El Five

El Five opened on May 3, 2017 on the fifth floor of 2930 Umatilla Street in Lower Highland, the fourth restaurant from Justin Cucci's Edible Beats group, which is local, independent and one hundred percent employee-owned. The draw is partly the room, an interior and open-air patio with an unobstructed view of the downtown Denver skyline, and partly the cooking, a small-plates menu that reads across the Mediterranean rather than settling in one country: Tunisian couscous, Turkish pizza, Galician empanada, Iberico kebabs, goat cheese croquettas with jamon serrano, and paella cooked to order and meant to be eaten from the caramelized socarrat at the pan's edge. Justin Cucci is chef and founder, Corey Ferguson is executive chef and Gabriel Sauer is chef de cuisine. Produce comes in part from a 320-square-foot hydroponic farm housed in an upcycled shipping container that supplies all Edible Beats restaurants year-round. Edible Beats runs as an ESOP, with gratuities shared across the whole hourly team, and adds a 6% Denver employee benefits surcharge to each check that goes to staff benefits rather than to the house.

The zero-proof programme is a labelled section of the dinner menu, not an off-menu accommodation. The Faux Fashioned ($15) is built on Three Spirit Nightcap with spiced piloncillo and Turkish tobacco bitters; the Faux Negroni ($12) uses a Lyre's zero-proof spirit with verjus blanc, aperitif syrup and orange zest; the Scarlet Shrub ($11) is a strawberry and pink peppercorn shrub finished with champagne vinegar and soda; and the Faux Sangria ($9) rotates on cranberry, pomegranate and seasonal fruit. A separate line offers any of the bar's gin and tonics zero-proof with Lyre's for $10, including Juniper Jones with lemon, rosemary and Mediterranean tonic, a Ford's build with grapefruit and mint, and a St. George build with cucumber and lime. A rotating Three Kings non-alcoholic beer is stocked at $9.50. Visit Denver's December 20, 2025 spirit-free guide highlighted the Faux Fashioned, and Westword's January 2026 round-up pointed readers specifically at the zero-proof gin and tonics. The zero-proof drinks also appear at happy hour, which runs 4pm to 5:30pm and pairs them with pintxos including harissa eggplant fries, confit chicken croquetta and bison meatball. Service runs to 9:30pm on weeknights and to 11pm on Friday and Saturday, and the patio is the reason to book ahead in warm months.