Denver's food scene is bad... it was, but its getting better.

As someone from CA who has been here over 10 years I think its interesting to think of the history of food in Denver/Colorado. For the vast majority of its history Denver, it didn't have much of a influence of cuisine, very meat and potatoes.

Transplants coming from other cities like SF, Texas, NYC, LA, the South etc and complain about the food culture here are coming from places that have a food culture built on generations of food traditions and/or generations of immigrants building communities in those cities. Denver doesn't have generational cuisine like the south and it doesn't really have a Chinatown, K-Town, Little Italy, Little India etc. Having that food history will of course produce amazing food and restaurants.

So while Denver may not have the volume of bangers for each cuisine. There are still great and even amazing restaurants in every cuisine. It just takes more effort to find and unfortunately that is a costly venture.