Walk into the Buckhorn Exchange today and your first instinct is to stop moving. Every wall is covered — antlers, photographs, artifacts, taxidermy — a physical record of the American West that no museum has quite matched in this city.
General Manager Anthony Perez grew up a block away from the restaurant. He started bussing tables at 16, worked every station in the building, and has now spent more than three and a half decades keeping the place exactly as it should be. He knows where every artifact came from. He knows what every regular orders. He is, in many ways, the Buckhorn itself.
The menu at Buckhorn has always centered on meat — all kinds of it. But one dish has outlasted every trend, every celebrity visit, every neighborhood transformation happening just outside the door.
Rocky Mountain oysters. Bull testicles, to be direct about it. Executive Chef Cesar Garcia — 34 years on the line at Buckhorn — has watched table after table order them with skepticism and finish them with surprise. He fries them for five to eight minutes depending on the batch size, first thawed, then skinned, then sliced thin so they don't go chewy, then dredged and dropped. They are, right now, the number one seller on the menu.
How Well Do You Know the Buckhorn Exchange?
Five questions. How deep does your Denver knowledge go?
The Buckhorn Exchange first opened its doors in which year?
- 1876 — 1876 is when Colorado became a state — 17 years before the Buckhorn opened. The restaurant didn't come along until 1893, when Henry Zietz founded it as Denver was still expanding west.
- 1893 — Correct. Henry Zietz opened the Buckhorn Exchange in 1893, drawing all sorts of characters as people moved west in the late 1800s. It has been open ever since.
- 1910 — By 1910 the Buckhorn was already nearly two decades old. It opened in 1893 under founder Henry Zietz.
- 1857 — 1857 is significant — it's when Colorado's first liquor license was issued to the Buckhorn. But the restaurant itself didn't open until 1893.
The Buckhorn holds Colorado's first liquor license, issued in what year?
- 1893 — That's the year the restaurant opened — but Colorado's first liquor license was actually issued to the Buckhorn even earlier, in 1857, predating the restaurant's founding.
- 1876 — 1876 is Colorado statehood. The first liquor license was issued to the Buckhorn in 1857, nearly two decades before Colorado was even a state.
- 1857 — Correct. The Buckhorn holds Colorado's first liquor license, given in 1857 — making it one of the most historically documented establishments in the state.
- 1901 — Not quite. Colorado's first liquor license was issued to the Buckhorn in 1857, well before the turn of the century.
According to General Manager Anthony Perez, what is the Buckhorn's number one selling menu item right now?
- Bison ribeye — The Buckhorn menu is built around all kinds of meat, including bison — but the current top seller is something that surprises many first-time visitors: Rocky Mountain oysters, or bull testicles.
- Rocky Mountain oysters — Correct. Despite the initial shock for many customers — 'What, it's not oysters from the sea?' — Rocky Mountain oysters are the number one seller at the Buckhorn right now.
- Elk steak — Elk is on the menu and fits the Buckhorn's meat-forward identity, but the top seller is Rocky Mountain oysters — bull testicles — which Chef Cesar Garcia says nearly every table orders.
- Rattlesnake appetizer — The Buckhorn is known for adventurous meats, but the chart-topper is Rocky Mountain oysters. Chef Garcia says he's had to serve them to almost every table.
Anthony Perez calls one artifact his personal favorite in the restaurant. What is it?
- A signed photograph of Buffalo Bill — Buffalo Bill's Wild West show did connect Perez to the Buckhorn as a kid — but his named favorite artifact is the wedding dress of Sitting Bull's niece, displayed in a glass case inside the restaurant.
- Sitting Bull's niece's wedding dress — Correct. Perez pointed directly to the glass case holding Sitting Bull's niece's wedding dress and called it one of the most important things in the restaurant.
- Colorado's first liquor license framed on the wall — The Buckhorn does hold Colorado's first liquor license from 1857, but Perez's personal favorite artifact is Sitting Bull's niece's wedding dress in a glass case.
- James Hetfield's signed guitar — Hetfield of Metallica did dine at the Buckhorn and is one of Perez's all-time favorite celebrity memories — but the artifact Perez named as most important is Sitting Bull's niece's wedding dress.
How long does Chef Cesar Garcia fry Rocky Mountain oysters?
- Two to three minutes — Too short. Garcia fries them for five to eight minutes, depending on the batch size. Under-frying would leave them under-cooked — the timing is part of his 34-year mastery of the dish.
- Five to eight minutes — Correct. Garcia fries the Rocky Mountain oysters for five to eight minutes, depending on the amount. He also thaws, skins, and slices them thin before frying so they don't turn chewy.
- Ten to twelve minutes — That would overcook them. Garcia's process is five to eight minutes in the fryer — after thawing, skinning, and slicing thin to keep them from getting chewy.
- Exactly one minute per side — The Buckhorn's Rocky Mountain oysters are not pan-seared — they go into a fryer for five to eight minutes total, depending on batch size, per Chef Garcia's 34-year technique.
That quiz is a small taste of what Perez and Garcia have spent decades absorbing. Between the two of them, they carry nearly 70 years of Buckhorn history — the celebrity dinners, the first-timer reactions, the quiet regulars who never miss a Tuesday.
The neighborhood around the restaurant has changed dramatically. Perez remembers it as rough when he was a kid — gang violence, not a place you lingered after dark. Now a new Broncos stadium is expected to rise across the nearby train tracks at Burnham Yard. But inside the Buckhorn, the animals are still on the walls and the Rocky Mountain oysters are still in the fryer.
133 Years on Osage Street
- 1857 — Colorado's first liquor license issued to the Buckhorn
- 1893 — Henry Zietz opens Buckhorn Exchange — Denver's first restaurant
- Late 1800s — Buckhorn draws characters moving west during Colorado's frontier era
- Anthony Perez, age 16 — Perez starts bussing tables — works every position over 3.5 decades
- 34 years ago — Cesar Garcia joins as Executive Chef, still running the kitchen today
- 2026 — Colorado turns 150 — Buckhorn still open, Rocky Mountain oysters still No. 1
- Coming soon — New Broncos stadium planned at Burnham Yard across the train tracks
Perez says he thinks Henry Zietz — the man who started it all — would be impressed by what the Buckhorn has become. Upgraded where it needed to be, preserved where it mattered, and still doing good business more than 130 years later.
For Colorado's 150th birthday, the Buckhorn Exchange is not just a restaurant. It is a record of the state itself — a place where the frontier meets the present, where Metallica has sat at the same tables as cattlemen, and where a kid from a rough neighborhood became the keeper of something irreplaceable. Perez's advice to anyone walking through the door: slow down, look at the walls, and ask someone who works there. They will tell you everything.
Visit the Buckhorn Exchange
- Location: Osage Street, Denver — near Burnham Yard and the future Broncos stadium site.
- Must-Try: Rocky Mountain oysters — the number one seller. Fried five to eight minutes, sliced thin, and served to almost every table.
- Perez's Tip: Walk around, take your time, and ask any staff member about the artifacts. They know the history of everything on those walls.