Best Restaurants 2019: Comal Heritage Food Incubator

It’s been three years since Comal Heritage Food Incubator began training, educating, and empowering low-income immigrant and refugee women from the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods to operate their own food ventures. The talented entrepreneurs-to-be earn restaurant experience through Comal’s weekday lunch service, when they cook home-style Mexican and Syrian foods that draw Denverites from across the city. Comal’s trainees also cater private events and work the line at the restaurant’s fundraising dinners; proceeds support local charities, including parent nonprofit Focus Points Family Resource Center. All the while, chef Arden Lewis and his Focus Points team teach necessary business skills. It’s working, too: Graduate Erika Rojas now has a food truck called Prieto’s Catering, which sells Guadalajara-style consommé-dipped beef birria tacos. And Syrian mother-daughter team Vian Alnidawi and Sara Nassr launched Zaki Mediterranean Cuisine, a catering company. $, 3455 Ringsby Court, Suite 105, 303-292-0770