
88 Hot Dog/Instagram

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We recently wrote about an influx of Korean fried chicken joints in Denver, and now another Korean specialty is on the rise: corn dogs. There are already a few places in town where you can find this food-on-a-stick, but this week brought another with the opening of 88 Hot Dog in Aurora, part of a Korean chain that is expanding in the U.S. The Los Angeles-based Two Hands Corn Dogs is also set to open an outpost here soon, near the University of Denver.
All of the new food and drink concepts at Clayton Members Club & Hotel in Cherry Creek are now open. After shuttering Of a Kind and OAK Market, it added Greek-inspired restaurant Kini’s in September, a concept from Quality Branded, which is the New York City-based group behind Quality Italian. Mediterranean wine bar Cretans and Moroccan-inspired cocktail lounge Chez Roc are now open inside the hotel, too.
Also debuting this week: Curry Kingdom, an Indian eatery in Wheat Ridge, and Pizza Pasta Villa, a casual Italian joint in Bear Valley.
An early-morning fire on November 8 has shuttered Portico Eritrean and Ethiopian indefinitely; the restaurant, bar and hookah lounge has not yet shared any updates. Closing for good, though, is the Congress Park location of Billy’s Inn, which was only open for nine months before abruptly calling it quits. The original outpost on Lowell Boulevard, which has been serving Denver’s Northside since 1933, remains open.
In other openings-and-closings news:
- Emily’s Cafe at Emily Griffith is now open for dinner.
- Las Margs & Tooey’s Off Colfax are back with new names, menus and specials.
- Five more openings are on the horizon, including the return of Chocolate Lab.
- Top Chef alum Byron Gomez’s new Costa Rican concept is open inside Avanti Boulder.
Here’s the complete list of restaurants and bars opening and closing this week:

A spread from Cretans, now open in Cherry Creek.
Cretans
Restaurants and bars opening this week:*
88 Hot Dog, 2225 South Peoria Street, Aurora
Chez Roc, 233 Clayton Street
Cretans, 233 Clayton Street
Curry Kingdom An Indian Eatery, 7605 West 44th Avenue, Wheat Ridge
Pizza Pasta Villa, 2740 South Wadsworth Boulevard
Restaurants and bars closing temporarily this week:*
Portico Eritrean and Ethiopian Restaurant and Bar, 1050 South Havana Street
Restaurants and bars closing this week:*
Billy’s Inn, 1222 Madison Street