“Ultimately, I would say I was a little premature in opening a second location,” owner Jason McGovern told Westword. They include a gay bar that lasted only three months in LoDo and the first brewery taproom to close this year, along with both Crush Pizza + Tap and its sister restaurant, Crush Wing + Tap, which was only open for six months. There were closures in April, though we recorded six. But judging from the crowds on outdoor patios in the core city on warm spring days, business is definitely up.
But those that did open in the Mile High offer signs that downtown is coming back: Fuel & Iron, for example, has taken over the space occupied by Brass Tacks, which cited a lack of clientele in LoDo as a driver of its decision to close. But amid all this diversity, there was one clear trend: Many restaurants are now choosing to open in Denver’s suburbs instead of the city.įrom Lakewood to Littleton, more new spots opened outside of Denver last month than within city limits.
We reported sixteen openings in April, which ranged from a Pueblo-themed bar to a French/Vietnamese bakery to a pizza and pasta joint from a James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur. As we head into summer, the dining scene is heating up, too.
