Joe Vostrejs

Troy Guard: cottage cheese pimp, general of the TAG army

North Star space snapped up by Larimer Square gang

Tocabe liquor license hearing today

Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery has been open less than two weeks, but the sleek restaurant at 5356 East 44th Avenue has already gained a loyal following with its native American twist on fast-casual food. And that following could grow -- fast-- if the liquor-license hearing scheduled for ... More >>

Back in business: Sean Kelly

Rumors were rampant that the recently vacated North Star Brewery space at 3200 Tejon Street had already been snapped up by Joe Vostrejs, Jeff Hermanson and Rod Wagner -- the Larimer Square gang, in part, and the crew most recently behind the resurrection of Billy's Inn, at 4403 Lowell Boulevard. So ... More >>

Bite Me

Star Trek

What's in a name? Steak and bar, but not steak hut

Lori Midson Until yesterday, I hadn't spoken to Sean Kelly in a long time -- not since he shuttered Somethin' Else (now Fruition) in 2006. Not since he hooked up with the Little Pub Company, whose fourteen pubs, bars, taverns, saloons and (sort-of) restaurants are strewn all over the city. And not ... More >>

Is a chicken wing without chicken even a wing?

Lori Midson Until yesterday, I hadn't spoken to Sean Kelly in a long time -- not since he shuttered Somethin' Else (now Fruition) in 2006. Not since he hooked up with the Little Pub Company, whose fourteen pubs, bars, taverns, saloons and (sort-of) restaurants are strewn all over the city. And not ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, April 15 edition

Photo by Eric GruneisenCobra Starship's Gabe Saporta has some issues. I'll try not to make this too taxing. Today in Backbeat Online: • Last Night: Fall Out Boy at the Fillmore. • Last Night: Mastodon at the Fox Theatre. • DJ Vajra impresses NAMM crowd with his turntable magic. • Update: H ... More >>

The earls of sandwich

Photo by Eric GruneisenCobra Starship's Gabe Saporta has some issues. I'll try not to make this too taxing. Today in Backbeat Online: • Last Night: Fall Out Boy at the Fillmore. • Last Night: Mastodon at the Fox Theatre. • DJ Vajra impresses NAMM crowd with his turntable magic. • Update: H ... More >>

Jonesing

New Life Church has gotten a makeover since Ted Haggard left — as Mike Jones reports from the inside.

Ground Zero

Bistro Vendome gets a new chef.

Oyster Barred

A taste for revenge.

Beyond Borders

The Chen Brothers offer a pan-Asian experience at Blue Moon.

Bite Me

Birth Pains

Bite Me

Red Alert

Bite Me

A Square Deal

Joe Vostrejs knows fry bread

A regular at the old Billy's InnLong after my review of Tocabe was safely in the can, I was still dreaming about fry bread.  I was also eating fry bread -- having made at least three post-review visits to Tocabe's home at 44th and Lowell just to "check my facts." One that almost slipped by me? ... More >>

Dining blind at Cracovia

Lester and Maria Rodzen offer a taste of Poland at Cracovia.Bigos. Flaki. Czerwony barszcz, with or without uszka. Kapusniak. Pyzy, placek and kiszka. I'm pretty good with languages, particularly on my favorite conversational topics of food, kitchens and cooks. My pronunciation might be embarra ... More >>

Joe Vostrejs and his army are out to conquer Denver

Lester and Maria Rodzen offer a taste of Poland at Cracovia.Bigos. Flaki. Czerwony barszcz, with or without uszka. Kapusniak. Pyzy, placek and kiszka. I'm pretty good with languages, particularly on my favorite conversational topics of food, kitchens and cooks. My pronunciation might be embarra ... More >>

Steak Bar putting down stakes in Highland

Selling the sizzle in northwest Denver When Jason Sheehan checked in with Joe Vostrejs a couple of weeks ago, he had high hopes that the LoHi Steak Bar that's moving into 3200 Tejon Street -- the old home of North Star Brewery -- would be open in June. He just didn't know when in June. "We have all ... More >>

Banner day for Tocabe

I had lunch plans that were made weeks ago.  I had a time and a date, a big group of friends, a table waiting out on the patio.  What I didn't have?  Any idea that today was the day the Denver Post was going to drop the love on my new favorite north Denver American Indian fr ... More >>

Larimer Square is a garden of eatin'

I had lunch plans that were made weeks ago.  I had a time and a date, a big group of friends, a table waiting out on the patio.  What I didn't have?  Any idea that today was the day the Denver Post was going to drop the love on my new favorite north Denver American Indian fr ... More >>

Say hello to two new debuts: LoHi SteakBar and Icehouse Tavern

What will you eat at LoHi SteakBar? We've just gotten word that LoHi SteakBar, the new restaurant spearheaded by Joe Vostrejs and chef-partner Sean Kelly, is opening tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in the former home of North Star Brewery at 3200 Tejon Street, which is exactly seven hours (that would be ... More >>

Ginger Gimlet at LoHi SteakBar

What will you eat at LoHi SteakBar? We've just gotten word that LoHi SteakBar, the new restaurant spearheaded by Joe Vostrejs and chef-partner Sean Kelly, is opening tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in the former home of North Star Brewery at 3200 Tejon Street, which is exactly seven hours (that would be ... More >>

Jason Sheehan is ready to face his critics

What will you eat at LoHi SteakBar? We've just gotten word that LoHi SteakBar, the new restaurant spearheaded by Joe Vostrejs and chef-partner Sean Kelly, is opening tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in the former home of North Star Brewery at 3200 Tejon Street, which is exactly seven hours (that would be ... More >>

The Larimer Square guys and Sean Kelly get a pizza the action

Lori MidsonThe future home a New York-style pizza joint from the Larimer Square gang and Sean Kelly​Sometime in December, Jeff Hermanson, Joe Vostrejs and Rod Wagner will add a new pizza bar to their portfolio of successful restaurants that already includes Billy's Inn, LoHi Steakbar and prett ... More >>

Chef and Tell: Troy Guard from TAG

​"You're the first person who's asked for hot sauce since I opened," says Troy Guard. The owner and executive chef of TAG, a three-month-old restaurant in Larimer Square, isn't quite scolding me, but he's made it perfectly clear that his steak tacos, a plate of which sits in front of me, don't ... More >>

A conversation with Troy Guard of TAG

​"You're the first person who's asked for hot sauce since I opened," says Troy Guard. The owner and executive chef of TAG, a three-month-old restaurant in Larimer Square, isn't quite scolding me, but he's made it perfectly clear that his steak tacos, a plate of which sits in front of me, don't ... More >>

Planning Board votes down controversial Writer Square sign plan at impassioned hearing

Len EdgerlyOpponents of the Writer Square sign plan use an eight-by-12-foot sheet to demonstrate the size of the proposed video billboard.​The Writer Square pedestrian shopping center downtown may be subtle, quiet and low-key, but the passions the location inspires are anything but. Denver's P ... More >>

Sean Kelly finds a home at the LoHi SteakBar

Len EdgerlyOpponents of the Writer Square sign plan use an eight-by-12-foot sheet to demonstrate the size of the proposed video billboard.​The Writer Square pedestrian shopping center downtown may be subtle, quiet and low-key, but the passions the location inspires are anything but. Denver's P ... More >>

Ernie's opens in northwest Denver, now it's on to Congress Park

Lori Midson​Ernie's will open on schedule today, after a whirlwind renovation by Rod Wagner of the space that for years held 3 Sons, and for decades before that was home to Ernie's. But while the original Ernie's -- which opened in 1943 and whose sign has been reconstructed for the new Ernie's ... More >>

Samba Room, Euclid Hall, Ocean Prime and the ongoing evolution of Larimer Square

​A month ago, when Samba Room went dark and a sign appeared in the window of the restaurant at 1460 Larimer Street announcing that the space was under "construction," Joe Vostrejs, COO of Larimer Associates, started getting calls. Restaurateurs were interested in leasing this corner spot in ho ... More >>

Frank Bonanno's new Larimer Square space will peddle pie... and something else

Frank Bonanno at Bones​A couple of months back, we saw a tweet from Frank Bonanno asking his Twitter followers whether Denver would rather see doughnuts or pie. Denver must have said pie. The chef, whose expanding restaurant group includes Mizuna, Bones, Osteria Marco and Luca d'Italia, acqui ... More >>

LoHi SteakBar is a great neighborhood joint

Frank Bonanno at Bones​A couple of months back, we saw a tweet from Frank Bonanno asking his Twitter followers whether Denver would rather see doughnuts or pie. Denver must have said pie. The chef, whose expanding restaurant group includes Mizuna, Bones, Osteria Marco and Luca d'Italia, acqui ... More >>

Save the crust: Ernie's Bar & Pizza stretches expectations

Frank Bonanno at Bones​A couple of months back, we saw a tweet from Frank Bonanno asking his Twitter followers whether Denver would rather see doughnuts or pie. Denver must have said pie. The chef, whose expanding restaurant group includes Mizuna, Bones, Osteria Marco and Luca d'Italia, acqui ... More >>

Bier here! Don't get your lederhosen in a bunch: Oktoberfest is still kickin' at 41

Frank Bonanno at Bones​A couple of months back, we saw a tweet from Frank Bonanno asking his Twitter followers whether Denver would rather see doughnuts or pie. Denver must have said pie. The chef, whose expanding restaurant group includes Mizuna, Bones, Osteria Marco and Luca d'Italia, acqui ... More >>

Frank Bonanno and partner/bartender Adam Hodak to open the Green Russell in Larimer Square

Adam Hodak will partner with Frank Bonanno to open the Green Russell​A few weeks ago, we reported that Frank Bonanno, whose expanding group of restaurants includes Mizuna, Bones, Osteria Marco, Luca d'Italia and, in December, Lou's Food Bar, had signed a lease on a sizable subterranean space ... More >>

Larimer Associates debunk the rumors around Madison Street

​"This nonsense about us forcing them out is just that: nonsense." That line was in an e-mail from Joe Vostrejs, COO of Larimer Associates, the group that's partnering with Brian Sifferman, general manager of Larimer Square's Corridor 44, to open Madison Street, 1222 Madison, in the Congress ... More >>

Madison Street opens -- see for yourself what all the talk is about

​There's already been plenty of noise about Madison Street -- and the restaurant at 1222 Madison won't officially open its doors until 3:30 p.m. today. Madison Street is the brainchild of Larimer Associates -- the group that also created Ernie's Bar and Pizza, LoHi SteakBar and Billy's Inn -- ... More >>

Samba Room in Larimer Square will reopen in January or February

​The music hasn't played in the corner space that holds Samba Room, 1460 Larimer Street, for six months now, but despite speculation that the Latin American restaurant might never reopen, the Larimer Associates, who own the property, say the beat will go on-- it just won't start pulsating unti ... More >>

Madison Street now open for weekend lunch

Madison Street​Madison Street, 1222 Madison Street, may have had a few fights with the new neighbors before it opened, but now that it's settled in, it's ready to invite those neighbors over for lunch. The restaurant just extended its weekend hours, opening a few hours earlier for daytime eat ... More >>

From Samba Room to Ocean Prime: Larimer Square's trickle-down economics

​The big opening on Larimer Square this month will be Ocean Prime, which sets sail on Thursday, after a fundraiser for the Hospice of Denver tomorrow. Ocean Prime is opening right on schedule -- unlike Samba Room. That spot closed more than seven months ago, so that a leak dripping into the ... More >>

Ocean Prime sails into one of the last empty spots in Larimer Square

Ocean Prime now holds down a corner of Larimer Square​"I'm looking at it across the street," says Joe Vostrejs, COO of Larimer Associates, gazing through his office window at Ocean Prime, the restaurant in the old Z Gallerie space. "They're ready." Not long after restaurateur Cameron Mitchell ... More >>

After months of repair limbo, Samba Room finally pulls the plug

​It's been many, many months since floor leaks forced the closure of Samba Room in Larimer Square, but as late as December of 2010, the company, along with Larimer Associates, the group that owns the space, were optimistic that the place would eventually reopen. It wasn't to be. E Brands, the ... More >>

Satchel's on 6th will open in the next couple of weeks

Satchel's on 6th​Last September, Andrew Casalini shuttered his vibrant Park Hill restaurant, Satchel's Market, to make way for a new concept called Satchel's on 6th, which was originally slated to debut late last year in the Larimer Associates-owned building at 1710 East Sixth Avenue. And aft ... More >>

Troy Guard becomes an operating partner of Madison Street

Lori Midson​Last week, Joe Vostrejs, the COO of Larimer Associates, was heading home from Madison Street, the Congress Park neighborhood restaurant he opened in October of last year, when he started to think about dots -- specifically, connecting those dots to Troy Guard, the chef/owner of TA ... More >>

Union Station redevelopment may include a food hall run by Frasca

Frasca Food and Wine​The area around Union Station has recently gained several high-profile restaurants, including Coohills and Charlie Palmer's pair of spots, District Meats and Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza (opening next week), with The Kitchen and the Squeaky Bean coming next year. Now Union Sta ... More >>

Union Station developers bite into a delicious project

​Union Station was once a bustling spot, but as fewer people decided to "travel by train," as its neon sign advises, more and more businesses pulled out of the station. By the early '80s, the only refreshment options were a soda fountain in the lobby, the classic Caboose Lounge and, for two gl ... More >>

Larimer Associates will open the Lowry Beer Garden in the new Hangar project

Lori Midson​Joe Vostrejs and his Larimer Associates partners traversed across the country to check out America's beer gardens before they came back to Denver to build their own -- and what they found, admits Vostrejs, was surprising.

Readers: Lowry Beer Garden? We'll drink to that!

​The news that Joe Vostrejs and Larimer Associates plan to put the Lowry Beer Garden -- a nearly 8,000-square-foot bar, authentic beer garden and pavilion -- into the Hangar 2 project (which will also have a dozen restaurants in its dining district) had beer fans raising their steins in thanks ... More >>