Churreria de Madrid’s Spanish-style churros are a rare and delicious treat

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).

The way Churreria de Madrid arranges its food ensures that anyone strolling by will get a good, long look at their fried delights.

And long they are, arranged by flavor and resting on clear glass plates like funhouse-mirror tamales, sans cornhusks. These are adult churros, some filled with pastry cream, some with dulce de leche, some with fruit jelly. On my last visit to this 6-month-old addition to the Stanley Marketplace, at 2501 Dallas St. in Aurora, I hungered only for the svelte versions, the dough which is squeezed directly into the deep fryer.

Those are still relatively thick, perfectly crisp, lovingly dusted with sugar, and arranged like mutant-sized steak frites in a white paper cup. But they’re not so massive that I need two coffees during, and a nap afterward.

Formerly the home of Glazed & Confused Donuts (one of the few places that offered CBD varieties of that treat), the food stall now hosting Churreria de Madrid is respectful toward and focused on the traditional Spanish and Portuguese-sourced fried dough sticks — to the rare and heartening exclusion of all else.

Single churros, such as the thinner ones I mentioned, are only 85 cents. Filled churros are $2.75 each, while the churros-and-chocolate combo — the latter for dipping — is a reasonable $8. Along with the nearby barbecue, fried chicken, sushi and other cuisines at the Stanley, it’s a bit of geographical wanderlust under a single roof.