Jesse Morreale

Reader: El Diablo gets notice to vacate -- seriously, again?

El Diablo has big plans for Cinco de Mayo, but it has another important date earlier in May: Yesterday the city again handed First Avenue Hotel owner Jesse Morreale with a notice to vacate the building by May 3. Morreale opened El Diablo with a temporary occupancy permit from the city in August 2010 ... More >>

First Avenue Hotel gets another notice to vacate -- but El Diablo, Sketch open for now

Jesse Morreale was back at the Webb building this morning for yet another hearing involving his First Avenue Hotel, home to Sketch and El Diablo, winner of our Best New Bar in 2011 and a place that continues to pack in the crowds. The status of these spots, and the circa 1905 building that houses th ... More >>

Judge grants restraining order; El Diablo and Sketch now open

Update, 7:05 p.m., January 11: Attorneys for Morreale Hotels LLC filed a motion today in Denver District Court, asking a judge for a temporary restraining order against the City of Denver that would allow El Diablo and Sketch to reopen. And after a hearing that started at 2 p.m. today, the judge agr ... More >>

Reader: Love or hate Jesse Morreale's First Avenue Hotel, but feel sorry for employees

Last week, Patricia Calhoun wrote about the city's latest order to vacate directed at Jesse Morreale's First Avenue Hotel. Since then, readers have debated about the value of the hotel and the El Diablo restaurant associated with it -- but one commenter advises folks on either side of this argument ... More >>

Reader: Notice to vacate at El Diablo/Sketch puts 100 people out of work

Six months after the city first slapped the First Avenue Hotel with notices to vacate because the structure was unsound, and five months after a Board of Appeals hearing determined that owner Jesse Morreale could reopen the two restaurants in the building -- Sketch and El Diablo -- while he worked o ... More >>

Jesse Morreale's First Avenue Hotel slapped with notices to vacate...again

Yes, that's the entrance to El Diablo, the restaurant in the big corner space of the old First Avenue Hotel building -- which was tagged, again, this morning with "Danger" signs and a notice to vacate...immediately. Two city officials, accompanied by a Denver police officer, posted the notices short ... More >>

La Rumba celebrates its 15th anniversary with a weekend-long celebration that kicks off tonight

Fifteen years ago, at the height of the swing craze, Jesse Morreale opened Ninth Avenue West at 9th and Acoma and brought in some of the top bands of the day, like the Royal Crown Revue and the Mighty Blue Kings. But around the turn of the century, as swing started to fade, he changed the name of th ... More >>

City deadline for First Avenue Hotel has passed...but El Diablo, Sketch still open

The October 31 deadline that the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development had given the First Avenue Hotel came and went -- without any new notices to vacate slapped on the building. On July 10 those notices, headlined with the word "Danger," as well as five different letters signed b ... More >>

Jesse Morreale's First Avenue Hotel still faces an October 31 deadline

Jesse Morreale has decided he can't fight city hall on two fronts. And so after last call on Saturday, he'll close Rockbar, the hipster hangout he opened six years ago. The other front? First Avenue Hotel at 101 Broadway, which could have a date with destiny next Thursday if the city holds to its mo ... More >>

Jesse Morreale's fight with the city doesn't end at Rockbar -- the First Avenue Hotel is next

Jesse Morreale has decided he can't fight city hall on two fronts. And so after last call on Saturday, October 27, he'll close Rockbar, the hipster hangout he opened in the motel at 3015 East Colfax Avenue that he bought almost seven years ago; the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses declined t ... More >>

Last call for Rockbar on Colfax this weekend

It's the end of an era. This news coming on the heels of the Lancer Lounge closing, and word that Bender's Tavern and the hi-dive are changing hands: After this weekend, Rockbar is going dark. Spurred by the city's recent decision not to renew Rockbar's liquor license, which expired at the end of Au ... More >>

Rockbar will close this weekend after a goodbye bash

Jesse Morreale has decided he can't fight city hall on two fronts. And so after last call on Saturday, October 27, he'll close Rockbar, the hipster hangout he opened in the All-Inn, the motel at 3015 East Colfax Avenue that he bought almost seven years ago. Earlier this month, Tom Downey, the dire ... More >>

City plans to extend deadline on First Avenue Hotel to October 31

Today was the original deadline for Jesse Morreale to make required repairs to the First Avenue Hotel in order to keep it open -- a deadline set by the Board of Appeals on July 30, twenty days after the city had slapped the building with a notice to vacate, resulting in both El Diablo and Sketch clo ... More >>

Jesse Morreale and the First Avenue Hotel have another date with the city

Jesse Morreale has spent much of the summer in meetings with the city, which on July 10 slapped a "notice to vacate" on his First Avenue Hotel property - the circa 1906 building at 101 Broadway that holds Sketch and El Diablo, as well as Morreale's offices. And those meetings aren't over yet. Last ... More >>

Rockbar liquor license renewal hearing tonight

Jesse Morreale has spent much of the summer in meetings with the city, which on July 10 slapped a "notice to vacate" on his First Avenue Hotel - which holds Sketch and El Diablo, as well as Morreale's offices. And those meetings aren't over yet. But his next meeting with the city doesn't involve t ... More >>

Reader: The city should pay for the damage done at El Diablo

On July 10, the city red-tagged the First Avenue Hotel, ordering the building vacated -- and that meant that both El Diablo and Sketch had to close, at least temporarily. But after three weeks of fighting, owner Jesse Morreale managed to get a hearing yesterday morning before the Board of Appeals -- ... More >>

Jesse Morreale will reopen El Diablo, Sketch today after appeal victory

After a three-and-a-half hour hearing yesterday before the Board of Appeals that considers objections to decisions by the city's planning department, Jesse Morreale got the okay to immediately reopen his First Avenue Hotel building -- which had been closed by the city three weeks ago, slapped with n ... More >>

Jesse Morreale has a hearing on the First Avenue Hotel this morning

Three weeks after the city red-tagged the First Avenue Hotel, home of El Diablo and Sketch, the building remains dark while owner Jesse Morreale tries to figure out why the city suddenly decided the 106-year-old structure presents such a safety threat. This morning's Board of Appeals hearing could b ... More >>

Sketch reopens tonight and El Diablo reopens tomorrow after owner Jesse Morreale gets unanimous support from the Board of Appeals

After three weeks of being on lock-down, thanks to the City of Denver, El Diablo and Sketch, Jesse Morreale's two restaurants housed in the First Avenue Hotel will reopen tomorrow after the Board of Appeals unanimously agreed this morning that the restaurants, which were red-tagged by the city early ... More >>

Jesse Morreale has a public hearing with the city on Monday

More than two weeks after the city red-tagged the First Avenue Hotel, home of El Diablo and Sketch, the building remains dark -- while owner Jesse Morreale tries to convince the city that the 106-year-old structure where the restaurants opened two years ago under a temporary-occupancy permit is safe ... More >>

Reader: Is the El Diablo story a trip to Imaginationland?

The First Avenue Hotel saga continues, with El Diablo and Sketch remaining closed, and some of their specialties now served at Rockbar (above), also owned by Jesse Morreale. Much of the discussion concerns Morreale himself -- and how this story should be covered.

El Diablo and Sketch will remain closed this weekend

Happy hour will not be very happy today at El Diablo and Sketch tonight. The restaurants remain closed, after the city slapped the building in which they're housed, the First Avenue Hotel, with a notice to vacate very early on Tuesday, July 10. According to the city, the structure is unsafe. Accordi ... More >>

The devil you say! City slaps El Diablo and Sketch with notice to vacate

Danger. That's the sign on the door of Sketch, which is supposed to host an opening for a showing of 9News reporter Kirk Montgomery's photographs tonight. The sign -- as well as five different letters signed by Michael Roach, Building Official with Development Services in the Denver Department of Co ... More >>

At one year, says owner Jesse Morreale, El Diablo ain't broke

Mark Manger​Jesse Morreale and chef/partner Sean Yontz opened El Diablo, the Mexican restaurant that I review for this week's Westword, just shy of a year ago. And the crowds -- which made it nearly impossible to nab a bar seat that first week of business -- continue to pack the place. "Enou ... More >>

Drink of the Week: A spicy Mexican martini, the Diablotini, at El Diablo

Tambien shutters in Cherry Creek

​Last night, after dinner service, Tambien, the irreverent Mexican cantina at 250 Steele Street, in Cherry Creek, has shuttered its doors. The lease on the subterranean taqueria, which opened in 2006 after owners Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz closed Sketch at the same address and then later ... More >>

After devilish delays, El Diablo opens to angels and demons on Friday

Lori Midson ​Jesse Morreale takes me by the hand and leads me down a narrow passageway, past the rustic wooden tequila lockers and kaleidoscopic altar littered with white candles, and into the lantern-lit dining room of El Diablo, the new Mexican restaurant at First and Broadway that he and e ... More >>

Jesse Morreale is back on track with El Diablo

​After an unexpected stay in the hospital -- he fell and cracked his head the weekend that the first big press on his latest restaurant, El Diablo, came out in the Denver Post four weeks ago -- Jesse Morreale is back on the phone. And on the job. And when I talked with Morreale today, he sai ... More >>

Rib-Stickin’ Fun

Breaking News: Management change at Mezcal

​Last night was the sixth anniversary of Mezcal, the Mexican cantina and tequila bar at 3230 East Colfax Avenue that has played host to some of the best and some of the weirdest nights I have spent in the city over the past several years. Last night was also the night that Jesse Morreale and ... More >>

What's wrong with mariachi music at Mezcal?

Mezcal cabaret application decision due soon

After dueling meetings with business and neighborhood groups last week, Mezcal's application for a cabaret license went before a hearing officer with the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses on Monday. Supporters of the application -- which would allow owner Jesse Morreale to regularly feature ... More >>

Mezcal cabaret license hearing tonight

Mezcal (3230 East Colfax Avenue) restaurant celebrated its fifth anniversary a few weeks ago and brought in a mariachi band as part of the festivities. Owner Jesse Morreale has been bringing live entertainment to the club for the past few years, mainly on special occasions, as the city allows him to ... More >>

Two Mezcal meetings on live-music application

Mezcal, which helped pave the way for much of the redevelopment along this stretch when it opened at 3230 East Colfax Avenue five years ago, isn't sitting still. Back in October, the restaurant applied for a "cabaret" addition to its liquor license, so that it could have live music on the ... More >>

French restaurants are hot - just not haute

Happy fifth birthday to Mezcal, which will soon get a sibling

A few days ago, we noticed the sign on Jesse Morreale's new hotel/retail/restaurant project at First and Broadway, which noted that a restaurant named Sketch would be going in. Sketch, of course, was the name of Morreale's short-lived concept at 250 Steele, in the space now occupied by Tambien. Bu ... More >>

Morreale heads back to the future with Sketch

Over a year after he closed the well-reviewed but poorly performing Sketch Food & Wine in Cherry Creek, it looks like restaurateur/developer Jesse Morreale is reviving the concept -- or at least the name -- on Broadway. Morreale bought the historic, decrepit and partially vacant 1st Avenue Hotel bu ... More >>

How much did Jesse Morreale pay for the 1st Ave Hotel building?

Jesse Morreale's fabulously retro vision for the 1st Avenue Hotel

Bellying up to celebs at the Barackbar

Bellying up to the BarackBar

It's Time

The little things will get you every time.

Fish Story

Get fresh at Oceanaire.

Snow Blind

Snow jobs were all over town last week.

Let's Do Some Crimes

Repo men on the slowest chase since O.J.

Ruby Red Martini

Sketch

Going Underground

Jesse Morreale's basement tapes.

The Beatdown

Losing Dimebag Darrell was never part of the Damageplan.

Backwash

If this summer’s concert season has an encore, we’d rather skip it.

Backwash

A lawsuit brought by nobody in particular presents could muddy the waters of the Clear Channel empire.