I need to get something off my chest: I am a diner person. I don’t need a “deconstructed eggs Benedict with a saffron-infused hollandaise reduction served on a reclaimed barn-wood plank.” I need a booth with duct tape on the seat, a server who calls me “hon” and a cup of coffee that was brewed sometime before I walked in but nobody’s really sure when. Colorado does diners better than people give it credit for, and I’ve got the cholesterol numbers to prove it. Here are the five best.
No. 5 — The Golden Diner, 700 12th St., Golden The Golden Diner has been quietly dominating breakfast in Golden for 15 years, which in diner time is basically just getting warmed up. Open daily from 7 a.m. to “2 p.m.-ish” — and the fact that they put “-ish” on their own hours tells you everything about the vibe — this place cranks out diner classics alongside creative curveballs like the Braised Pork Benedict and the Colorado Loco Moco. But let’s talk about the B.A.M.J.O.: bacon, avocado, and more stuff I’ll let you discover yourself, because half the fun is reading a menu item that sounds like a banjo and ordering it anyway. Dog paintings on the walls, Bloody Marys on the table, mountains out the window. If a diner had a vision board, this would be it.
No. 4 — Pete’s Kitchen, 1962 E. Colfax Ave., Denver Pete’s has been holding down East Colfax since 1942 — which means this diner has survived World War II, disco, the internet, and whatever Colfax was doing in the ’90s. It’s a Greek-family-owned, late-night institution where the gyros are legit, the hash browns are crispy and celebrities have been spotted eating here, presumably because even famous people occasionally need a 2 a.m. omelet and a reality check. If these walls could talk, they’d probably ask for more coffee…