Meet the Champions of the 2026 Denver SURF Seafood Festival

Find out who took home all the glory.

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Published on July 31, 2026 • 2:00 PM MDT

Updated on July 31, 2026 • 6:04 PM MDT

Last night Denver celebrated all things seafood during the second annual SURF Seafood Championship, which took place at Sculpture Park in downtown. This year it was bigger and better, with 17 restaurants competing in the food category, and 12 for cocktails.

We saw an array of bright dishes, from Smoked Trout Sashimi with truffle French cream and micro herbs to Octopus a la Grecque to Oyster Rockefeller. Each place delivered a unique bite using seafood exclusively provided by Buckhead Meat & Seafood. Off to the side, Hesher BBQ offered festival goers a seafood boil, and Ultreia crafted giant pans of paella.

The live music had people dancing, and plenty of cocktails, drams of whiskey, beers, and cans of cold hard seltzer were had. Over in the VIP section, Sushi by SYC served an omakase, the first sit-down experience offered by DiningOut Events, and it won’t be the last. The special area also dolled out shrimp dumplings and lobster rolls, while guests mooned for photo opts and sipped wine.

It’s totally justified to feel a bit of FOMO, the night was truly epic. That said, congrats to the winners of this year’s SURF, listed below.

Judges’ Choice Food Awards

Spanky's Roadhouse’s Fish & Chips: A walleye croquette on a potato tart, with dill aioli, sweet pickle caviar, and a beer batter crumble. | Photo by DiningOut Events — Spanky’s Roadhouse’s Fish & Chips: A walleye croquette on a potato tart, with dill aioli, sweet pickle caviar, and a beer batter crumble. | Photo by DiningOut Events

Third Place: Ocean Prime’s Salmon Crudo: Topped with citrus sriracha vinaigrette, roasted corn, and jalapeno salsa with citrus supremes, grape tomatoes. passion fruit pearls, Hawaiian black salt, and fennel fronds.

First Place: Kumoya’s Chilean Sea Bass: Japanese lager battered and served with matcha, miso, and charcoal.

First Place: Spanky’s Roadhouse’s Fish & Chips: A walleye croquette on a potato tart, with dill aioli, sweet pickle caviar, and a beer batter crumble.

People’s Choice Food Awards

The people picked Salt Water Social's Shrimp and Truffle Gnocchi as the winning dish. | Photo by DiningOut Events — The people picked Salt Water Social’s Shrimp and Truffle Gnocchi as the winning dish. | Photo by DiningOut Events

Third Place: Elway’s Downtown’s PEI Mussels: Made with brown sugar bourbon, roasted bell pepper, shoyu pearls, and shisho.

Second Place: Spanky’s Roadhouse’s Fish & Chips: A walleye croquette on a potato tart, with dill aioli, sweet pickle caviar, and a beer batter crumble.

First Place: Salt Water Social’s Shrimp and Truffle Gnocchi

What an epic night at SURF Seafood Championship! | Photo by DiningOut Events

Judge’s Choice Cocktail Awards

Third Place: Fin N’ Tonic

First Place: Former Saint

First Place: Urban Farmer

People’s Choice Cocktail Awards

Third Place: Spanky’s Roadhouse

First Place: Elway’s Downtown

First Place: Salt Water Social

Linnea Covington Managing Editor Denver

Linnea Covington is a regional managing editor of DiningOut, covering Denver, New York City, and Phoenix. She comes to us with a long background in food, restaurant and drinks journalism. Over the last two decades she's written for tons of national publications including Denver Post, Washington Post, Forbes Travel Guide, 5280 Magazine, New York Magazine, New York Times, Time Out New York and more. Follow on Instagram: @linneacovington https://muckrack.com/linnea-covington

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