This Week’s Openings and Closings: Los Dos Potrillos Debuts Fast-Casual Offshoot and More

While it was a slow week for restaurant openings, there was still plenty of action on the dining scene.

The only brand-new spot to debut has a familiar name. Brothers Daniel and Luis Ramirez, who were on our list of People to Watch in 2023, introduced Los Dos Potrillos Cocina y Cantina in Northglenn. It’s a fast-casual offshoot of the full-service Los Dos Potrillos, which was founded by their father, Jose, in 2002 and currently has four locations.

Two eateries reopened this week. Farmhouse Thai in Lakewood had been closed for kitchen renovations that ended up taking longer than expected, but now it’s back, serving some of the best Thai food in town, including a stellar khao soi.

Also back after an extended closure is Ototo. The more casual sister restaurant of Sushi Den and Izakaya Den shut down when restaurants were ordered to suspend indoor dining because of the pandemic in March 2020. Now it’s once again serving old favorites like yellowtail collar and miso eggplant along with new additions like tako yaki and bacon mochi.

The original Quizos has shut down for the first time since it was founded in 1981. The doors are covered in notices about unpaid taxes, but the company says it plans to find a new franchisee to reopen it. We talked with founder Jimmy Lambatos about his memories of starting the business – and starring in a memorable Super Bowl commercial.

On April 14, Comal Heritage Food Incubator closed its first home at the TAXI development in RiNo, but it plans to move into a new space at RiNo ArtPark in July.

Gone for good, though, is Blake Street Tavern. After celebrating its last Rockies home opener weekend, it shut the doors after two decades in the Ballpark neighborhood. The lot will be developed into a mixed-use building with apartments. With its loss, we rounded up some other sports bars in the area to hit up on game days.

In other openings-and-closings news:

• The Irish Snug space on Colfax will reopen as Crazy Horse, an homage to the historic Sid King’s Crazy Horse that occupied the building until 1983.
• MobCraft is closing its Denver location after just seven months.
• The Porchetta House, which operates out of Spices Cafe on Colfax, is now open for lunch.
• Popular Fort Collins dumpling spot Chopstickers is opening a second location on the 16th Street Mall.
• South Denver staple Piccolo will close on April 30 after fifty years.
• Ay Papi is a new cocktail bar coming to Cherry Creek.

Here’s the complete list of restaurants and bars that opened and closed this week:

Restaurants and bars opening this week:*

Los Dos Potrillos Cocina y Cantina, 100 East 120th Avenue, Northglenn

Restaurants and bars reopening this week:*

Farmhouse Thai Eatery, 98 Wadsworth Boulevard, Lakewood
Ototo, 1501 South Pearl Street

Restaurants and bars closing temporarily this week:*

Quiznos, 1275 Grant Street

Restaurants and bars closing this week:*

Blake Street Tavern, 2301 Blake Street
Comal Heritage Food Incubator, 3455 Ringsby Court (moving to a new location)

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

Know of something we missed? Email cafe@westword.com.