Jesse Morreale

First Avenue Hotel now a blight, rather than a bright light, on Broadway

Looks like El Diablo is really gone for good. The restaurant and its sibling, Sketch, held a final bash on May 2, then closed after last call -- right before the city's most recent notice to vacate the First Avenue Hotel was set to take effect on May 3. Earlier today, a crew was out covering the win ... More >>

El Diablo, Sketch want you to send them off in style -- tonight!

Have El Diablo and Sketch reached the end of the line? According to El Diablo's Facebook page, the restaurants will be closing at the end of business tonight: "Please come by and send us off in style!!!" This is the culmination -- maybe -- of a ten-month-long fight with the city, which started with ... More >>

Rockbar's request for special event cabaret permits denied

And the hits just keep coming for Rockbar, the hipster hangout that Jesse Morreale opened six years ago when he bought the All-Inn at 3105 East Colfax Avenue. Last week, the city denied Rockbar's request to renew its hotel and restaurant liquor license, but extended its temporary license until Nove ... More >>

Rockbar files response to recommended denial of liquor-license renewal

The deadline for comments on the suggested denial of Rockbar's liquor-license renewal -- issued ten days ago by hearing office William Hobbs -- was 5 p.m. today. For In the meantime, Jesse Morreale, the owner of Rockbar, has been busy, with staff and supporters exercising a "three-tiered outreach ... More >>

Rockbar liquor license hearing moved to September

Update below: Jesse Morreale has been spending a lot of time in meetings with the city recently, ever since the First Avenue Hotel, home of El Diablo and Sketch, was red-tagged on July 10. After a hearing before the Board of Appeals last week, he was able to reopen the two restaurants...but he still ... More >>

Reader: City's attitute toward restaurant employees is reprehensible

Three weeks after the city red-tagged the First Avenue Hotel building -- causing the immediate closure of both El Diablo and Sketch -- both restaurants are back in business. For now. After a three-and-a-half hour hearing Monday, the Board of Appeals -- a mayor-appointed committee that considers ac ... More >>

The Humble Pie Store will open in August in Baker

There's more going on in Baker than the drama between the city and El Diablo and Sketch, the two restaurants owned by Jesse Morreale that are indefinitely shuttered after the city walloped the building with notice-to-vacate signs, citing safety issues. Just a few blocks way, at 300 Elati Street, T ... More >>

Protesters gather outside El Diablo and Sketch, but the restaurants remain off limits

Protesters gathered outside the First Avenue Hotel late yesterday afternoon, waving signs and asking the city to allow Sketch and El Diablo to reopen -- and for employees of those restaurants to start collecting paychecks again. They've also started a petition on the web -- at www.saveeldiabloandsk ... More >>

Reader: City attacks local businesses, rather than help them

Two prominent restaurateurs are involved in very public spats with the city. Frank Bonanno, owner of Osteria Marco, among other restaurants, admits he can be a "dick." Especially when fighting the Denver Department of Environmental Health: posting missives on his blog aimed at Danica Lee, the depart ... More >>

Jesse Morreale's First Avenue Hotel slapped with notice to vacate

If city officials find a hundred members of a gay men's chorus picnicking in front of City Hall today, they have only themselves to blame. The cast of Von Trapped, a coffee concert at the Buell this morning, were to have lunch at El Diablo -- but that was before the city slapped the First Avenue Hot ... More >>

El Diablo and Sketch are closed...for now

El Diablo does not look like this tonight. There are no crowds. In fact, the restaurant is closed, as is Sketch, its sibling next door. Very early yesterday morning, the city slapped the entire First Avenue Hotel building with notices to vacate the premise -- immediately.

Like its namesake, Mezcal has mellowed with age

El Diablo serves regional specialties in devilishly fun surroundings

Slide Show: El Diablo photo tour

Hush will put a nightclub in the former Tambien space in Cherry Creek

Lori Midson​Michael Olsen, who ran the original Hush on Larimer Street, wants to put a new Hush in the subterranean space at 250 Steele Street that Tambien surrendered in September. But Olsen isn't going in alone: He has the support of the Little Pub Company, which owns nineteen joints in the ... More >>

Gourmet truck trend is rolling, but El Mariachi is grounded

Old-school taco trucks are the new trend.​Gourmet trucks are all the rage right now -- but sadly, El Mariachi is stuck in park. Although loncherias have a long, noble history in Denver, Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz were the first to get on board the tricked-out truck concept, creating El Ma ... More >>

El Diablo lives up to its name -- even before opening

The First Avenue Hotel in its original incarnation.​El Diablo may be the most appropriate name ever for a restaurant. Jesse Morreale, who took on the massive project of renovating the old First Avenue Hotel at First and Broadway, turning the front area into a restaurant he named El Diablo (an ... More >>

Update: More management change at Mezcal

​The celebrated Mezcal restaurant, located at 3230 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, announced yesterday that it has appointed Basic Food Group as its new restaurant management company. "We will operate Mezcal with the highest of standards; the reasons people love Mezcal will not change. The staf ... More >>

Chef and Tell: Sean Yontz of Tambien, Sketch and Mezcal

Sean Yontz​"Hey, get up, I have something to show you," instructs Sean Yontz as he strides into Sketch, one of the five venues he oversees with business partner Jesse Morreale. And their mini-empire will soon expand to a half-dozen, because Yontz, it turns out, is booting me off my stool to sh ... More >>

No Big Lots skewer for Sketch

​Sketch has a limited menu, but as Jason Sheehan noted in his review, what Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz (the subject of this week's Chef and Tell) are serving there is choice. Still, when the place opened in March, we couldn't resist suggesting that -- in addition to the exotic cheeses, meats ... More >>

Hed:Smashburger continues its march for world hamburger domination.

Charlie Master is moving on

Charle Master will soon be out of Sketch.​Charlie Master -- well-known floorman-about-town and scion of the former Mel's restaurant empire -- is packing it in at Sketch, leaving his gig with Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz to become the new FOH guy for Goose Sorensen at Solera. "I'm excited abou ... More >>

Sketch has a simple premise that leaves no room for mistakes

Get a job! Jesse Morreale's job fair

You drink at Mezcal -- why not work there? Jesse Morreale and his crew have close to a hundred positions to fill in their group of restaurants/bars --  Mezcal, Tambien, Rockbar, La Rumba, Sketch and a "new location," which we're guessing is that big front room at the First Avenue Hotel, right i ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, May 14 edition

Open wide... Love bites. Today in Cafe Society: • Zpizza to open z doors in Greenwood Village. • Uncork at Four Mile Historic Park tonight. • Get a job! Jesse Morreale's job fair. • Our Weekly Bread: Jersey Mike's. • Drinking with Pete at Union Station. • The Maker's Mark Mint Julep: D ... More >>

White Sangria at Sketch

Sketch: a wine bar without the 'tude

A rocky claim from Wicked Garden

Swimming in gluttony at Jax Fish House

The Westword.com blog shortcut, October 21 edition

Indulge, William Wahl's French bistro, leaves no diner behind

Westword Music Showcase, Year One

Mezcal

Morning, noon or night, Mezcal still does things right.

Gone Fishin'

Suddenly, Denver’s swimming in seafood restaurants.

The Daily Dish

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

The Year That Was

From a goose chase to a great chase, 2006 was one wild ride.

Rock, Rock 'Til You Drop

Get ready for Rockbar.

Booty Call

Late at night, Sketch looks awfully good.

It's a Mall World

Denver's strip-mall restaurants explore new territories.

Bite Me

Bake Off

Bite Me

Sean and Heard

The Beatdown

Nobody in particular knows the trouble these guys have seen.

Backwash

Still battling Goliath, Nobody in Particular Presents claims a clear victory in court.

Backwash

Area promoters smile for the camera as the city brokers a deal for Red Rock’s future.

Taking on the Empire

A local lawsuit against the world's largest radio/concert firm threatens to expose the dark side of the entertainment business.

Raves for the Raven

The local punk club spreads its wings, and a local Hooligan says goodbye.

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The Shed Spread

This summer's outdoor-concert season was the weakest in years. Doesn't anyone want to hear music outside anymore?

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