Rocky Mountain Oysters appears as a signature dish in 1 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Rocky Mountain oysters · Denver
Battered and deep-fried bull testicles, sliced thin, served with horseradish cream and cocktail sauce; a ranch-country bar snack that survived in old-Denver steakhouses.
Rocky Mountain oysters arrived in Denver with the Front Range cattle trade in the 1860s, a ranch-economy use of branding-season byproducts. The Buckhorn Exchange, opened in 1893 by Henry H. Zietz, kept them on the menu through the 20th century alongside elk and bison. The Testicle Festival in Throckmorton, Texas popularised the dish nationally; in Denver, Buckhorn and a handful of old-school steakhouses still run them as a starter. The dish remains a tourist initiation more than a serious local staple.
Where to eat in Denver:
- Buckhorn Exchange
- Bull and Bush Pub