Husband-and-wife team Johnny and Kasie Curiel opened their first independent restaurant in December 2023 in Denver’s Lower Highlands as a cozy neighborhood spot with 34 seats, including eight at the chef’s counter, and a shareable à la carte menu. Alma Fonda Fina received a Michelin star nine months later for its contemporary Mexican cuisine inspired by Johnny Curiel’s heritage and was also Denver’s sole entry on the 2025 North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
The Curiels live just a few blocks away from Alma Fonda Fina, and Johnny and Kasie had spent several date nights at the former cheese shop before it became their restaurant. When the space came up for sale, it felt inevitable. “I fell in love with the brick building, the corner, the lights, and the layout,” Curiel says.
Discovering during the walkthrough that the kitchen did not have a hood did not deter him. “My mom’s house doesn’t have a hood, and she cooks badass food,” he says. He did not anticipate being as busy as they were from the start and had to get creative with his cooking methods to avoid smoking out the dining room. One dish that has been on the menu since day one is his camote asado, an agave-roasted sweet potato.
“If I had a hood, the camote would be cooked over coals 100 percent, but we don’t, so I had to figure out how to give it smokiness and crispiness in a different way,” he says. Roasting the sweet potato in agave lends a smoky sweetness, which he builds on with salsa macha made with morita pepper and smoked salt. “We put ingredients on the camote that were naturally smoky to give it that element.”
The restaurant is named after Curiel’s mother, Alma, and the frijoles puercos served with sourdough flour tortillas are an homage to her signature dish. “This is my version,” Curiel explains. “I added corn tortillas to the beans to make them more velvety, and in Guadalajara you would eat sourdough bread, but I didn’t have enough space in the kitchen to bake bread, so I serve sourdough tortillas instead.” Birria de borrego made with locally farmed lamb shank is another menu staple, particularly popular during Colorado’s colder months.
The restaurant’s décor draws inspiration from Guadalajara, with clay hand-painted coffee mugs, colorful tiles, and an eight-foot-tall cactus anchoring the space. “We incorporated a lot of clay, terracotta, leather, and wood into the design,” Curiel says. Curtains lining the walls are made from rebozos, traditional Mexican shawls used to carry babies. “Everything is inspired by motherhood in Mexico, since the restaurant is named after my mom.”
