DIA may get Denver Central Market

A group plans to take over a 4,090-square-foot spot in Concourse A.

Denver International Airport’s eating options, recently picked as being the best in the nation, could be getting even better. Denver Central Market may be moving in.

According to DIA spokesman Heath Montgomery, Delaware North, which operates airport concessions, is licensing the rights to replicate the popular downtown food hall’s concept at DIA. The group has put in a request to take over a 4,090square-foot spot in Concourse A.

Based on the resolution request we saw — which will start its journey for approval in a Denver City Council committee on Wednesday — Delaware North plans to bring some of the “chef-driven” food vendors from the downtown location to create a regionally inspired, fast casual dining hall with a full bar and common seating area.

The food hall will import Vero Italian, SK Provisions and the Curio bar from the downtown outpost of Denver Central. Conveyor-belt sushi restaurant Sushi-Rama, from chef-restaurateur (and Denver Central Market partner) Jeff Osaka, will also join the DIA lineup.

“We’ve been very intentionally trying to create a sense of place for people arriving at and departing the airport,” Montgomery said of the increasingly mouthwatering food options at the airport. “We want to make it feel like Denver.”

If everything is approved, Denver Central Market at DIA will replace the existing spaces occupied by Schlotzsky’s and Lefty’s Colorado Trail Bar and Grille in about a year.