There s no question that the restaurant industry is still struggling as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. But a mild winter and the partial reopening of dining rooms has made January just a little more bearable than December. Still, many eateries are choosing to stay closed until Denver has better patio weather, more widespread vaccinations and safer projections from government agencies.
Despite the challenges, few restaurants decided to call it quits permanently last month. The Denver Diner and Hearth & Dram had already closed, but in January revealed their decisions to officially throw in the kitchen towel permanently. While the Denver Diner had operated at partial capacity from June to November, it closed for good on November 20, when dining rooms were declared off-limits; the owners have left room for the possibility of opening in a new location in the future. Hearth & Dram never reopened after closing in March, though it originally planned to make a comeback this spring. But
At the end of every year, we compile a list of all the restaurant and bar openings and closings over the previous twelve months. As 2021 approached, we expected our roster to be a devastating record of the toll that the coronavirus pandemic took on the industry.
And yes, there were many closings in 2020 around 120 in all, including both longtime favorites like El Chapultepec, the 20th Street Cafe, Racines, Vesta and Zaidy s Deli, and newer starts such as Euclid Hall, Old Major, Julep and Biju s Little Curry Shop. (We did not count restaurants that have gone into hibernation, such as Coperta and Beast + Bottle, in our tally.) But surprisingly, the numbers weren t that different from previous years. In 2019, we recorded slightly more than 120 closings, while 2018 came in at nearly 100. In fact, predictions for the restaurant industry have been dire for the past three or four years, primarily because of oversaturation, the increase in labor costs and the high price of real estate
We haven t even reached the end of 2020 and things are already looking up for 2021 at least in the Barnum neighborhood. Bounded by Federal Boulevard, West Alameda Avenue, Perry Street and Sixth Avenue, this mostly residential area isn t known as a restaurant destination, though you ll find a few gems like Grandpa s Burger Haven and El Coco Pirata here. And if things go according to plan for Jordain Parker, Barnum could be home to Denver s first new restaurant of the new year.
Parker has been working on opening Knox Pizza & Tap at 100 Knox Court since August, when she took over the former home of Los Molcajetes Mexican Restaurant. For the past ten years, the new restaurant owner has been working for Chuey Fu s Latin-Asian Grub, and now she s branching out with her own project. Parker started out helping Chuey Fu s owner, Joe Knoblich, operate his food truck, and she stuck with the company to help run the restaurants as they opened on Santa Fe Drive and South Broadway.
For as close to the end of the year as we are and as entrenched in the pandemic a surprising number of new eateries cropped up this week, from fresh outposts of popular chains like Shake Shack and Raising Cane s to local restaurateurs adding to the mix. Among those is a new Chook Charcoal Chicken outlet at Stanley Marketplace, the third for the Aussie-style rotisserie-chicken company founded by Adam Schlegel, Alex Seidel and Randy Layman. Chook will be spinning birds starting at 11 a.m. today for takeout; order online for a streamlined experience.
And in pizza developments, Bar Nun took over the former Capitol Hill Tavern and is serving artisan pies.