Now through Sunday, Feb. 11, La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal is bringing back its limited-time Festival de Bichos menu spotlighting fried, grilled, and seasoned insects as the star ingredients. The idea, Chef Jose Avila says, is to expose and educate diners about his Mexican culinary heritage, where worms, scorpions, and crickets are often just another ingredient.
If you’re inspired by La Diabla’s insect menu and looking for other ways to broaden your palate, check out these eateries for their unique menu offerings.
Garibaldi Mexican Bistro
This rest stop Mexican joint in Englewood offers a whole cactus paddle grilled and topped with fresh avocado, pico de gallo, and poblano sour cream.
Blazing Chicken Shack II
Find rich flavors of the South at this Northeast Park Hill soul food stop, including pig ear sandwiches and fried chicken gizzards.
Sesame oil jellyfish. (Chaded2557 / Getty Images)
Star Kitchen
Diners can sample hard-to-find traditional Chinese dishes on the extensive menu at Star Kitchen including cold and fried chicken feet and spicy garlic jelly fish.
Buckhorn Exchange
Denverites know this 130-year-old Wild West institution as THE place for Rocky Mountain Oysters (aka fried bull testicles), but you can also sample a variety of less common game meats like buffalo, elk, cornish hen, alligator, and rattlesnake.
The Fort
Similar to the Buckhorn, this frontier-themed steakhouse in Morrison offers some hard-to-find proteins, like frog legs and bison bone marrow, but their peanut butter-stuffed jalapeños are a fan-favorite.
