Any given day, I have been out on my bike riding around town checking out neighborhoods from Aurora, Boulder, Centennial, to downtown Denver. Although, years prior I had also looked at Portland and Seattle, and I realized how developers all around the country are rolling out cookie-cutter food halls.
A couple of people had suggested or asked if I would be locating in some hipster area, but I am not entirely interested in paying a premium for a hipster branded gentrified area because of a talented bunch of artists, graphic artists, and designers had put their stamp on it for some food hall by a mega-developer. What I do care about is a location that puts me in an area that is right where all of you want a ramen shop to be in… if it rhymes with “ripster rare-rea,” fine, but I have to be around some kick-ass dudes/dudettes like Rolling Smoke BBQ (mmmmh, that mac’n’cheese).
Aside from the hipster premium tax, I do love a lot of initiatives some of these places have implemented like the small-scale/communal spots that help minimize start-up costs, but I have not seen any anchor businesses to draw a significant amount of people or traffic to a number of the places in Denver. Not to mention, the menu pricing at some these places are just stupefying.
Majority of the neighborhoods and places I visited did not seem like they come close to the foot traffic you’d find in DTLA’s art district or at food halls like the Anaheim Packing District or LA’s Grand Central Market (the Denver Central Market seems like they’re doing well with foot traffic). If they did pull people in, I’d be up for it because just trying to be cool is lame AF, and if I wanted that, I’d grow a beard, get some tattoo’s, and drink Moscow mules while I updated my font library inside one restaurant in FIVE POINTS that was dead on a Friday night.
Ideally, I want something that I think will be hard to find because I would like a small square footage of under or a max of 1,000 sq ft., with an open kitchen, a counter area, and within an area for people to walk to.
Portland, Anaheim, to LA
A small gallery of poorly shot images of LA’s Grand Central Market, a Portland bar, DTLA’s “Art District,” and the Anaheim Packing District.
Some of the Areas I Have Looked At in the Denver Metro Area
I’m so glad that the Cherry Creek Trail exists because I have been taking it to get from the DTC area to downtown Denver although Aurora, I’m better off driving.
Also if You Have Not Already Signed-up
In the meantime, sign-up for our VIP list to be immediately notified of our upcoming events:
- Early tasting: this is unfortunately an invite only event because we will be limited in size although if you sign-up early, we will giving away any open seats to you and a +1. This event will most likely be held on a weekday in the early evening in the Denver metro area.
- The pop-up event: open to all, but you will be the first to know.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you, and we hope to see you all at our next event.
