New Highland Cafe Is a Femme Spaghetti Western Come to Life

Last June, Michelin-recommended French eatery Noisette shut its doors at 3254 Navajo Street after only three years in business. Eight months later, the space is finally being filled by a new concept that’s part Italian bakery, part “femme spaghetti western,” as owner Bree Licata puts it.

Velvet Lasso, which will celebrate its grand opening on Valentine’s Day, was decorated by Licata and is set up like a sultry parlour, clad in luxurious maroon, mauve and lilac tones with plush loveseats and cozy armchairs; glass chandeliers made to mimic flower petals; and secondhand knick-knacks and vintage curios adorning the walls and end tables. 

The theme follows through to the branding, which includes horse, heart and cowgirl motifs alongside Old West typography, all created by graphic designer Brianna Corn of Spa Day Design Studio, who has worked with brands like Illegal Pete’s, Hudson Hill and 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bar, Lady Jane.

The kitschy cafe hosted a soft opening last weekend, which seemingly every local social media influencer attended. “Neither of us really believes in marketing in the super traditional restaurant way,” says head chef and general manager Cole Sinatra. “If you have good reels on your Instagram and your food looks good, it drives people in.”

A Collective of Culinary Creatives

Beyond aesthetics, the shop delivers on flavor. Behind the espresso bar, customers will find a full lineup of the usual suspects priced between $5-$8, including lattes, cold brews, chai and matcha, in addition to house specialties like the Lasso Latte (a mocha latte with housemade raspberry almond syrup).

The pastry case is filled with fresh baked goods ($3-$8) inspired by Sinatra and Licata’s Italian heritage, including soft pink and yellow butter cookies; classic and pistachio cannolis; on-brand red, pink and violet rainbow cookies (rather than the traditional red, white and green); and a number of laminated pastries like almond croissants, pan de chocolate, and ham-and-gruyere-stuffed lattice pastries topped with tiny cornichons. 

There are also sandwiches ($15-$18) on house baked bread like the Hungry, Hungry Cowfolk, the shop’s version of a bacon, egg, and cheese, with elevated additions like tomato jam and a hashbrown; and the Pagilacci (named after the family-owned Italian joint that formerly occupied the space) stuffed with River Bear Meats, Straciatella cheese, veggies, greens, tomato jam, aioli and mustard.

“We just want to bring Italian back to the community and be kind of old school,” shares Sinatra, referencing the history of the building. “I grew up in an Italian household, with big Italian influences in my family, and it’s the same for Bree. … A lot of the sandwiches pull from things Bree will taste and say, ‘I ate this as a kid,’ and I’ll realize I grew up with a version of it too.”

The kitchen is stacked with talented individuals, including head pastry chef Wynter Sierra, who honed her craft at some of Denver’s top bakeries, including GetRight’s and Bakery Four. For Licata and Sinatra, it’s important to highlight the entire team and allow them to be as creative as they want.

“It’s a really big community-driven space. We have staple drinks that Cole and I will come up with, but also have people in the front of house who get to be creative as they want with the drinks. … [Or] watching the back of house get super excited about learning to cook the sandwiches,” Licata says. “It’s really incredible to watch people who love what they do work and be excited to create these things.”

The Lounge, Opening on 4/20

The space next door to the cafe will soon become Velvet Lasso’s bar and lounge. The site is still a construction zone, but Licata is aiming for a grand opening on April 20.

Like the cafe, Licata sourced the lounge decor from antique stores and marketplaces to create a living room vibe with vintage couches, clusters of chairs with coffee tables, and little pockets throughout the space that invite people to settle in. The vibe is evocative of a fictional character Licata created, whom she calls her great-aunt Muriel. “She’s the great aunt who never got married but travels the world and wants you to look at all her trinkets,” she explains.

The plan is to open the lounge Thursday through Saturday, with Sundays reserved for community pop-ups, chef residencies and collaborative events. A Monday service geared toward industry workers is also in the works. “We want to give people who may not have access to a kitchen or a ghost kitchen a space to come in and pop up,” Licata notes.

On the food side, the menu will lean simultaneously playful and indulgent with creations like Big Kid SpaghettiOs; steak frites; “girl dinner” with a martini, Caesar salad and a bag of fries; and Sinatra’s self-described hyper-fixation: chicken wings, which will be dusted with a Szechuan- and Italian-inspired dry rubs.

The bar program will follow suit with martini flights, including dirty variations, a nitro pull brew, and a tiramisu cold-foam espresso martini. The goal is a dive bar feel with a serious cocktail backbone.

More than anything, the lounge is meant to be activated. Licata and Sinatra envision drag brunches, industry yoga, slam poetry, acoustic sets, craft nights and even potential summer markets that spill into the street. Before opening, the team served roughly 400 free Thanksgiving meals in November, forging relationships with grassroots community groups, connections they hope to build on through block parties and neighborhood events.

“I think more spaces need to be interactive,” Licata says. “People need touch points.”

Not Their First Rodeo

Raised on Long Island, New York, Licata first picked up a love of baking at age eighteen before eventually attending culinary school in the city. She worked at several bakeries between New York and Oregon, where she opened her first venture in Portland in 2023, a bakery dubbed Flour Bloom.

Meanwhile, Sinatra spent years cooking at the highest levels of fine dining, traveling through France and Italy after working in Michelin-starred restaurants in San Francisco. But eventually, the polish wore thin. “I come from a big farm and agricultural background, and the disconnect between community and food at that level is really fucked up,” Sinatra shares.

They left the Michelin world and returned to Portland, where Licata was living at the time. Money was tight, work was scrappy, Licata had a project underway, and Sinatra stumbled into it. What began as a job quickly became something more aligned. When Licata closed Flour Bloom last year and made the decision to leave Portland for Denver, Sinatra didn’t hesitate. “Wherever you open next, I want to go with you,” Sinatra recalls telling her.

That shared leap is now Velvet Lasso. “There are just people in this world that you kind of mesh with creatively in a friendship and in the business world,” Sinatra says. “We just clicked.”

Velvet Lasso is located at 3254 Navajo Street and will be open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting February 14. For more information, follow @velvet.lasso on Instagram.