By Cassidy Ritter for Denverite
2026 is in full swing. Keep the New Year’s momentum going by scoping out some new businesses in the Mile High City and exploring a hidden gem that can help you revamp your home.
Below, Denverites will also find an upcoming Lunar New Year celebration and a fun way to spend some time outdoors.
This article is part of Denverite’s "Off the Beaten Path" series, which is meant to help you find new businesses to visit, places to get outside and events to attend.
Have suggestions for the next round-up? Let us know.
Three new places to try
Cimera, a rooftop restaurant and cocktail bar, opened at The Source Hotel in late October.
The RiNo establishment serves Pan-Latin cuisine that blends flavors from Mexico and Central and South America. Menu items range from Peruvian ceviche and octopus carpaccio to whole roasted bass and Anticuchos, a Peruvian street food with skewered meat of your choice. And don’t forget about the cocktails, such as a hibiscus margarita, horchata cooler and Oaxacan old fashioned. The menu will rotate seasonally, with many ingredients sourced from local farms and businesses.
Cimera is led by internationally acclaimed chef Diego Muñoz and executive chef Geoff Cox, who previously worked at Hop Alley. The eatery is the brainchild of Tom Dillon, the founder of hospitality and development company Apicii.
The restaurant’s atmosphere and decor also pay homage to RiNo’s artistic culture. The interior features a colorful mural by New York artist Aaron Petz.
Cimera is open daily at 3330 Brighton Blvd. for lunch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), happy hour (3-5 p.m.) and dinner (starting at 5 p.m.). Brunch is served on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations are recommended; walk-ins are welcome at the bar.
A new restaurant has landed at Denver International Airport. Denver Street Eats opened in November on Concourse B near gate B22.
Denver Street Eats aims to celebrate Denver’s vibrant and diverse food culture and give travelers a taste of the flavors, energy and style found in the River North Art District. As such, the quick-serve restaurant offers locally-inspired food ranging from breakfast street tacos with green chili, steak and chorizo to salads, queso and other snacks.
The approximately 990-square-foot eatery is run by Areas USA, a food, beverage and travel retail company. JME Group and Sky Blue Airport Enterprises are also part-owners of Denver Street Eats.
Denver Street Eats is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Inside Stanley Marketplace in Aurora is a new, casual art space and art café called Friends of Friends. It’s a space for artists and art-lovers of all ages and experience levels that offers classes, workshops and walk-in projects.
“As former art educators, we truly believe that art is for everyone and is crucial for a present and fulfilling lifestyle,” said Sarah Schreiber, Friends of Friends owner. “With the way the world is now, and how screen addicted all of us are, getting into an art space where phones are not the priority and art supplies are is what we really wanted to bring to the table.”
Friends Of Friends has a walk-in menu with different project tiers, such as kid-friendly monster art, a collage bar, bookmark-making, pottery painting and more. Guests can attend workshops to craft candles, draw, paint, make charm necklaces and learn to (or enhance) their felting skills.
If the menu isn’t enough to spark your creativity, the decor surely will. The walls are lined with colorful murals, a giant crocheted eyeball monster, framed art and unique, locally-made light fixtures.
Schreiber also owns Friend Assembly, a pottery studio that opened in Stanley Marketplace in 2022.
“I decided to open Friends of Friends because the world needs more art,” she said. “As much as I love pottery and running the ceramic studio, clay is very involved and a lot of people are intimidated or don’t feel the connection with a medium that demands so much time and patience. A casual art cafe is a perfect place to come with your friends, on date or bring the kids when they’re off school and just let your brain be creative.”
Friends of Friends is a pop-up that will remain open until the end of the year, but Schreiber hopes its location at Stanley Marketplace will be a long-term space.
The art café is open Wednesday through Sunday and by appointment on Mondays and Tuesdays. More information about the business’s workshops and drop-in projects can be found on its website.
Get outside
If you haven’t already, it’s time to break out your skis and snowboard. And now, you can practice some turns, jumps and tricks in Denver.
Ski and snowboarding terrain at Ruby Hill Rail Yard is now open thanks to snowmaking help from Winter Park Resort.
The Rail Yard is located on a large hill in the park at South Platte River Drive and West Jewell Avenue. It features rails and boxes for novice and advanced skiers and snowboarders to embrace the winter sport. And it’s free.
The park is open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., and ski and snowboard rentals are available on-site Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to roughly 6 p.m.
The Rail Yard will remain open until March, weather permitting. (Denver Parks & Recreation also hopes to install a new surface lift at the Rail Yard.)
Add to the calendar
Get ready to ring in the Year of the Dragon with family and friends at Denver’s Far East Center’s Lunar New Year celebration on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.
With celebrations ranging from lion and dragon dances to a children’s fashion show parade, this free event will be fun for the whole family. Eating and shopping will also be in abundance, with food trucks, restaurants and pop-up vendors on-site.
The center’s 35th annual Lunar New Year celebration, at 333 S. Federal Blvd., will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Hidden gem
Tucked away at the northern edge of Denver’s West Highland is a cozy neighborhood plant shop focused on greener ways to gift because single-stem flowers are short-lived, but plants can be forever.
Tigerlily Goods, at 3795 Grove St., sells easy-to-care-for houseplants like ZZ plants, monsteras and pothos, in addition to housewares, locally-made gifts and a curated selection of vintage goods.
“I’ve always been a collector of vintage,” said Neicy Geis, owner and founder of Tigerlily Goods. “I’ve always been collecting cool things for my someday store, not knowing exactly what it would be.”
Geis, a former graffiti artist, began working in the plant and floral industry in 2016 as a delivery driver for a local flower shop. As she learned about the industry, she found it hard to deal with the amount of waste in the cut flower market (an estimated 45% of cut flowers are thrown away before they’re used or sold). Geis wanted to offer a more sustainable way for people to give gifts, so she paired her love of vintage finds with succulent plants and opened a booth at the Sunnyside Music Festival in September 2018. Her business snowballed from there.
Tigerlily Goods opened in November 2018 in a 225-square-foot space and expanded in 2021 to its current 600-square-foot storefront.
In addition to sustainability, customer service and community are at the heart of Tigerlily Goods. Geis goes above and beyond for her customers — including walking them to their car or delivering a plant and hug to someone living away from family.
“Delivery is my favorite thing about what I do because I get to be that middleman for the love that’s sent across the country,” Geis said. “And when I deliver a hug to someone from their mom that they haven’t seen in years … they love it, and then they call their mom right away and they say, ‘I got your hug.’”
And if you’re new to the houseplant game, don’t worry, Geis is here to help you, too.
“If you care about something enough, you’re going to learn about it,” she said. “It’s trial and error. You win some, you lose some. I killed so many plants, and I still do, but less frequently [now].”
Geis also offers plant sitting, repotting and in-store plant care assistance, whether it’s a plant someone’s had for 40 years, one purchased at Tigerlily Goods or one they found on the side of the road, Geis said.
Tigerlily Goods is open Wednesdays to Fridays from noon to 6 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
