Restaurant Roll Call: Every Opening and Closing in January

Local diners have a lot of new restaurants and bars to check out, as the first month of the year brought 23 additions to the Denver scene, as well as three openings at the airport. Six spots debuted in the last week alone, including the highly anticipated Dear Emilia from the owners of Restaurant Olivia (don’t miss the lasagna verde). But in the past month, we also reported sixteen closures.

Jack’s Modern Steakhouse, a sibling of Jack’s on Pearl, opened in Lone Tree…and closed a week later, after a fire that will keep the place closed about a month for repairs. After closing the original Go Fish Sushi on Broadway, the One Concept Restaurant Group has replaced it with a third location of its modern Chinese concept Miya Moon.

Cafecito, a cafe founded in Montbello, has added a franchise location inside the Emily Griffith Building, while Lilac Coffee Express, which opened on East Colfax in 2024, is in soft-opening mode at its second outpost on the plaza level of the Granite Tower building.

World pizza champion Tony Gemignani’s Slice House chain, which opened its first Colorado location in Loveland last year, is celebrating the addition of a Boulder outpost on January 31.

There were some shakeups for Denver-born chain Village Inn this month, too, as it closed its Littleton outpost but reopened its Aurora location on South Parker Road on January 28 after a full renovation. “The decision to close the Littleton location was driven by a long-term business opportunity related to the property itself,” says Dallas Massey, VP of marketing for BBQ Holdings, Village Inn’s parent company. “We were presented with a lease buyout that aligned well with our strategic plans, and the space is better suited for redevelopment by the incoming tenant.”

Massey adds that there are no plans to close any other Village Inn locations in Colorado. “One of the positives coming out of the Littleton closure is the opportunity to thoughtfully repurpose recently updated materials for our Aurora location,” he says. “The Littleton restaurant had been renovated just about a year ago, so much of the furniture, signage and equipment is still in excellent condition and has significant life left. Rather than waste those resources, we’re reusing them to help renovate and modernize the Aurora store to current Village Inn brand standards — giving it a fresh, updated look while being mindful about sustainability and avoiding unnecessary waste.”

There were four closures in the last week of January, including Bellota in Boulder, Machete’s Colfax location and the five-year-old South Broadway outpost of brunch spot Bacon Social House, which cites “increasing cost of labor and operations as well as the increasing homeless population and crime around the area” as the reason for the decision to shutter, according to director of operations Brittany Gonçalves.

The month also ended with a bit of a mystery further south on Broadway, at the former Gennaro’s. That longtime red sauce favorite closed last March, but Jon Cook, who owns the building, told Westword that no matter what moved in, the vintage sign would stay — a promise he’d made to Gennaro’s late founder, Joe Gennaro. By August 2025, Vintage Himalayan had moved in. Now, that business appears to have closed — the phone line is out of service and the doors are locked.

Alongside the still-intact Gennaro’s sign and the new Vintage Himalayan sign on the front of the building hangs a banner that reads, “Vintage Himalayan Introducing Karely’s Bar #7,” but there is no more information on what that concept might be. Neither Vintage Himalayan nor Cook has replied to a request for comment.

Here’s the complete list of restaurants and bars that opened and closed in January*:

Openings

Adventure Time, 101 Broadway
American Lore, 3965 Tennyson Street
Brews N Birdies, 2156 Larimer Street
Café Tres, 2960 Champa Street
Cafecito at Emily Griffith, 1860 Lincoln Street
City Buffet, 5066 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Littleton
Darlene’s Ice Cream, 3105 South Peoria Street, Aurora
Dear Emilia, 3615 Delgany Street
Fire Bowl Cafe, 11435 East Briarwood Avenue, Englewood (reopened after November 2025 fire)
Jordan’s Deli, 1035 Lincoln Street
Le Do Thai, 1550 Blake Street
Lilac Coffee Express, 1099 18th Street
Mar Bella Boquieria, 233 Clayton Street
Might Tea Samurai, 1100 Broadway
MilkShake Factory, 5324 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada
Mix’d Drink, 3120 Zuni Street
Miya Moon, 1 Broadway
Moodswing, 3625 East 48th Avenue
Pho & Wok, 1000 West Evans Avenue
Slice House, 1805 29th Street
Smalls Sliders, 1831 East 120th Avenue, Northglenn
Village Inn, 6370 South Parker Road, Aurora

New at Denver International Airport, concourse B:

• Denver Street Eats
• Einstein Bros. Bagels
• Mile High Spirits

Opened and Temporarily Closed

Jack’s Modern Steakhouse, 9155 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree (temporarily closed following a fire a week after opening)

Closures

Bacon Social House, 2160 South Broadway
Bellota, 4580 Broadway, Boulder
Dry Dock Brewing, 15120 East Hampden Avenue, Aurora
Go Fish Sushi, 2055 West 136th Avenue, Broomfield
Hell or High Water, 1526 Blake Street (reopening in RiNo)
Honor Farm, 1526 Blake Street
Lustre Pearl, 1315 26th Street
Machete Tequila + Tacos, 3570 East Colfax Avenue
Okinawa Japanese Cuisine, 2301 East Colfax Avenue
The Pepper Pod, 530 Fir Street, Hudson
Samosa Shop, 1526 Blake Street (reopening in RiNo in 2026)
Sukoon Neighborhood Indian Flavor, 101 West Hampden Place, Englewood
Sunday Vinyl, 1803 16th Street Mall
Thirsty Bear Bar & Grill, 2595 South Lewis Way, Lakewood
Village Inn, 23 Centennial Boulevard, Littleton
Vintage Himalayan Bar and Restaurant, 2598 South Broadway

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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