Colorado Restaurant Bites: Queso Fundido at Tamayo in Denver

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Don’t expect the queso fundido at Tamayo in Denver to mimic the Super Bowl party staple of melted Velveeta and salsa dip scooped up with chips. Queso fundido at Tamayo is a three-cheese fusion meant to be stuffed into homemade flour tortillas for a mini enchilada sent from the cheese heavens!

Served molten hot in an iron skillet, Tamayo’s queso fundido is a party of three cheeses — queso, Oaxaca, Chihuahua — with optional, but highly recommended, chorizo sprinkles and topped off with chile morita salsa. The trick is to extract the cheese from the skillet into the perfectly warmed tortillas while retaining your restaurant decorum. The effort was worth it, once our forks delivered the ooey-gooey goodness to our delighted taste buds.

When in a Mexican restaurant, a margarita must be ordered, right? Tamayo’s serrano and hibiscus margarita garnished with peppers gives a spicy kick with its sweetness, while the prickly pear margarita features house-infused cactus fruit tequila, hand-squeezed lime juice and Grand Marnier.

Tamayo’s scratch kitchen and bar celebrate cuisine from all regions of Mexico from its convenient location on Larimer Square in downtown Denver. If you’re looking for Tex-Mex, keep on walking. Full service is available in Tamayo’s bar area, so even if you haven’t made a reservation, you might still be able to get a table.