Hispanic Heritage Month Has Flavor For Denver’s Culinary Scene

Hispanic Heritage month-long celebration starts with the commemoration of Mexican Independence Day. Denver’s culinary scene is full of influences from a wide variety of countries and cultures. Here are a few of our favorite chefs and culinary creatives who lean into and celebrate their Hispanic heritage.

Monterrey, Mexico-born chef Manny Barella was Colorado’s solo representative on season 21 of Bravo’s Top Chef, the premier chef and cooking television competition show, finishing in the top five among 16 of the brightest and best in the nation and the only first-gen Mexican to compete on Top Chef.

Manny currently serves as Culinary Director for Camp Pickle, set to open to locations in Denver in 2025 with a concept designed to harness the excitement of the nation’s fastest growing sport and showcase Chef Manny’s menus of wood-fired dishes inspired by Mexican and southern cuisines.

Demonstrating his commitment to helping others, Chef Manny serves as the President of the Hispanic Chefs Association in Colorado, dedicating his time as an ambassador of authentic Mexican cuisine and donating his talents to organizations focused on fostering culinary talent in the community.  As a reflection of his work and talents, Barella was named a James Beard Award Semifinalist in 2022.

Business-owner, chef, and entrepreneur Dana Rodriguez hails from a farm in Chihuahua, Mexico and has become a Denver icon in the culinary community. In her early 20’s Dana immigrated to Denver and took a job at the city’s storied Panzano restaurant, starting as dishwasher and eventually working her way up to the position of Executive Chef while learning the ropes of the industry working and learning alongside some of the city’s top culinary talent.

Since then, Dana has gone on to open several highly regarded concepts, became Culinary Partner at Casa Bonita, and garnered an impressive six James Beard nominations. Just this summer, Dana opened her newest concept, Carne, a global steakhouse inspired by Chef Dana’s international travels and pulling from her culinary journey in French, Asian, Mexican and Italian kitchens to showcase meats from seafood, beef, and pork to chicken, duck, and more – from all over the world. Carne is one of the few women-owned steakhouses in the city and a stage for Chef Dana to showcase worldwide flavors from appetizers to small plates, large format cuts plus desserts, wines, and creative cocktails.

Jesus Silva oversees three of the five award-winning food concepts at The Golden Mill, including Sushi Sora, Tacos al Chile and Republik of Chicken. Chef Silva is known for his hard work and leadership, as well as his dedication to community and people in need. Silva began his culinary career at nine years old in his hometown of Monterrey, Mexico; and he has since spent decades perfecting his unique freestyle approach to Japanese-Latin fusion cuisine.

In 2003, Silva came to Denver, beginning his culinary career here under Bryan Nagao at Mao restaurant in Cherry Creek, later moving on to Sushi Sasa, Osaka Ramen, Sushi-Rama and Silva’s Fish Market, bringing together classic umami-rich dishes with bold Latin flavors. In addition to his reputation of success in Denver, Chef Silva is known for his commitment to the community: during his tenure at The Golden Mill, Silva has hosted several events benefitting World Central Kitchen, the Maui Relief Fund, BGOLDN (a local nonprofit dedicated to food security in Golden), Golden’s GoFarm, Golden Community Table, and many more, earning the 2023 Colorado Restaurant Association’s Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year.