Bon Appetit has once again named a Denver restaurant to its list of the 20 best new eateries in the country — which isn’t surprising since the culinary magazine also wrote about the restaurant in June 2023 as one of the eight most anticipated openings.
Sap Sua, which began service that same month, at 2550 E. Colfax Ave., serves owners Ni and Anna Nguyen’s non-traditional takes on traditional Vietnamese cuisine.
“At Sắp Sửa every team member’s name is listed at the bottom of the menu. There’s Ben Carolan, the sous-chef responsible for the trúng và trúng — cloudlike scrambled eggs laced with bright fish sauce and brown butter served over warm rice. And Theo Bodor, who helped develop a dish of fried tofu served in a rich tomato stew punctuated by bites of crunchy peanuts,” Bon Appetit’s Kate Kassin wrote in her entry for the list, which was released Monday.
“Husband-wife owners Ni and Anna Nguyen moved to Denver from Los Angeles in late 2020, intent on introducing this city to the Vietnamese American cooking of Ni’s first-generation upbringing. Along the way they created a restaurant shaped equally by the influences of their talented, enthusiastic team. In a lively dining room that’s consistently packed, Vietnamese flavors blend into those of other cultures–turmeric-batter fried catfish sandwiches topped with slices of American cheese or grilled corn ribs with shrimp aioli—and point to two leaders who know when to stick to tradition and when to color outside the lines,” Bon Appetit concluded.
In April, the magazine called Xiquita, the Mexico City-inspired, masa-focused restaurant from chef Erasmo Casiano, as one of its seven most-anticipated restaurant openings nationwide.
And in 2022, Denver’s La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal was named among the 50 best new restaurants in the nation by Bon Appetit.
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