Antony Bruno
Audio By Carbonatix
For the last 10 years, Port Side in RiNo has been quietly slinging out some of the best breakfast sandwiches, quality coffee, and just overall good vibes to in-the-know residents who have made visiting the small cafe on Larimer Street a daily routine.
So when chef and owner Chris Bell announced on Instagram on June 17 that he has decided not to renew his lease and close up shop next month, the outpouring of support and emotion from longtime regulars was palpable both online and IRL.
Some 200 comments from both customers and fellow food business owners flooded the post. The next morning, there was a line of customers out the door, not only buying their usual dishes but also leaving $100 bills in the tip jar and looking Bell in the eye to express their sadness and appreciation firsthand.
“We’re so sad,” said one, sitting at a table on the outdoor patio as Bell served them their morning burritos. “We’re gonna miss this place.”
Antony Bruno
For Bell, however, the move is more a triumph than a retreat. He’s not closing because of financial pressures, lack of customers, or a dispute with his landlord. Rather, as he puts it, he’s simply reached the finish line of a long, grueling race, and is now walking away a winner.
“I’ve been here for 10 years, and I was at Potoger for 13 years before I opened this place,” says the 56-year-old chef. “For the most part, I’ve been on the line every day. My body doesn’t recover like it used to. I can push hard on the line for hours and hours, but I gotta lay down afterward.”
Between the physical strain that cooking every day has taken on his body and the uncertainty in the broader economic conditions for restaurants in Denver, he says now is the best time to hang up his tongs.
“The market is changing, everything’s changing, and I kind of don’t want to charge $20 for a breakfast sandwich,” he says. “I was at the end of my lease, I own all my equipment, and I don’t owe anybody money. I’ve got a little bit of money in the bank, so I’m just not gonna sign up again.”
Antony Bruno
Port Side began in 2016 as a partnership with Huckleberry Roasters. The space where it sits today was the coffee company’s second location, where Bell had been hosting pop-ups. When Huckleberry wanted to expand into food more formally, Bell was their first choice, and together they created Port Side as a partnership. A few years later, Bell bought them out and has run the space on his own ever since.
Inside the small kitchen, Bell has busted out as many as 150 covers on busy weekends using little more than an induction burner and a small electric convection oven. Among the popular items are a bacon egg and cheese sandwich that rivals any in not only Denver, but BEC-crazy NYC as well. It features an egg soufflé, Duke’s mayo, and a potato bun with, of course, egg and cheese. While many BECs taste mostly of bacon and cheese, here the egg is treated as the star of the show like it should be.
Another favorite is the breakfast burrito: a mound of bacon, eggs, potatoes, and cheese, tightly wrapped in a flour tortilla and crisped in a sandwich press before being topped with a ladle of fresh green chile. And of course there’s The Duke, an egg and cheese sandwich with a pile of pulled pork replacing the bacon, along with arugula and pickles.
“That’s been on the menu since day one,” Bells says. “It’s more of a weekend thing. Sort of a little treat.”
Antony Bruno
As he begins the wind-down to closure, and as the goodbye lines get longer, Bell says he’ll likely soon start condensing the menu to just the hits in the waning days before he shutters for good. But rest assured, this won’t be the last you’ll see of Bell, who says he plans to continue “slinging BECs” around town after a little time off.
“It’s not a full retirement, but definitely a little R&R,” he says. “I’m not sure what’s next. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve got a lot of friends in the industry, people that have wanted to collaborate and do a pop-up. That’s kind of more my speed now.”
Port Side will remain open until July 5, which leaves just 18 days for both longtime regulars and those who have always meant to visit the chance to get their fix.
“It’s bittersweet, because I love the hospitality and serving our regulars who come in all the time,” he says. “A lot of people are super sad. But it was a choice I made, and I’m happy with it.”
