Martinez, who opened Brandon's Pub in 2008 at 955 Lincoln Street, and was forced to close that location last June when the commercial segment of the Beauvallon went into receivership, reopened his pub today in the former Chez Jose space at 3027 East Second Avenue.
"It's been a tough year," admits Martinez. "Besides all the building problems at the Beauvallon, being thrown out of our space, getting sued by Mile High Bank and the receivership and losing a lot of money, it took us four months to get this place open because it was in such bad shape. There were inches of black dirt everywhere."
After getting bumped from the Beauvallon, Martinez planned to auction off everything in the restaurant and then head to California to pursue his acting career, but he happened to drive by the Cherry Creek Peaberry coffee shop (soon to be Aviano coffee, also a former tenant in the Beauvallon) at 3031 East Second Avenue, which sported a "For Lease" sign in the window. "I called Peaberry to see about taking it over, but they told me there was no kitchen, but that the place next door, Chez Jose, was available, so I took a look at it and here we are," says Martinez, who intends to keep the same menu in place, with the exception of adding Navajo tacos to the board, a popular dish in New Mexico, the state from which Martinez hails. "We're still a sports pub serving New Mexican food, and the Navajo tacos are really great, so we're going to put them on the menu soon," he says, adding that he'll also start serving breakfast on the weekends once he gets up and running.
In the meantime, Brandon's is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The kitchen, notes Martinez, will continue cooking until 10 p.m. during the week and until midnight on the weekend. For more info, call 303-399-0092.
