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- Where:
- 2883 Welton St., Denver (Five Points)
- The Draw:
- A community-driven restaurant serving classic Caribbean and Southern fare
- The Drawback:
- Food can take a while, and you may not get in without a reservation.
- Noise Level:
- Medium
- What To Order:
- Jerk chicken, pates, and macaroni and cheese
When Fathima Dickerson turned over the keys to her family’s Welton Street Cafe in Five Points in 2022, she couldn’t breathe. “It’s like moving out of your childhood home,” she says. “A location like that is where all your memories are.”
Lease issues forced the beloved cafe out of the space it had occupied for 23 years. It took nearly three years after that for Fathima and the family members (her mother, Mona; her father, Flynn; and three of her siblings, Fathim, Cenya, and Chereka) with whom she runs the restaurant to secure a new location a block north on Welton and get it spiffed up and ready for service.
The Southern and Caribbean neighborhood staple reopened in late 2024, and for a while, the new dining room and kitchen didn’t feel quite right to Fathima. The Welton Street Cafe, one of the few remaining Black-owned restaurants in the neighborhood, has long been a critical gathering place for Denver’s Black population, with a focus as much on serving the community as serving good food. Friends and neighbors collide here—hugging, greeting, checking in. It took time for her to settle into this iteration; the old Welton Street Cafe had always had such a solid sense of place.
Patrons haven’t taken as long to adjust, as evidenced by the number of people routinely filling the dining room, which is bigger now and features a new bar and a mural by Paul Vismara depicting Ms. Mona and her native island of Saint Thomas splashed across the back wall. The support is so ardent, in fact, that you’ll need a reservation to secure a table (or be prepared to wait), even during lunch. Mona is still in the kitchen cooking the Caribbean dishes that have become my favorites on the menu, including the roster of well-priced pates (in the low teens) and the jerk chicken dinner.
If you haven’t had a pate (pronounced pah-TAY), think of it as the Virgin Islands’ empanada—a pocket of soft dough stuffed with meat, seafood, or veggies (sometimes with cheese, too) and deep-fried until tender and flaky, but not crunchy. My go-to is the beef and cheese, in which the meat and American meld with diced onions and peppers until they form a single oozy delicacy. The just-blistered crust doesn’t crack so much as bloom when you bite in.
Hungrier diners go for the entrées. Your choice of fried protein (catfish, chicken, whiting, or shrimp), smothered pork chops, or jerk chicken comes with cornbread or white bread and two sides. The smoky, spicy strips of jerk thigh are slicked with peppery sauce and incredibly tender, thanks to a preparation involving two dry rubs and two wet rubs.
You could also get the jerk in sandwich form, but I prefer the meat as the star of the show. Plus, then you get those divine sides, which are definitely worth discussing and even ordering on their own as a meal, which regulars often do. Almost everyone starts with the macaroni and cheese, whose saucy elbows drip with seven different creamy cheeses. (After one taste, I stole my daughter’s cup.) Per Fathima, the collard greens and yams—childhood favorites for much of the cafe’s clientele who were raised in the historically Black neighborhood—are among the most-ordered accoutrements.
Wings are popular, too. Seasoned with what the Dickersons call their “Welton Street Essence”—a heavily guarded blend—and deep-fried, they’re crispier than most (in a good way). You can order them as-is or, like I did, doused in a vinegary hot sauce that will cling to your fingers and make you sweat (also in a good way).
There’s a lot that goes into the frying, sautéing, and grilling of these plates, which means this food takes time. It will not be out in 10 minutes—or maybe even 20 or 30 minutes, depending on how bustling the restaurant is—so come here with patience. You can pretty much count on this being a leisurely meal, just as you can count on seeing a rainbow array of Kool-Aid pitchers behind the counter and Fathima buzzing about the dining room.
After three visits in a short period, I started to crave the Welton Street Cafe. Not just for the food, but for the intrinsic sense of inclusion and community the restaurant offers. How someone says, “Welcome, fam!” to whoever walks through the doors. How its four walls foster a hope that even with everything going on in the world right now, the little guy still has a chance.
Less than a year into its new location, Welton Street Cafe doesn’t need to come into its own; it’s already there.
A Brief History of the Dickerson Family in Five Points
1986–’90: Flynn and Mona Dickerson open Caribbean Fast Food at 31st Avenue and Downing Street. The demand for their food is so strong that they move into a larger space on 26th Avenue just six months later.
1990–’93: The Dickersons pull up stakes for a more favorable 26th Avenue spot (where Birdcall is now) and then make their first appearance on Welton Street, just off 23rd Avenue, a year later, changing the eatery’s name to Sadie’s.
1993–’94: Forced off Welton Street by light-rail construction, the restaurant moves back to 26th, this time as Wings and Tings.
1994–’99: Welton Street beckons again, so the Dickersons relocate to the 2700 block, and the eatery becomes Mona’s Wings and Tings.
1999–2022: The Welton Street Cafe is born when the large space at 2736 Welton Street becomes available. The Dickersons begin serving the fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, and jerk chicken fans now clamor for.
2024: There’s no name change this time, just a bigger Welton Street Cafe—and, for the first time, a liquor license—at 29th and Welton.
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