Within about five weeks, Centennial's stretch of Arapahoe Road lost a 28-year Chicago sandwich counter and a 15-year ramen shop. Over the same period, Westword gave the corridor a new name. Its food editor called it Denver's "curry corridor," a 2.5-mile run with nine Indian and South Asian restaurants along the road where it crosses I-25. Several of those kitchens put real money and effort into their spaces this year.
So the food map along Arapahoe is changing hands. The places that defined it for decades are closing, and the ones taking over are remodeling, reopening and expanding. On the east end, the City of Centennial is digging a trail underpass that changes how you reach Centennial Center Park, and the city's biggest fall party happens there on October 17.
Two Closings That Redrew the Map
In late August, Westword reported that Chicago Mike's Beef & Dogs had closed earlier that month. Chicago Mike's had been open since 1998, serving Vienna Beef hot dogs, Polish sausage sandwiches, stromboli and the Italian hot beef that Westword called one of Denver's premier sources. The restaurant was at 11405 E. Briarwood Ave.
On October 3, a Westword roundup reported that Sakura Bowl in Centennial had also closed after 15 years, with ownership citing "personal reasons."
Together, those two closings ended 43 years of service on the corridor. Neither restaurant was a trend. They were the kind of fixed points a neighborhood uses to measure everything else. With both gone, the longest-running independent anchor in Westword's corridor coverage is a restaurant whose specialty is northern Indian food.
The Kitchens That Spent 2026 Investing
Westword's curry corridor piece, published September 22, was the paper's second food tour of the road. The first, last year, covered its doughnut shops. This time it found family-run restaurants that have been around for years next to Denver outposts of larger chains, and each one does something its neighbors don't.
"In India, food traditions can change every few hundred miles. Along Arapahoe Road, it's only a matter of a few feet."
That line is Antony Bruno's, who took over as Westword's Food & Drink Editor in May 2026. Four of the nine restaurants have Centennial addresses, and at least two of them made big moves in the past year.
- Bawarchi Indian Cuisine, 11001 E. Arapahoe Pl. The restaurant used to be called Bawarchi Biryani Point. An August 2025 fire moved all of its operations into a food truck parked outside. While the dining room was closed, the owners remodeled it completely, adding long white chandeliers, tall tapestries and leather booths. The menu is built around biryani, priced from $16 to $21 and easily enough for two. Options include avakaya biryani with pickled mango, gongura with sorrel leaves, and a spicier Vijayawada version. Westword warns that food takes a while to arrive and that even the mild setting is hot.
- Mad Over Curry, 7605 E. Arapahoe Rd. Westword describes this address as a revolving door for short-lived Middle Eastern and Indian concepts. Mad Over Curry refreshed both the room and the menu, then opened a Denver location at 810 Vallejo St. in June. The dish to order is the Afghan chicken. The chicken is cooked in a clay pot, combined with a separately made cream-and-spice sauce, then blended into a rich white curry with portions that look smaller than they eat.
- Naan Curry Grill, 10639 E. Briarwood Ave. The menu leans Pakistani, with more meat and less cream. The signature is chicken karahi, bone-in chicken in a tomato-heavy sauce with garlic and chili, served with naan.
- Godavari Denver, 6882 S. Yosemite St. Godavari has more than 25 locations across the U.S. and Canada, and this is its only one in the Denver area. It shares a strip mall with Hong Kong Station, Banh Mi & U and Venalonzo's. The daily buffet leaves out butter chicken and tikka masala. It serves methi malai chicken, corn palak, kakarakaya fry and mysore bonda instead.
Mad Over Curry's move stands out because it reverses the usual pattern. A kitchen that started on suburban Arapahoe Road opened its second location in Denver.
The Rest of the Corridor Sits Across the City Line
The other five restaurants in Westword's count have Greenwood Village addresses, but they're on the same stretch of road and work as one dining strip.
- India's Castle Restaurant & Bar, 9555 E. Arapahoe Rd., Greenwood Village opened before most of the others, and Westword calls it the corridor's "OG." Every meal comes with rice pudding for dessert.
- Cafe India, 6886 S. Clinton St., Greenwood Village runs Tuesday-night dosa specials where you can watch the cook pour and flip the batter. Westword suggests calling ahead, because the chef isn't always there to do the demonstration.
- Chaat & Curry Point, 6880 S. Dallas Way, Greenwood Village serves a $12 thali, a set plate of several dishes in meat or vegetarian versions.
- Desi District Denver, 6787 S. Clinton St., Greenwood Village opened in January as a combined grocery and food court. The shelves carry fresh curry leaves and long rows of spices.
- Garnish Indian Fusion Cuisine, 6585 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Greenwood Village is a homegrown restaurant with a second location in Lone Tree. It's known for parotta, a flaky layered flatbread served with kurma curry or shredded into a stir-fry.
Of the four Centennial restaurants, Bawarchi and Naan Curry Grill sit farthest east. That puts them closest to the part of Arapahoe Road the city has under construction this fall.
The East End Is a Work Zone Until Spring
The City of Centennial is building the Lone Tree Creek Trail underpass under E. Arapahoe Rd. between S. Revere Pkwy. and S. Potomac St. It's a concrete box culvert reserved for bicyclists and pedestrians, so trail users will no longer have to cross at the Revere crosswalk. Work began in spring 2026 and is scheduled to finish in spring 2027.
The project is planned in three phases. The city's schedule lists Phase II for fall 2026, with traffic moved to the outer lanes, work in the middle of the road and sidewalks open on both sides. Phase III follows over winter 2026 and spring 2027. Lane layouts change as the phases advance, so COTrip.org is the place to check before heading out. One rule stays in place for the whole project. At Arapahoe and Revere, only right turns are allowed. Left turns and north-south through traffic are restricted.
For north-south trips, the city's detour guidance points drivers to S. Peoria St. and S. Potomac St. For east-west travel and business access, it points to E. Peakview Ave. and E. Briarwood Ave. Briarwood is where Naan Curry Grill is, and where Chicago Mike's was. RTD has also rerouted Route 153 near Revere and Arapahoe for the length of the project.
The Centennial Center Park page gives its own directions. To reach the park and the north side of Arapahoe, it recommends Peoria, Vaughn or Potomac. That matters most on October 17.
Saturday, October 17, Puts Both Halves of the Story on One Afternoon
Sip in Centennial runs from 1 to 5 p.m. at Centennial Center Park, 13050 E. Peakview Ave. Admission is free. Tasting from more than 20 breweries, distilleries and cideries requires a tasting card, which costs $20 in advance or $30 that day and is limited to guests 21 and older. The Centennial Rotary Club will sell full-size beers as a fundraiser, and those don't require a card. The lineup includes Downslope Distilling, Danico Brewing, Idlewild Spirits, Branch & Barrel Distilling, Worthy Bitters and Waldschänke Ciders & Coffee. Food trucks and live music fill out the afternoon.
The festival is free and the park is next to an active construction zone, so the route in will take more thought than the event itself. Come in on Peakview from Peoria, Vaughn or Potomac. Leaving the same way puts you on the Briarwood and Peakview grid the city uses for local access, and the east-end curry corridor kitchens are on that grid.
The rest of Centennial's October calendar, by date:
- Saturday, October 10, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Treats on the Tarmac at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight. It's the museum's monthly Breakfast Fly-In with Halloween extras: trick-or-treating at aircraft, a costume catwalk at 11 a.m., a scavenger hunt, pumpkin stamping and monster windsock crafts.
- Saturday, October 17, 1 to 5 p.m. Sip in Centennial at Centennial Center Park.
- Monday, October 19, through Friday, October 23, 2 to 6 p.m. The city's first Fall Leaf Drop-Off, run with Jacobs, at the south parking area of Centennial Public Works, 7272 S. Eagle St. Leaves must be in brown paper lawn and leaf bags, which Ace Hardware, Lowe's and King Soopers carry.
Bawarchi's biryani portions serve two, and Westword says the kitchen takes its time. That pace fits a long Saturday that starts at Centennial Center Park.
Arapahoe Road's restaurants are changing, and a stretch of its east end will stay under construction until spring. Whether you're timing an afternoon at Sip or thinking about what the corridor's next chapter means for the surrounding area, Alex Rice follows these Centennial changes block by block and is glad to talk through them with you. Start Your Home Journey.
