Meet the Denver chef who opened 3 Michelin star restaurants in 3 years

Their first Michelin star was awarded to the restaurant that they quit their jobs and sold the house to open.

If you’re familiar at all with the Denver dining scene then you’ve probably heard of the couple Curiel, Chef Johnny and his wife and business partner, Kasie, who have opened six restaurants over the past three years — all of them, objectively, good.

If you’re not as familiar, then allow us to introduce you to Chef Johnny Curiel, the man from Guadalajara, Mexico, who grew up surrounded by chefs and whose rise has been so smooth in the past few years it borders on mystical.

In 2023, the couple opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant together, Alma Fonda Fina, which promptly received Colorado’s only Michelin star the following year. After that came Cozobi Fonda Fina in Boulder and Mezcaleria Alma, the former of which received a Michelin Bib Gourmand nod, the latter of which also got a star. Last week, the couple’s sixth Colorado restaurant, Milpero, was awarded the state’s only Michelin star this year, after only four months of service.

The formula, he says, is there is no formula.

A menu change can happen with the season change or a weather change or because a chef ate a really good crudo in Mexico and came back with a vision.

“If we have West Coast oysters, and the climate is not great on the West, do we want to go to for a fish? Do we want to get something from the East? If we have cabbage at one of the menus and it’s no longer winter, do we want to change it for asparagus?” Curiel said.

The exception to the rule is the camote asado from Alma Fonda Fina, a roasted sweet potato dish served over a fennel and cumin soft cheese with nutty salsa.

“If we change that, I’m pretty sure we’ll have people rioting outside,” he said.

His attitude is the same when it’s time to open a new restaurant. Don’t plan for anything, just see what happens. The Curiels opened Alma Fonda Fina with the same goal as most restaurant owners: stay open. But the opportunities to keep opening “happened,” according to Johnny.

“I couldn’t tell you there’s a formula, I couldn’t even tell you there’s a feeling that I get to open a new restaurant,” he said. “Right now, I could tell you the feeling that I have is to stay where we’re at and make sure our foundations are super strong. But what if something does happen? What if the best deal presents itself? Then you do it, right? There’s not a formula or anything. It just happens, things happen.”

“Things happen” might be an infuriating phrase for Denver restaurateurs, in a scene that’s more likely to make headlines for waves of closures — even if the data shows otherwise.

Of course, if you move fast, you break things, and the couple hasn’t remained unscathed working through the metro area at this pace.

Their first restaurant, Alma Fonda Fina, was sued by the casual Mexican joint My Neighbor Félix over a noncompete clause Kasie signed just three months after opening. (Kasie was previously vice president of Lotus Concepts Management, the parent company of My Neighbor Felix; Johnny was the company’s culinary director.)

This spring the couple weathered blowback after announcing their latest restaurant would be called Maize (the name is now Milpero), for the way it would overshadow an existing Denver business, Maiz.

But the pace feels right. “Not too fast or slow,” Johnny said. “We’ve been able to control what we’re doing, and at the same time, our team has been able to grow.” And maybe they have no five-year plan outlining what and where they’ll open next, but that doesn’t mean the restaurants lack intention.

How could they? Kasie cut her teeth in hospitality with the Hillstone Restaurant Group, known for its absolutely perfect upscale plainness, a dining experience that requires tremendous effort in order to appear effortless. (Kasie rattled off a few of the group’s standards in a recent City Cast Denver episode, things like always placing a lemon wedge at 3 o’clock since most diners are right-handed.)

For Johnny that intentionality means every aspect of the restaurant is rooted in a story he wants to tell about Mexico. What is that story?

“The whole story is Mexico, showcasing how badass it is,” he said plainly.

Yet again their timing is impeccable, as Mexican food flourishes across the country’s fine dining scene. Eleven Mexican restaurants received Michelin stars this year, including Californios in San Francisco, the first Mexican restaurant to receive three stars.

Alteño, the couple’s restaurant at the Clayton Hotel & Members Club in Denver, is a tribute to the Jaliscan highlands, where Johnny’s family is from. The one-star Mezcaleria Alma is a showcase dedicated to Mexico City. The rest of the restaurants pull from all over the country, which he and his chefs visit regularly.

“I own six restaurants, I cook for a living. I talk to a lot of people, a lot of guests, and I probably only know about 1% of Mexico. I’m still discovering it,” Johnny said. “And I want to do that with the chefs and with our guests. If I inspire somebody to go to Mexico, I win. If I bring somebody back to Mexico while they’re eating some of our food, I also win. Anything to win.”