WineInk: Amara — A passion project in Carbondale

Most restaurants are born from commerce. But Amara Kitchen and Wine Bar, a new restaurant in Carbondale, was conceived from love. A love of hospitality, community, food and, of course, a love of wine that is shared by Amara founders Maria J. Cardenas and her husband Ricardo Leyvas.

Tucked into a cozy space on 4th Street, just around the corner from what has become an ever- buzzier Main Street in Carbondale, Amara opened in late January 2026 and, in just nine weeks, has become the talk of the town. The simple, inviting décor, the exciting Aegean and Mediterranean-influenced cuisine and the eclectic wine list has attracted locals and enticed diners from up and down the valley. Reservations, especially in the earlier evenings, are already hard to come by.

“We have just been so pleased with the response; it has exceeded our every expectation. We are so proud to be a part of this community,” Ricardo said about the initial demand.

Both Maria and Ricardo have long histories in the Aspen culinary and wine communities. In 2024, they moved to Ironbridge, not far from Carbondale, and were married in 2025 shortly before launching plans for their new project.

“Honestly, this is 100% Maria’s vision,” he said about the focus and concept for Amara.

For her part, Amara is a dream come true.

“I have always wanted to open a restaurant,” she said. “That has been in my mind ever since I was a little girl.”

Amara’s menu is inspired by dishes from places of the sun and the sea. A Flambéed Saganaki cheese from Greece, Grilled Dates with Chorizo and Pata Negra (jamón ibérico, toasted bread and tomato) from Spain and a traditional Beef Tagine from Morocco. Servings are sumptuous and flavors are bold. There is not another menu like it in the neighborhood. Or the valley.

Guests have loved the simple, monochromatic, natural and casual “wabi sabi” design style, which features wooden chairs and tables with colorful plates and serving dishes seemingly sourced for their seaside style. It has a relaxed feel and invites diners to stay a while. And there is a discreet dining table in the intimate wine room for those so inclined.

And the wine list is a labor of love that comes straight from Maria’s heart.

“I put all the love I have into this list,” she said. “I had so much fun doing it! It felt liberating to create a wine list where I could be more creative and eclectic than I was expected to be in Aspen,” said the longtime wine professional. 

Maria’s journey to Carbondale began in Bogota, Colombia, where she was raised and developed her love of restaurants and hospitality. She also had family who lived in a vineyard in the Valpolicella wine region in Italy and would spend summers amongst the vines. But before she found her culinary calling, she went to law school and was a practicing lawyer in her home country.

“I hated what I was doing, so I told my parents, ‘I want to go to culinary school,'” she said.

Packing her bags for the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, she took a different path.

“After I graduated from the CIA, I went to Somm School in NYC and found my passion,” she said.  

Following a stint at Daniel Boulud’s Boulud Sud in Manhattan, Maria embarked for Aspen.

“Obviously being someone who gets into wine, there is one place that you want to be, and that is at The Little Nell,” she said.

She joined the Nell in 2015 in her first Aspen job. For the next decade, she worked in wine and management roles at many of Aspen’s finest restaurants, including the Monarch Steak House, Betula and, most recently, as general manager of the French Alpine Bistro.

Then a new venture beckoned.

“I was walking down the street and saw the ‘For Sale’ sign on what was once Bodegón,” she recalled. “I called Ricardo and said we should come look at this place. It was a blank canvas.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Amara has given Maria an opportunity to curate the wine list of her dreams. There are just under 200 selections, and the vast majority are from smaller, hand-picked producers.

“I like to work with the little guys,” Maria laughed when asked about her source for these eclectic wines. “I didn’t know what Carbondale people would drink or be interested in. So, I said I want to do a list that is different, that is fun and that is approachable in price,” she explained.

French and Italian wines dominate the wine list, which is entirely from the Northern Hemisphere, but there are wines from Spain, Austria, Greece, the U.S. and even Lebanon and Slovenia.

To date, she seems to have nailed it.

“It has been surprising that our best seller has been our Sicilian Orange wine, the 2023 COS ‘Rami,’ which sells for $65. I never expected that,” she said with pride. “I bought a couple of Napa Cabs, some domestic pinot and oaky Chards to be safe, but I haven’t sold one because people feel adventurous when they come in here. They want to try something different. They want to be guided on a journey they usually don’t take.”

When asked why, Maria replied, “I just think people in Carbondale are very interesting.”

When pressed for a few highlights from the wine list other than the COS “Rami,” she suggested a non-vintage sparkling rosé from a biodynamic producer in the Bairrada region of Portugal that is sold by the glass, the Filipa Pato “B3.”

“I think it is such a good chuggable wine,” she said with delight.

Ricardo, for his part, suggested a Gruner Veltliner that he referred to simply as “the Somm’s Wine” because “it’s the one all of the sommeliers from Aspen order when they come here.” Be in the know and order a bottle of the Weingut Knoll Loibner Ried Kreutles Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2022 if that appeals. It is a steal at $120 a bottle.

Spend a little time with Maria and Ricardo, and you’ll get a feel for where this new Carbondale restaurant’s success comes from.

“I think Amara is what it is because of us and the shared passion that we both have for food and wine,” said Maria. “We just got married last year, and our love story is very recent.”

Oh, and there is one more to come in this story. One week after signing the lease on their new space last summer, Maria and Ricardo found out that she is pregnant. They are expecting in June.

Conceived from love.