaty reputation. Drive just 10 minutes northeast of the Buckhorn Exchange, and you’ll find one of the first signs that something interesting is happening in town: the newly opened Denver location of Soda Club, one of New York’s most popular vegan restaurants.
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The Soda Club dining room is just as busy, but the menu couldn’t be more different. Its best-selling Roman-style pizzas are topped with roasted carrots and fried artichokes, while its beloved pasta dishes feature pistachio pesto, fried leeks, and black kale. It turns out the people of Denver want plants, too, and lots of them.
Soda Club
“Our investment in Soda Club reflects how much we believe in Denver,” Soda Club founder and Colorado native Ravi DeRossi tells VegNews. “There’s an audience here for what we’re doing. Our responsibility is to give people an experience worth coming back for.”
Indeed, Denver’s vegan scene has a quiet confidence about it. It is by no means immune to the struggles affecting the wider restaurant industry, including rising costs, staffing shortages, and an ongoing affordability crisis. Still, several recent openings suggest there is real momentum behind plant-based dining in the city.
“Colorado is known as being ‘meat and potatoes,’ but the tides are shifting, and more vegetable growers, cooks, and eaters are coming out of the landscape. It’s been a beautiful transition to watch over many years here as a native,” says Rocky Hunter of Denver vegan restaurant Gladys
According to HappyCow, Denver has nearly 300 vegan-friendly restaurants, nine of which, including Soda Club, are listed as entirely vegan or vegetarian.
DeRossi credits those restaurants with cultivating the demand that allowed Soda Club to choose the Colorado capital for its next location.
“The community deserves a lot of credit,” he said. “These restaurants have been doing this work for decades, building relationships and making this food part of everyday life here. New restaurants benefit from that foundation.”
Denver’s open-minded culture helps, too, DeRossi added. The city has a reputation for inclusivity and progressiveness, and that extends to its food scene.
“I think there’s a willingness to enjoy a plant-based meal without feeling you have to become vegan to walk through the door,” continues DeRossi. “Most of the guests at our restaurants aren’t vegan. They’re coming because they want a great dinner. That broader audience is essential to building a business that lasts.”
To better understand what is driving the city’s plant-based food culture, we spoke with five influential Denver restaurant teams and leaders, including DeRossi, about the local economy, changing customer expectations, and whether the Colorado capital deserves to be considered one of the country’s best vegan dining destinations.
Mother Other
Another winner at Mother Other
Mother Other opened its doors in summer 2026 after building a yearslong reputation of stellar supper clubs and pop-ups across Denver as The Easy Vegan. In 2023, co-owners chef Alexi Mandolini and beverage director Taylor Herbert took the crown and cash prize on Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race, which helped to raise their profile, fund some business moves, and make possible the duo’s eagerly anticipated debut as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Denver’s vibrant Baker neighborhood. Now, diners are piling in to tuck into the restaurant’s upscale reimaginings
How is Mother Other performing in the current economy?
Herbert: We are so new and lack historical data, but we have almost doubled our initial sales projections in our first three months, so things have been going really well so far … We have also seen a lot of business from fans of The Great Food Truck Race. Most of them aren’t vegan but they’ve been so kind and curious about plant-based food.
Why is Denver’s plant-based dining scene so strong right now?
Mandolini: Denver has a really strong vegan scene, and those folks really care about showing up and supporting vegan businesses. But those are just a fraction of the folks we serve each week. I think Denver diners appreciate creative and delicious food, vegan or not. It’s a city where an omnivore will just as easily enjoy a plant-based meal one weekend and a meal at a steakhouse the next.
What sets Denver diners apart?
Mandolini: It matters to our diners that their dollar supports the local economy, especially knowing we source produce, fresh pasta, etc. from local farms and makers.
Herbert: It’s a smaller ‘big city,’ and news about good food and good hospitality travels fast. Denverites have experienced enough incredible plant-based dining here that it may have changed their minds about what a vegan meal should look like, and now they seek it out.
Gladys
Aren’t you glad for Gladys?
Much like Mother Other, Gladys began as a food stall in Denver’s neighboring Edgewater Public Market before graduating to a larger space in 2025. Chef Rocky Hunter along with business partner Dave Grant (both of whom were James Beard Semifinalists for Best Chef in 2026) opened the vegetable-focused American fusion restaurant, slinging house favorite Root Vegetable Reubens and elevating seasonal, plant-based dining in Denver—hence its tagline: “Plants Forever.”
What is it like operating a vegan business in Denver right now?
It’s certainly not without its challenges. The price of a quality dining experience continues to scale, for both the restaurants who provide it, as well as the guests who seek it, and the ripple effect of that can be felt throughout the entire supply chain.
Any restaurant that wants to break the mold of conveyance-driven quick food, and champion things like ethical sourcing, zero-waste principles, animal rights, or simply culinary technique, will without a doubt find a harder road to travel in 2026.
So, why do you think Denver is supporting such a strong plant-based dining scene?
Quality of the food and guest experience. There has been a conscious shift by several vegan restaurants in Denver to approach the food in an entirely different way. Less meat analogs, more whole foods, less mimicking of diner classics, and more innovative treatments of vegetables that read fresh, new, and craveable.
Could Denver become one of America’s best vegan dining cities?
We’re certainly working as hard as any other major city to make excellent vegetable-focused food. It only makes sense, as Denver continues to grow, expand, and hopefully, diversify, so will the flavors and perspectives of the restaurants that feed its communities.\
Soda Club
New York-style Italian by way of Colorado
As the founder of vegan restaurant group Overthrow Hospitality, with lauded vegan eateries like Avant Garden, Long Count, and Al Andalus under his belt, Ravi DeRossi is a bona fide industry veteran. Although he recognizes the significant challenges restaurants face in Denver and across the US, he remains passionate about the future of plant-based dining in the city, where he’s begun new reinvestment, including, most recently, a second location of New York City’s famed vegan Italian joint Soda Club.
What’s it like for plant-based restaurants in Denver right now?
It’s difficult. Denver is dealing with the same pressures that make running a restaurant challenging everywhere. Cooking vegetables well takes skilled people, time, and care, and being plant-based doesn’t exempt you from the economics.
But I’m careful about treating every vegan restaurant closure as a verdict on vegan food. There are a lot of reasons a restaurant doesn’t survive.
What sets the city’s plant-based dining apart? What drew you here?
I grew up in Colorado, and I think the connection people have to the outdoors makes questions about food and the environment feel personal. There’s also an independent streak here that I appreciate, a willingness to give something with its own personality a chance.
That creates room for different expressions of plant-based dining, from comfort food to an ambitious dinner. Denver feels receptive to food that has conviction behind it and is also a lot of fun.
Is Denver one of the best US cities for vegan dining?
Absolutely. I think Denver has earned a place in that conversation. A great vegan dining city needs variety, restaurants with distinct personalities, and a community that keeps showing up for them.
“For me, the most meaningful recognition is when a plant-based restaurant becomes someone’s favorite restaurant, whatever they eat the rest of the week.”
Watercourse Foods
Denver’s triple threat
Veteran veg heads will know Denver’s iconic meatless restaurants Watercourse Foods and City, O’ City. Both opened in 1998, these women-owned establishments have helped create the foundation of Denver’s meat-free scene. Watercourse is a fully vegan scratch kitchen famous for its comforting breakfast classics, while City, O’ City’s all-day vegetarian menu boasts happy hour/late-night standouts. Co-owner Lauren Roberts and partners Jennifer Byers and Hannah Kuehl even own a local tofu company, Colorado Sun Tofu.
What is the business climate like for plant-based restaurants?
The climate for any small business in Denver is bleak right now. Costs have risen steeply compared to other cities while people have left and are not returning. It has become incredibly expensive to live and work here.
We should all be concerned about our small businesses and the communities we lose as these legacy places close down. Being more niche makes it all the more challenging.
Is Denver’s vegan dining scene having a moment?
Plant-based is alive and well, and fresh energy is what we need. There is still so much potential here, and these new openings indicate a desire for more.
What do you think diners are looking for now?
For us, we are always looking for ways to connect that go beyond the meal and atmosphere. Our staff is incredible at engaging with our community by building relationships, expressing themselves, and magnifying the parts of Denver we love most.
Connecting to a place, to people, to a history, to a vibe matters a great deal.
Somebody People
Something special at Somebody People
Somebody People opened its doors in 2020, making it a fixture of Denver’s vegan scene throughout several tumultuous years. Australian-born co-owner and general manager Samuel Maher has helped the restaurant—known for its seasonal, zero-waste, Mediterranean fare—navigate difficult conditions, and as a result, the vegan restaurant and wine bar remains one of the city’s most popular plant-based dining destinations.
What makes Denver’s plant-based dining scene so special?
I think the likes of Gladys and Mother Other are great examples of passionate people making exceptional food with the limited resources that they have … They are mom-and-pop operations that support farmers and the community. They are true leaders, and to be mentioned in the same group as these two is a blessing and great for Denver.
Is Denver one of America’s best cities for vegan dining?
It should not be about who is better. It should be about how the industry can get better and survive together. I would say support the mom-and-pop restaurants around America, the ones that put their heart and soul into every dish.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England's southern coast.
