Mark Antonation
Audio By Carbonatix
Lazo Empanadas came onto the Denver scene in 2017, selling baked Argentinian empanadas in the former home of Buenos Aires Pizzeria at 1319 22nd Street. Co-founder François Saber says the company is ready to expand and will open a new Lazo location on the 16th Street Mall this summer.
“By the end of the year, the goal is to have three restaurants,” Saber notes. The new Lazo is being built at 303 16th Street Mall in the former home of Duck Soup. In addition, the company is scouting locations in the Denver Tech Center.
Lazo’s original location opened in January 2017.
Mark Antonation
The 16th Street Mall address is in Republic Plaza and has seating for fourteen customers inside, plus another 25 on the patio. A liquor license is planned so that Lazo can sell beer and wine alongside its fourteen flavors of empanada. Saber notes that it’s an excellent location to extend the company’s catering services to hotels and businesses nearby.
Lazo was initially launched in 2016 as a wholesale company by Saber, his brother Christian Saber and partner Luis Gomez, so you may have run into the brand at craft breweries or in the frozen-food aisle of Front Range markets. “We want to sell empanadas in every corner of America,” Saber states, “and we’re slowly getting there.”
Christian Saber also runs Rincon Argentino in Boulder with his wife, Karly, but it’s a separate business from Lazo, with a different menu.
