Five new Colorado restaurants to try this month

If you’re still making room for restaurants this month, we’re still compiling the ones that we’ve tested and approved. That means COVID-safe (when we visited), with friendly service and quality food. This month, we’re enjoying non-alcoholic cocktails and pescatarian menus, comforting pasta dishes in the mountains, churrasco grilled meats to-go, Mongolian-style dumplings and pretzels and beer, of course. Read on for five new spots to venture out and support.

Del Mar by Rooted. A healthy alternative for the start of the year, Del Mar offers vegan dishes, a number of seafood preparations — from raw to roasted, grilled and fried — and non-alcoholic mixed drinks to go with them. The whole setup is slightly different from your typical food hall stall (find it on the first level of Avanti F&B in Highland). Those looking for a light lunch should go for the farmers market meal (MP) or the tuna poke bowl with pineapple mango salsa ($14). Heartier fare includes a grilled Colorado trout with root vegetables ($18) and fried Alaskan cod tacos with pineapple cilantro rice ($15). Don’t miss the drinks, which are surprisingly intricate and refreshing. See: yuzu juice with pickled Fresno chiles, rice wine vinegar and Mediterranean tonic ($6). 3200 Pecos St., 720-269-4778, avantifandb.com

Brockmeyer’s. A coffee and pretzel tavern in a converted mid-century building tucked away in Lakewood? Yes, please. The food menu is no-nonsense:

Bavarian pretzels, pretzel bagels and pretzel-wrapped cheddar brats ($2.75-$6), plus regular and pecan sticky buns for $4-$4.75. Add on a cocoa, coffee or beer to drink ($2.50-$4.50), and you’ll be transported any time of day. Owner Brock Coffman has been making soft pretzels for years, using the old Bavarian technique that involves dipping the pretzel in a food-grade lye and water solution (and then baking it off ) for that perfectly browned external shell. Come spring or summer, he’ll open an adjacent beer garden so you can enjoy a pretzel and a pint in the sunshine. 6340 W. Mississippi Ave., Lakewood, 303-935-8935, brockmeyers.business.site

Rootstalk. Longtime Denver chef Matt Vawter (of Fruition and then Mercantile Dining &

Josie Sexton, The Denver Post An Ohana Tuna Poke Bowl and a winter salad with watercress, shaved fennel and grapefruit, along with non-alcoholic apple and cucumber shrub drinks from Del Mar by Rooted.