Gushing in a provocative broth that would make gods salivate, a plated trifecta of oxtail, beef cheeks and short ribs was plunked onto the bar by Chef Barry Dobesh. Though light fixtures were dimmed for a perfect romantic evening, there were no customers. Instead, the earthy interior dining room was full of empty tables.
With a grand opening expected for Feb. 1, the antsy creators of what will become one of Carbondale’s newest restaurants, Amara Kitchen and Wine Bar, spent last Thursday forking into this feast of Moroccan stew. With each bite, they obsessively tried to taste for flavors both needed and not to capture the most satisfying chef’s kiss.
The anticipation could be cut with a butcher’s knife.
“You know how the Michelin say it’s worth the stop, it’s worth the drive?” said Amara owner Maria J. Cardenas, a veteran sommelier and former wine director at some of Aspen’s most popular eateries. “We want to be worth the drive.”
Amara is a Bonedalian take on seaside Mediterranean cuisine. If they fancy, diners can pair a Lebanese red plucked from Amara’s 150-square-foot wine cellar with grilled dates and caviar before splashing into a Greek-inspired swordfish souvlaki. Top that with a Turkish rice pudding for dessert, there’s no going wrong.
Carbondale’s ever-changing restaurant scene gave Cardenas the opportunity she needed to launch what she calls “my dream.” The building at 46 N. Fourth St. formerly housed Argentine eatery Bodegón, which closed in 2025 after opening the year prior.
The vacant interior thus became the new proprietor’s “white canvas,” she said. She brought in tables made from wood reclaimed from the floors of semitrucks. Massive branches taken from her hikes in the Roaring Fork Valley are furnished in corners, giving a sort of calming wabi-sabi interior.
“We want this to be a casual, feel-at-home place,” she said. “But in the best way possible.”
But achieving perfection also takes like-minded contemporaries. So Cardenas teamed up with her husband, Ricardo Leyvas, another Aspen restaurant scene veteran, in operations. The kicker came when she landed Chef Barry, CP Restaurant’s head chef and the same culinary mind that transformed Woody Creek Tavern’s menu when it changed hands in 2020.
“The community has been amazing, and I want people to understand that this is a project from Carbondale to Carbondale,” Cardenas said. “This is like a testament of our love to Carbondale, because we really think the community deserves this — a place to gather, a place to have fun and a place where they can be.”
Cardenas is originally from Colombia, where she worked as a lawyer. Suddenly, however, she told her parents she wanted to follow her dream of owning a restaurant and skipped town to New York City. There, she studied wine at the Culinary Institute of America. Upon graduation, she moved to Aspen and started her journey at the Little Nell before becoming wine director at places like Monarch Steak House and French Alpine Bistro.
Now she’s preparing to open seven days a week in the heart of Carbondale, where she’ll offer 3 to 5pm wine-flight happy hours before full dinner service begins at 5pm. She has also scheduled a soft opening for Thursday, Jan. 29.
“I took a picture earlier of all the kitchen staff, and I just started bawling. That’s how excited I am,” Cardenas said. “I have so many ideas of what I want to do with this place. I’ve dreamt of this all my life.”
Interested in Amara? Visit its website at www.amaracarbondale.com or call them at 970-510-5363.