Frasca Food and Wine just picked up another national honor.
The James Beard-, Michelin Guide-decorated fine-dining restaurant in Boulder landed at No. 27 on Robb Report’s list of the 100 Greatest American Restaurants of the 21st Century.
The list, published Nov. 19, was compiled from the votes of 250 chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers, ingredient purveyors and well-traveled diners, the article states. The Robb Report is a global luxury publication that curates best-of lists for higher-end brands and experiences.
The project, Robb Report’s attempt at codifying the country’s best restaurants, aimed to reflect the evolution of American dining since 2000. Author Jeremy Repanich described it as a way to recognize the places that have endured, influenced and amazed visitors over the past quarter-century.
According to Robb Report, voters (who included culinary figures such as Momofuku founder David Chang, SingleThread chef Kyle Connaughton and Atomix co-owner Ellia Park) were asked to name 10 modern restaurants that best defined dining, with guidance to consider factors like quality, influence and longevity.
Repanich says the list was comprised mostly of fine-dining eateries, but a few curveballs made the cut, including the original Shake Shack in Madison Square Park and Franklin Barbecue in Austin, proof that cultural impact sometimes outshines prix fixe tasting menus.
Frasca’s placement on the list came with a brief but glowing write-up that traced its origin story back to The French Laundry, where co-founders and Boulder luminaries Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson first met. The two eventually landed in Boulder with a very specific vision: To open a fine-dining restaurant inspired by the food and wine traditions of Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, while also making room for local Colorado ingredients and hospitality.
Since opening in Boulder in 2004, the team’s obsessive attention to detail, from Friulian salumi to Stuckey’s famously precise front-of-house service, has earned Frasca a long list of accolades.
“I like being in the trenches with my teams,” Bobby Stuckey said in a May interview with the Daily Camera. “That’s how I add value.”
In June, Frasca won its fourth James Beard award, snagging the title of 2025’s Outstanding Restaurant, the foundation’s highest honor, recognizing restaurants that deliver consistent excellence across food, atmosphere, hospitality and operations. Frasca also holds James Beard Awards for Outstanding Wine Program (2013) and Outstanding Service (2019), along with back-to-back Michelin Stars.
For the Robb Report, Frasca is the only restaurant listed in Colorado. Coming in at No. 27, Frasca was the highest-ranked restaurant in the Mountain West, one of only two from the region to appear. (The other, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, landed at No. 45.)
For a restaurant tucked into a college town at the foothills of the Rockies, inclusion at this level, alongside coastal heavyweights and globally known tasting menus, signals just how firmly Frasca has shaped the country’s dining conversation.
At the top of the list was Alinea in Chicago. In second place, fittingly, was The French Laundry in Yountville, California, which feels appropriate, given it’s the place where Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson first joined forces before heading to Boulder to create Northern Italian-inspired, land-locked, top-notch cuisine.
