Music City Hot Chicken
Audio By Carbonatix
In 2021, Broadway got hotter when Fort Collins-based Music City Hot Chicken opened a Denver outpost inside TRVE Brewing at 227 Broadway. But in July, the heavy metal brewery shut down, leaving the future of Music City’s Mile High location uncertain. It had planned to stay open at least through the end of that month and had hopes of taking over the whole space for good.
This month, that hope became reality when co-owner Sam Graf and his brother, Jordan, officially took over TRVE’s lease, securing the future of MCHC Denver — for now. There is one snag, though: Music City has had to reapply for a liquor license, which it did last week.
Graf explains that TRVE Brewing was licensed as a brewery through the state, not the city. Because Music City doesn’t produce beer, a different type of license through the City of Denver is required. Once approved, hopefully in less than three months, MCHC Denver will throw a grand reopening party. In the meantime, it’s operating with limited hours, opening from 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
“When TRVE announced that it was closing, a lot of people stopped by expressing concerns about us being able to stay,” Graf says. There were offers from other landlords who wondered if Music City would be interested in moving into a new location, but “at the end of the day, being in that building for over four years, it’s become a comfy spot. … I don’t know if we would’ve opened somewhere else.”
While Graf says that Music City feels “good about signing the lease because of the support from the community that we’ve gotten to know in the area,” he admits that it’s “harder than ever to stay afloat” in the restaurant industry. “We see a lot of restaurants shuttering,” he notes, including MCHC Denver neighbors Banded Oak Brewing and the Hornet. “We don’t know if it’s gonna work. Hopefully, our community will show up.”
When it does get its liquor license, expect a beer-forward menu along with a few cocktails, similar to what Music City offers at its original location in Fort Collins. “Mixology has never been a focus of ours,” Graf notes, adding that “we’ll see what that looks like as time goes on. It is a very small kitchen with a very big bar, so we’ll try to follow the demand.”
While you’ll have to wait to have a boozy drink at Music City Denver, it is dishing out some tempting specials right now in honor of green chile season. Stop in for a cup of Sam’s green chile, green chile mac, green chile cheese fries, or Music City’s take on Pueblo’s famed Slopper. You can also get a little bit of everything (fries, mac, green chile and a tender) in bowl form.
The current lease runs through 2029. “We’ll reassess from there, if we make it that long,” Graf concludes.
