Denver's oldest restaurant, opened in 1893, Buckhorn Exchange is best understood as a working museum of frontier hospitality where you can also order rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain oysters. The two upstairs dining rooms are crammed with antique guns, 500-plus taxidermy mounts, and signed photographs of cowboys and presidents. The menu leans hard into game: elk medallions, bison ribeye, smoked Cornish hen.
It's pricey, occasionally chaotic, and unrepeatable elsewhere. Reserve, and take the LRT (Buckhorn has its own light rail stop) rather than driving — parking is grim.