Chef
Erasmo Casiano
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Denver, Colorado, United States
i. Biography
In Denver, at Xiquita Restaurante y Bar, corn is treated as material before it becomes a dish: softened through nixtamalization, worked into house-made masa, and finished with fire at the counter. Erasmo Casiano, chef and co-owner of Lucina Eatery & Bar in Denver, United States, cooks from that tactile zone where grain, heat, family memory, and service meet.
The Estate
The center of Casiano’s public work is Lucina Eatery & Bar, the Denver restaurant he opened with Diego Coconati in 2022. The name carries family weight: Lucina is named for Casiano’s mother. His map extends beyond one dining room. In Denver, he is also chef and co-owner of Xiquita Restaurante y Bar; in Aurora, United States, he is chef and co-owner of Create Kitchen & Bar. The Aurora thread began earlier, when Casiano and Coconati opened Create Cooking School at Stanley Marketplace in 2016. Xiquita’s name also returns to his mother. It honors Lucina and draws from his father’s term of endearment for her, giving the restaurant a family origin before a plate ever reaches the counter.
In the Cellar
At Xiquita, Casiano’s specialty is Ancestral Mexican cuisine and Latin American cuisines. The cooking is not abstracted into theme; it moves through ingredients and method, with Mexican dishes he grew up on brought to the plate through fire and precision. Nixtamalization is central there. The menu uses house-made masa and a traditional nixtamalization process inspired by ancient Mesoamerican cooking, with indigenous ingredients part of the restaurant’s language. One dish gives the approach a compact form: the sope of barbacoa de lengua, a crispy maize cake with beef tongue barbacoa, salsa macha, salsa verde, crema, and a little bit of love. Casiano has said it has been on the menu since opening day and is one of the restaurant’s best sellers. Another Xiquita plate, Tikin Xic, appears on its Mexico City-inspired menu with kanpachi fish grilled over charcoal in a banana leaf and served with a side of corn tortillas. At Lucina, Moqueca de Peixe — made with Icelandic cod, aziete de dendé, coco, and pimentão — is listed as Chef Ras’s favorite thing.
The Bottlings
Recognition has followed the work in specific rooms. In 2024, Casiano was a James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mountain for Lucina Eatery & Bar. The next year brought another marker from a different address: in 2025, he was a HOSPYS finalist for Chef of the Year for Xiquita Restaurante y Bar. Those honors sit beside the day-to-day labor of restaurants in Denver and Aurora, where the craft has moved from cooking school to counter, masa, charcoal, and service. Asked what matters in the work, Casiano points away from individual credit and toward the people around him: "Talent. Not mine necessarily, but the talent of the team that is able to adapt and grow to the ever changing situations that we currently live in."
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Erasmo
What is Erasmo Casiano known for making?
Erasmo Casiano is known for Ancestral Mexican and Latin American cooking at Xiquita, including a sope of barbacoa de lengua and Tikin Xic with kanpachi grilled over charcoal in a banana leaf.
Where does Erasmo Casiano work?
He is chef and co-owner of Lucina Eatery & Bar and Xiquita Restaurante y Bar in Denver, United States, and Create Kitchen & Bar in Aurora, United States.
What style or method defines Erasmo Casiano's work?
His work at Xiquita is defined by house-made masa, traditional nixtamalization, indigenous ingredients, and fire-finished plates at the counter.
