Deluxe will be all self-serve, with stools along the counter where diners can sit to eat and gaze through the original, circa 1941 windows into the Mod Livin' showroom. "The whole thing is painted orange, and all the furniture is white," Roorda says. "It kind of reminds me of the old-style burger stand when you walk in."
But the food will be thoroughly modern -- several kinds of burgers (including tuna, portobella and falafel) with homemade ketchup and mustard, as well as specialty shakes - in keeping with the fare Moore serves at Delite and Deluxe. There isn't a liquor license yet, but that will come, Roorda says.
The space at 5325 East Colfax Avenue that's been turned into Deluxe Burger was a liquor store when Roorda and Jill Warner opened Mod Livin' back in 2001 - and a major nuisance to a neighborhood that didn't have a lot going on. But then Goose Sorensen opened Solera across the street, and when the liquor store lease finally ran out, Mod Livin' took it over as an art space. "Then Dylan Moore approached us and asked if we wanted to try this out," Roorda remembers.
After missing the projected Valentine's Day opening, the partners "decided to just slow down and do this correctly," Roorda explains, "so that everything gets tested, and everything's 100 percent good."
See just how good on Saturday, when Deluxe will be serving two-for-one burgers all day.
For now, Deluxe Burger and Mod Livin' will be keeping the same hours, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
