Boulder boasts nation’s best restaurant in Frasca

EATS

By Lucas High

BizWest/Reporter-Herald

The best restaurant in the United States isn’t a French fusion concept in Midtown Manhattan, nor is it an exclusive steakhouse in Georgetown, a swanky sushi spot in South Beach or a hip gastro pub in Hollywood.

The nation’s most outstanding restaurant, according to the James Beard Foundation, is an upscale Italian eatery in a Colorado city with a population that barely cracks the 100,000 mark. That city is Boulder, and that restaurant is Frasca Food and Wine.

“We’re really humbled and honored — it’s just so beautiful, the whole thing,” Frasca co-owner and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey told BizWest of the restaurant’s victory this month at the 2025 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago. “But we also realize what a responsibility that is, and myself and the whole team is ready to take on that responsibility.”

The Outstanding Restaurant award, one of the most prestigious honors bestowed upon American eateries, celebrates “a restaurant that demonstrates consistent excellence in food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations,” according to the James Beard Foundation. The other nominees were Coquine in Portland, Oregon; Galit in Chicago; Nonesuch in Oklahoma City; and Oberlin in Providence, Rhode Island.

“It’s exciting and feels great,” Stuckey said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re someone like me who’s been around for a long time and been able to participate in different James Beard awards or an employee who this is their first time being on a team that’s nominated. It’s exhilarating for everybody.”

While the Outstanding Restaurant award is arguably its highest-profile accolade, Frasca, which opened in 2004 and specializes in cuisine inspired by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in northeastern Italy, is no stranger to success.

The restaurant had been nominated in the Outstanding Restaurant category four previous times. Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, now a partner in the business, won JBF’s Best Chef: Southwest award in 2008, and Frasca took home James Beard awards for Outstanding Wine Service and Outstanding Service in 2013 and 2019, respectively. Last year, the downtown Boulder restaurant retained the one-star Michelin Guide rating it received in 2023.

“This just confirms something we’ve known for years,” Boulder Chamber CEO John Tayer said of Frasca’s most-recent James Beard victory. “But this recognition does help elevate Boulder’s profile as a world-class culinary destination.”

Stuckey “has long been a national leader in hospitality, setting the bar with his warmth, precision, and vision,” Visit Boulder CEO Charlene Hoffman said in an email. “From earning Boulder’s first Michelin star to now this recognition, Frasca’s journey tells a powerful story about what’s possible in our culinary community.”

Recognition from the James Beard Foundation is a major coup for downtown Boulder, which has seen its share of restaurant closures as a result, at least in part, of a decrease in weekday traffic from ex-office-workers-turned-remote-employees. The Pearl Street Mall, just a few blocks from Frasca’s front door, was the site of an early June attack by Mohamed Sabry Soliman during a gathering of pro-Israel group Run for Their Lives.

“Whenever a restaurant that calls downtown Boulder home is recognized with a prestigious award or accolade, it shines a spotlight on our vibrant and diverse dining scene. Bobby and the entire team at Frasca do a phenomenal job elevating the culinary experience — not just for their guests, but for the downtown district as a whole,” Terri Takata-Smith, vice president of marketing and communications for the Downtown Boulder Partnership, said in an email.

“The downtown Boulder business community congratulates Frasca on this incredible honor. We believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and moments like this remind both locals and visitors of the exceptional dining options that exist throughout our downtown.”

Boulder’s food scene has been “inspiring (the region and beyond) for many years,” Tayer said. “Think about the farm-to-table movement. Boulder was at the epicenter. The rise of the natural and organic product industry? Same thing.”

With Frasca’s James Beard win shining a spotlight on the city’s culinary scene, and the Sundance Film Festival poised to decamp from Utah to Boulder in 2027, “this is a whole new opportunity for us to demonstrate our creativity as a community,” he said.

It’s a rare bird that can find success in the restaurant business, and Frasca’s 20-plus-year run puts the Pearl Street institution in the mythical beast category, Stuckey said.

“Very few fine-dining restaurants make it to five years. Even fewer make it to 10, and there’s only unicorns that make it to 20,” he said.

The restaurant industry, “not just in Boulder or Denver, is at an inflection point” as costs rise and already-sharp profit margins are honed to a razor’s edge, Stuckey said.

“We’re in a society that loves restaurants, but they don’t necessarily want restaurants to have a healthy margin,” he said, a concept that applies to both upscale and more budget-friendly establishments. “People can have a beautiful designer shoe go up in price and they’ll still buy it because they want the shoe. If a roast chicken goes up in price, it’s World War III. … What do people in the United States get really upset with? Gas prices and food prices. Prices on NBA tickets have gone up astronomically, and it’s not fighting words. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, it’s just a fact.”