Friday night found me at El Diablo, sipping margaritas and ordering off chef Sean Yontz’s cantina menu. While perusing the options, I loaded the table with chips and freshly mixed guacamole and El Diablo’s trio of salsas. Then came the appetizers. Along with chiles rellenos filled with bubbling queso Mexicana, I ordered the sopes, one of my favorite Mexican eats.

Sopes are almost like rustic, savory tartlettes, with a crispy corn masa base topped with house-made chorizo, black beans, avocado, queso, and crema. Like most of Yontz’s menu, the simple combination has a comfort-food quality that I come back to again and again.

Tonight: Snow be damned; El Diablo is holding its third-annual tattoo skull and charity auction from 8 to 11 p.m. In honor of Día De Los Muertos, the Mexican holiday where families commemorate the deceased, El Diablo has invited tattoo artists from all over the state to handpaint sugar skulls. The decorated skulls will be auctioned off, and all proceeds benefit Mi Casa Resource Center. Also on tap: food and drink specials, face painters, and music from Latin/hip-hop DJ Nuñez.

101 Broadway, 303-954-0324

Amanda M. Faison
Amanda M. Faison
Freelance writer Amanda M. Faison spent 20 years at 5280 Magazine, 12 of those as Food Editor.