Interstate Kitchen & Bar gears up to gas up the Golden Triangle

Lori Midson | July 14, 2009 | 5:45pm

First, El Taco de Mexico spruces up its digs with a new patio, and now, two blocks up the street at 901 West Tenth Avenue, brothers Aaron and Andre Lobato and their good friend Joseph Newman are turning the former Santa Fe Tequila Company space, which dried up late last year, into an ass-kickin', foot-stompin' roadhouse.

The Lobato boys, who happen to be the sons of Kathy Andrade and Jack Kerner, owners of the 14th Street Bar & Grill in Boulder, got the idea while road-tripping it across America. "The concept was spawned by the open highway, during trips to Las Vegas and Oklahoma, where we were often in the middle of nowhere, but had to stop for something to eat," explained Andre. "We thought to ourselves, hey, man, it would be really cool to open a contemporary roadhouse with approachable regional American fare, the kind of place where we could take the simple stuff and expound on that."

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The space, Andre told me, will be "retro-y and industrial, with a roadhouse decor and automotive fixtures." As for the menu, Andre described it as "ambitious Americana with a Southern and Midwestern bent that will definitely complement whiskey and beer."

That's right, this is gonna be the kind of place where you can throw down a Jameson with your rabbit, guinea fowl or chicken livers -- and you can do it until 1:30 a.m., because that's what time the kitchen will close, not just on Friday and Saturday nights, but every night of the damn week. "I want the people in this neighborhood, which is also my neighborhood, to have a fun place to go seven days a week, early in the evening or late at night to have a whiskey, a beer and fried chicken," said Andre, who is also the exec chef.

But you'll have to hold off until early September before taking Andre up on his offer, since this Interstate won't open until sometime around Labor Day.