A new Oaxacan restaurant has quietly taken over the old Fresh Mex storefront on East Colfax Avenue, and its owner is doing almost everything himself. Neo's Latin Cuisine sits at 1818 E. Colfax Ave. in Denver, serving made-to-order tacos, burritos, enchiladas and tlayudas built around labor-intensive dishes like three-day barbacoa and a mole simmered with roughly 14 ingredients.
The restaurant's namesake is Neofito “Neo” Cruz, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and moved to the United States at age 14, according to Westword. He got his start in Denver kitchens washing dishes at the old Govnr's Park Tavern before working his way up the line, and in 2001 he paid a cook $20 a night out of his own pocket just to learn proper line work, the outlet reports.
Cruz went on to help open Onefold in 2015, staying there for a full decade before stepping away in 2025. Earlier this year, when he learned Fresh Mex was closing, he raised a little money and took over the lease at 1818 E. Colfax Ave., turning the old space into his own restaurant — Neo's Latin Cuisine replaced Fresh Mex there last month.
A Menu Built to Order
Rather than a fixed menu, Neo's lets diners build their own plate: pick a format — taco, burrito, enchilada or tlayuda — then choose a filling and a tortilla. The kitchen offers both flour and corn tortillas, with the corn versions available in red, green or white, and every order is pressed and griddled fresh after it's placed. Enchiladas come in sets of three, so customers can mix fillings and corn tortilla colors within a single order, per the same account.
The labor shows up most in the barbacoa and the green chile. The barbacoa, built from beef tongue, cheek and other cuts, develops its flavor over three days of cooking, while the green chile uses pig heads as its stock base and is rounded out with banana and agave leaves along with diced pork. The mole, meanwhile, blends Oaxacan chocolate and dried chiles with around 14 additional ingredients.
One Man, a Small Staff and Almost No Sleep
Everything at Neo's is made to order by a small staff that's often just Cruz himself, the report notes. He told Westword that the recipes are entirely his own and that he never attended culinary school — he developed them through years of hands-on kitchen work instead.
Cruz does much of his menu development at night, sometimes sleeping only about two hours after working an overnight shift. He said customers are free to build their own dishes however they like, and that watching diners appreciate the food is what keeps him going through those long hours.
Given its limited space, Neo's Latin Cuisine may eventually convert to a fully takeout format, according to the Westword account. For now, the restaurant is open Sunday through Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 11 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Filling a Gap in Denver's Mexican Food Scene
Oaxacan cooking isn't entirely new to the Denver area — spots like Toro Latin Kitchen & Lounge in Cherry Creek and Zocalito Latin Bistro downtown have both leaned on Oaxacan ingredients and mole traditions in their menus. Still, a decade ago Westword itself noted that the city was relatively short on dedicated Oaxacan cuisine, even as good mole could be found around town. Neo's arrival adds another entry to that still-developing corner of Denver's dining scene, built almost entirely on one chef's own recipes and round-the-clock effort.
