La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal

La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal is a pozolería on Larimer Street in Denver, in the former Butcher's Bistro space of the Ballpark neighborhood. Chef José Avila built it to bring the pozole houses of Mexico City to Colorado.

Avila comes from Mexico City and has cooked in Denver for decades, starting as a dishwasher at a burrito shop in Cherry Creek. He later ran the kitchen at Elway's, helped launch Machete Tequila & Tacos and opened projects on the food of Yucatán, Hidalgo and Mexico City. La Diabla opened quietly in June 2021 with general manager Cristina Farmer and bar manager Ivan Ramirez beside him. Avila was a James Beard nominee for Best Chef: Mountain in 2022 and the following year.

Pozole is the center of the menu, served in five broths: red, green, white, black and a vegetarian one of mushroom and chayote. The early menu offered it with chicken or with pig's head. Tacos and pambazos fill out the menu, and weekend brunch adds chilaquiles and a French toast made with conchas, the sweet bread of Mexican bakeries. Mezcal and other agave spirits lead the bar, as in the Mambo Lupita cocktail.

Dark, unpolished wooden floors take in the low light, and the walls are full of color, with a decorative skull or two among them. The Michelin Guide calls the place plain and without frills but full of heart. Bon Appétit put La Diabla on its list of the 25 best restaurants in the country in its first full year, and Avila later opened El Borrego Negro, a weekend morning barbacoa pop-up in a warehouse on the same block.