Curiel's Milpero Wins Colorado's Only New Michelin Star

Rocky Mountain PBS reports chef Johnny Curiel's four-month-old Milpero earned Colorado's only new Michelin star, making his group the first with three Mexican starred spots.

The Michelin Guide's updated Colorado list handed out just one new star this year, and it went to chef Johnny Curiel's Milpero, a 16-seat tasting menu restaurant in Denver's Globeville neighborhood, according to Rocky Mountain PBS. The guide, which expanded this year from covering only Denver, Boulder and resort towns to the entire state, still added no other starred restaurant. Milpero joins Curiel's Alma Fonda Fina and Mezcaleria Alma, both already starred, in a portfolio he and his wife Kasie opened starting less than three years ago. In the same week, The New York Times added Milpero to its list of 50 favorite restaurants in the country, Rocky Mountain PBS notes — Mezcaleria Alma appeared on that list last year.

Rocky Mountain PBS pressed Curiel on critics who question accolades arriving for a restaurant open just four months. He told the outlet the timeline only sounds quick, saying his wife has been an operator for more than 15 years and he has been a culinary professional for over 15, and that they never set an accolade as the goal. Curiel also acknowledged he expected some close chef friends to land stars alongside him this year and they did not. In his telling, the result shows the guide does not simply hand out stars: he cited a southwest update that awarded five restaurants across four states, while an all-of-Colorado review produced only one. He called the outcome proof Colorado belongs among any state's dining scenes.

Curiel told Rocky Mountain PBS the recognition is bigger than his restaurant group, calling it the first time a restaurant group has held three Mexican Michelin-starred restaurants — a first he says is a world first, and a win he frames for Mexico and for Colorado rather than for Alma Fonda Fina Hospitality alone. He credited the chefs who built Denver's scene before him, naming Troy Guard, Lon Symensma and Jen Jasinski, and said he wants to leave Colorado dining better than he found it, hoping the state becomes a world culinary destination in 20 years. He also described a darker side: negative reviews began hitting his platforms within seconds of each star announcement, a pattern he attributes to a target on his back after so much early goodwill.

Looking ahead, Curiel told Rocky Mountain PBS that keeping a star may be harder than earning one, because the team must keep improving, staying relevant and motivated across a full year of service. He said he believes his group is deserving of retaining its two existing stars, but that the work started again the Monday after the announcement, with 2027 as the next target. The racking-up of accolades continues alongside fresh scrutiny, as the outlet's headline puts it, and Curiel says he now focuses on his team and inner circle rather than the roughly 1 percent he describes as attacking. Colorado's food scene, meanwhile, now counts 10 Michelin-starred restaurants and a long list of recommendations in the guide's first statewide edition.