Chef Erasmo Casiano feels like 2024 is the year he’s “hitting his stride.”
In January, the James Beard Foundation nominated the owner of Lucina Eatery & Bar and his executive chef Diego Coconati as semifinalists for 2024 Best Chef in the Mountain Region.
And in a story posted last week, Bon Appétit counted down a list of its seven most-anticipated restaurant openings across the country this spring, including Xiquita, the Mexico City-inspired restaurant he’s planning to open in Denver this June.
“This is a dream come true,” Casiano said. “I’ve been in the industry for going on 23 years now, and there are certain points in your career you never thought would happen.”
Nearly everything on the menu at Xiquita, 500 E. 19th Ave., will include some form of corn. There will even be a window where guests can watch the staff flip and press freshly homemade corn tortillas and tamales.
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Casiano wants to embrace the indigenous ingredients from Mexico, like Hoja Santa (Mexican pepperleaf), epazote herbs and “every variation of masa you can think of,” Casiano said.
Casiano recruited Rene Gonzalez Mendez as Xiquita’s executive chef. Mendez owned Pato’s Tacos with his wife Hazel Macias on East Colfax Avenue, and joined Lucina’s kitchen team after Pato’s closed last year.
The duo has already been testing out the menu at Luciana, Casiano’s Latin American restaurant that opened in Park Hill in 2022. Guests have fallen in love with the mole madre that takes four days to make and the wagyu skirt steak rubbed in spicy salsa arriera, fired over coal and smoked with corn husks. “We told them just to enjoy the ride of the spices, and we’ll get you a glass of milk or whatever you need to calm down,” he joked.
Xiquita joins restaurants like Top Chef contestant Kwame Onwuachi’s Afro-Caribbean restaurant in Washington D.C., a playful cajun barbecue spot in Atlanta, Ga., a French-Japanese bistro from a beloved Los Angeles restaurateur duo, and more on Bon Appétit’s most anticipated opening list.
Last year, Bon Appétit also named Sap Sua, Denver’s newest modern Vietnamese restaurant, as one of the eight most anticipated openings of the summer.