Itap official: For the second year in a row, a Denver restaurant has been named one of by Bon Appétit magazine. The national food publication announced its winners Tuesday morning, and The Wolf’s Tailor, the year-old pasta and robata grill restaurant in Sunnyside, came in at No. 10 on the list.
It joins the ranks this year of a barbecue taco place in Portland, a French bistro in Baltimore and a hotel bar in New Orleans, among others.
Bon Appétitap editors praised The Wolf’s Tailor for, well, just about everything. “I think we can all agree that The Wolf’s Tailor really needs to chill out,” the magazine’s description starts. It goes on to wax poetic about the restaurantap heirloom grain program, from wood-fired breads to house-made pastas. “The toothy mafaldine I had one night (…) was the single most exciting plate of pasta I ate this year,” Bon Appétit editors Julia Kramer and Amiel Stanek wrote.
The magazine also extolls The Wolf’s Tailor’s Japanese binchotan grill, charring all manner of meat skewers; the desserts, made by Michelin-starred pastry chef Jeb Breakell; highball cocktails “made with ice so crazy-clear I could see through the cubes halfway across the room” and a curated natural wine list. “And, and, and,” Bon Appétit wrote. “Enough is enough! Is it too much to ask that they save some of the fun for everyone else?”
The timing could not be better. The Wolf’s Tailor just celebrated its one-year anniversary in the Sunnyside neighborhood, where diners enter the restaurant through a rear gate and a backyard garden.
This is chef-owner Kelly Whitaker’s first Denver restaurant, borrowing from success with wood-fired Italian cuisine at his popular Boulder spot Basta and adding in some Japanese inspiration, from the robata-grilled meats to fermented koji. Bon Appétit also praises the restaurantap all-star team, among them culinary director Sean Magallanes, chefs de cuisine Kodi Simkins and Sean May (formerly of Frasca Food & Wine) and pastry chef Breakell.
Earlier this year, both Whitaker and Breakell were semifinalists for Best Chef Southwest and Outstanding Pastry Chef, respectively, . The team has kept busy since then, opening Dry Storage, a new grain mill and cafe in Boulder, and launching a bar and cafe at the Dairy Block.
Last week, Bon Appétit announced 50 finalists for its 10 Best New Restaurants list, and :Reunion Bread Co. at The Source, Beckon in RiNo and The Wolf’s Tailor. Last year, Beckon’s casual sister restaurant In 2017, — Annette in Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace and the Denver Central Market food hall in RiNo — but none made the final top 10.
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This year’s Bon Appétit Hot 10 has not been without controversy. The national food magazine received flack from food writers for including Austin restaurant Carpenters Hall in the list. Andrew Knowlton, an editor-at-large at Bon Appétit, is a food and beverage consultant for the restaurant, , and used to be heavily involved with compiling the magazine’s list of Best New Restaurants.