Erasmo Casiano
Founder, Executive Chef | Xiquita Restaurante y Bar | Denver, Colorado
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Chef Erasmo Casiano discovered his love for hospitality at an early age, inspired by his parents’ dinner parties. He grew up working in restaurant kitchens and graduated from culinary school in 2007. Though he originally planned to move to Washington state, a flat tire stranded him in Denver, and a job opportunity convinced him to stay.
Over the next two decades, he established a respected career as Chef & Owner of Xiquita Restaurante y Bar, Lucina Eatery & Bar, and Create Kitchen & Bar. He is a two-time James Beard Foundation Best Chef semifinalist (2024 and 2025) and a 2025 Colorado Restaurant Association HOSPY Awards nominee for Chef of the Year
Deeply rooted in his Mexican heritage, Chef Erasmo is passionate about sharing culture through food and creating experiences that bring people together. At Xiquita Restaurante y Bar, he explores ancestral Mexican cooking, highlighting traditional techniques like nixtamalization and honoring the history behind his recipes.
A self-described “food nerd,” he’s fascinated by the science behind traditional nixtamalization and approaches cooking with humility, honoring the generations who passed down the recipes he prepares today. As a father, teacher, and chef, he believes hospitality means caring not only for guests, but also for the people in the kitchen.
Make Chef Erasmo Casiano’s Barbacoa Casera Sopes
Xiquita Restaurante y Bar
Xiquita Restaurante y Bar blends ancestral Mexican cuisine with modern design in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood. The restaurant features an open kitchen, colorful hand-painted murals, and a sleek bar and dining room filled with vibrant energy.
At the heart of the menu is nixtamalization, a technique dating back to Mesoamerican civilizations that enhances flavor, nutrition, and digestibility. All of Xiquita’s tortillas are made in-house daily, honoring generations of tradition.
The menu draws from Indigenous Mexican culinary heritage, highlighting bold, masa-forward dishes such as Tamal Oaxaqueño, banana leaf–steamed nixtamal with mole madre, ajonjolí (sesame), crema, and queso fresco; Taco de Pato, a mixed tortilla layered with duck carnitas, mole casero, sweet potato crema, and xni pec (a fiery Yucatecan salsa); and Tikin Xic, kanpachi wrapped in banana leaf with adobo and xni pec.
Xiquita invites diners to rethink what Mexican cuisine can be. Each dish offers both nourishment and narrative, bridging past and present while celebrating the depth and diversity of Mexico’s culinary traditions.
500 E 19th Ave, Denver, CO 80203
Photography by Joni Schrantz, Shake & Stehr, and Behind the Apron Media.
