MAKFam second restaurant location revealed

In April, we noted that MAKfam was one of several Denver-area restaurants looking to expand their footprint this year. At the time, the husband-and-wife ownership duo of chef Kenneth Wan and Doris Yuen weren’t talking about exactly where they planned to put the second installment of their Michelin Bib Gourmand-recognized Chinese restaurant. 

Thanks to permit documents uncovered by real estate blog Naked Denver, we now know. MAKfam is eyeing a space on the ground floor of the Edit, an apartment building at 3463 Walnut St. The restaurant will take over 4,699 square feet previously occupied by Choice Market, with space for 102 people inside and another 20 on the outdoor patio. The new restaurant will boast a full bar and dining room with table service, and will take reservations — all things that aren’t offered at the original Baker neighborhood location. 

The MAKfam team has yet to announce a timeline for the new venture. But Yuen makes it clear that the expansion into RiNo is part of their broader strategic plans. 

“We are going to expand and open a second MAKfam, because currently we have a model that works,” she says. “We have a menu that works, a concept that works. We just want to replicate this process in a bigger space so we can do a little bit more.”

The current MAKfam location is small but mighty, slinging out not only some of the best Chinese food in Denver but some of the city’s best food, period. The menu consists of only about a dozen small-plate options and half that many entrees, with a few lunch specials. However, that’s enough to have the restaurant consistently land in Best of Denver editions every year since it opened, as well as on our list of the Top 50 Restaurants in Denver.

The larger space in The Edit will not only have more seating (the current MAKfam seats a maximum of 50 people) but a larger kitchen, which will give chef Wan and the back-of-house team more room to work and develop additional dishes. 

“We definitely need more space,” Yuen says. “We want to have the opportunity to be more creative, because our prep space is really small and we’re really busy. So it’s more about doing quantity while maintaining quality. At this second location, there’s a little bit bigger space and more ability for the staff to have a bit more creative freedom, and space to do more R&D.”

Also moving into the building is Risica, a Milanese pizzeria and wine bar from former il Posto chef/owner Andrea Frizzi. While we included Risica on our list of the most-anticipated openings for the spring, it is now hoping to open in July. 

The MAKfam space will be designed by Regular Architecture, of course: Nearly every recent opening in Denver seems to have the local firm’s thumbprint on it. 

MAKfam is located at 39 W. First Ave. and is open from 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Sundays through Monday, and Wednesday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. Friday through Saturday. For more information, visit makfam.com.