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Beau Jo's
Beau Jo's has been making what it calls "Colorado-style" mountain pies since 1973, when the original location opened in the mountain town of Idaho Springs. Half a century later, the chain has grown to seven locations across Colorado — including Arvada, Fort Collins, Lone Tree, Steamboat Springs, and Denver — while keeping the same thick-crust format that made the original location a mountain-town institution in the first place. The defining feature is the crust itself: a hand-rolled, thick ring of daily-made dough that builds a genuine wall around the edge of the pie, letting Beau Jo's load on toppings — the pizzas are sized and sold by the pound rather than by diameter — well past what a standard crust could contain. That crust does double duty as dessert, too; the restaurant's honey-dipping tradition, pouring local honey over the leftover crust once the toppings are gone, has become as closely associated with Beau Jo's as the pizza itself. That combination — thick, topping-loaded "mountain pies" named for the Rockies, sold in pound increments, finished with honey — is different enough from a standard American pizzeria that it's become a specifically Colorado dining tradition rather than a regional variation on a national style. More than fifty years after the Idaho Springs original opened, the chain has expanded into shipping pies nationally through Goldbelly, extending a mountain-town pizzeria's reach well past what its founders likely imagined in 1973. For a Denver pizza list, Beau Jo's is the essential "this is Colorado's own pizza style" entry — a thick-crusted, honey-finished mountain pie sold by the pound, a genuinely regional format that's been running continuously since 1973 and has since spread from its original mountain-town location into Denver and beyond.
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Hops & Pie
Hops & Pie opened in September 2010 in Denver's Berkeley/Highland neighborhood, founded by Drew and Leah Watson after they'd developed the concept while living in San Diego and spending time around its craft beer scene. Their core idea was simple and, at the time, still fairly novel in Denver: a genuinely good pizza built specifically to pair with serious craft beer, rather than beer treated as an afterthought to the food. That pairing philosophy shows up in the numbers as much as the menu — 22 rotating taps of craft beer sit alongside a pizza program that draws on both Detroit and New York traditions, built on a sourdough crust that gives the pies a tang and chew distinct from a standard pizzeria dough. Both Watsons had worked in well-regarded restaurants around the country before opening Hops & Pie, and that broader food background shows in a menu that treats pizza with more creativity than a typical taproom kitchen usually attempts. The restaurant picked up national attention when it was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, with Guy Fieri specifically calling out the kitchen's inventive approach to pizza and beer pairings — recognition that validated a concept the Watsons had built somewhat against the grain of Denver's pizza scene at the time. For a Denver pizza list, Hops & Pie is the essential "pizza built around the beer list" entry — a sourdough-crust, Detroit-and-New-York-influenced pizza program paired with 22 rotating taps, a taproom-first approach to pizza that's earned it a loyal following and a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives feature since opening in 2010.
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