What to Eat at Urban Farmer, LoDo’s Newest Steakhouse

On Sunday night, Urban Farmer will be officially open for dinner on the corner of 17th and Wazee on the first floor of a building that also houses the Oxford Hotel, in a space that was previously . A highly anticipated new modern steakhouse, the LoDo spot is an offshoot of the Portland-born restaurant that also has outposts in Cleveland and Philadelphia. The Denver one, designed by local firm Xan Creative, has its own identity when it comes to the interior and much of the food.

Executive chef Chris Starkus, who recently moved to Denver from Oregon, is bringing the ethos of the urban steakhouse, but also adding new elements unique to Colorado. The pigs and chickens are raised for the restaurant specifically in Black Forest. The chickens are fed a special diet that Starkus says leads to the Wagyu of chickens. And there are beehives on the roof producing some of the honeycombs served with the cheese carts and a terrarium in which mushrooms grow in the basement to be used by the kitchen in upcoming dishes. And the kitchen makes nearly everything served in its dishes from crackers to blue (not yellow) corn bread.

The menu is extensive for both food and cocktails (hello, amazing martini!) and wine. Highlights include the seafood tower from the raw bar, table-side prepared tartare served with fennel, Parmesan, and crackers, the tender vegetables en papillote (pictured in the photo gallery above), and the New York steak tasting, a meat-lover’s fantasy.

If Starkus had a last meal dish he’d pick the foie gras, which is on the dinner menu and can be ordered for $20. “The elements of it — rhubarb compote, fine herbes ebelskiver, honey, and, bee pollen — encompass what I really am about.”

On Monday, breakfast, lunch, dinner service will start and by next weekend brunch will also be offered.

Here’s what on deck: