Our Favorite Bites at Out to Brunch 2024

With free-flowing Bloodys and mimosas, spirited drag performances and plenty of eats, Westword's second annual Out to Brunch event at York Street Yards on Saturday, June 8, was quite a party.

Revelers came ready to drink and dine their way through the event, and while there was a lot to enjoy, a few bites were true standouts that left us craving more.

Since summer is prime brunching season, here's some inspiration for your next weekend indulgence:
The line for Nana's Dim Sum & Dumplings just kept growing and growing — and for good reason. The restaurant has been popular since debuting in LoHi last year, and it has since added outposts in Boulder and Aurora. Our 2024 Best of Denver pick for Best New Dumpling Restaurant brought its A-game to Out to Brunch, too, dishing out four options.

Both the crispy fried Szechuan chicken and chilled cucumbers had a lingering spice, while the signature bao buns were the perfect handheld bite. Our favorite, though, was the Red Sea Chili Wontons filled with pork and shrimp and coated in a bright-red chile sauce.
On the sweet side, we were impressed with Moon Raccoon's spread — especially the flaky kouign-amann. We recently spoke to owners Zoe Deutsch and Kate Lange about their business, which is currently raising funds via an investment campaign to open a brick-and-mortar that it plans to share with another small, local, female-owned food venture, Sfoglina Handmade Pasta.

For now, though, you can catch Moon Raccoon at the City Park and Boulder farmers' markets on Saturdays and the Parker and Highland markets on Sundays.
Safta's weekend brunch buffet is a feast of epic proportions, which is why it landed on our list of the fourteen best brunch options in the metro area. Out to Brunch attendees with VIP access got to taste one of the many reasons we love Alon Shaya's eatery inside the Source: its ultra-smooth hummus, served with thick, almost tangy pita, along with harissa, red onions, cornichons and a perfectly soft-boiled egg.
The Avenue Grill was a staple on East 17th Avenue in Uptown for 32 years, but it never reopened after the pandemic. In 2021, chef Dan Vizzard and his wife, Emily Waggenspack, revived the spot, debuting Revival Denver Public House, which serves American comfort food with many nods to the South.

Revival brought two Southern-inspired dishes to Out to Brunch: a bison gumbo and the best shrimp and grits we've had in years. The shrimp, cooked in small batches on site to ensure it stayed tender, was bathed in a rich, creamy, tomato-based sauce with chorizo and poblano, giving the dish a pleasant kick. We're planning to go in for a full serving ASAP.
If you're hosting friends for brunch at home, one of the easiest crowd-pleasing starters is a cheese board. Colorado is home to some talented cheesemakers, and one, MouCo, was at Out to Brunch sampling several of its soft-ripened cheeses.

Based in Fort Collins, the company was founded in 2001 by Birgit Halbreiter, who grew up in Memmingen, Germany, and Robert Poland, who was working as New Belgium’s fermentation manager when the two met. MouCo's cheeses, including its original Camembert and newer varieties like Truffello and ColoRouge, which has a reddish-orange rind, can be found at most King Soopers, Safeway and Whole Foods stores in the Rocky Mountain region. Pro tip: If you're in the Fort Collins area and you're a fan of cheese curds, text “Curds” to 970-999-1619 to be added to MouCo's Curd Connector, which sends a notification when fresh curds are available.

They'll help hold you until next year's Out to Brunch.