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Doug Mace has gotten out of the kitchen at CY Steak, the steakhouse next to the Diamond Cabaret that Cliff Young opened five years ago. CY shares a kitchen with baRed, the bar/lounge/restaurant around the corner at 437 West Colfax that Young and his son, Zach, opened in December, and that means the father-and-son partners are now looking for a new hand for both. But since CY had kept chef Clem McHale — “a real old-school beef guy,” says Zach — when Mace came on, “instead of hiring an executive chef, we’re hiring a chef de cuisine,” explains Cliff. “We’re looking at a number of people.”
See also: Chef and Tell with Doug Mace
Twenty-four-year-old Mace, whom Cliff Young calls “a really talented young chef,” has an associate’s degree from the Culinary Institute of America; he did an externship at Morimoto in New York City, where he was eventually hired as a line cook, then moved to Denver to ski and snowboard and get his bachelor’s degree from Johnson & Wales. His first job in the Mile High City was at Epicurean Catering; he also spent time behind the line at Ocean Prime and Linger, which is where he was cooking when the Youngs hired him for CY Steak and the then-still-in-the-works BaRed, which was originally envisioned as a daytime coffeehouse and grab-and-go spot that would morph into a bar/lounge at night.
While they look for a chef, Cliff and Zach Young are making some changes at baRed, too. “We tried to be a bar with good food,” Cliff says. But more and more, he notes, people are coming to the spot looking for a restaurant, or stopping by after work for a drink and then staying for dinner — and they’re planning accordingly.
And now they can get music with their meal: baRed has added blues to the lineup on weekends.
And for more music to our ears: Don’t miss Dave Query’s description of Cliff Young in his recent Eater love letter: “Cliff’s style and dedication to creating memorable experiences was one part Mr. French from Family Affair, and one part crazed MMA cage fighter complete with dojo skills to back it up.”
