Every Opening and Closing This Week: Work & Class Expands and More

It’s been more than a decade since Work & Class debuted in RiNo, an up-and-coming area of town that’s now a restaurant hot spot, promising “a square meal and a stiff drink at a fair price.” Since then, its chef and co-owner, Dana Rodriguez, has been busy, most notably as the culinary brain behind Casa Bonita’s comeback under the ownership of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

In recent years, she opened — then closed —her Highland Mexican eatery Cantina Loca and debuted Carne, a globally-inspired steakhouse, just steps from the original Work & Class in RiNo. Now, she’s brought that concept to a new home at Grow + Gather on East Hampden Avenue in Englewood, which had rotated through several menus and chefs of its own before partnering with Rodriguez on this new venture. As RiNo did after Work & Class opened, Rodriguez says she thinks the area is “going to blow up soon” with even more local restaurants.

The Grow + Gather space includes an indoor vertical garden and a rooftop garden that is available for private events. Owner George Gastis also has a small farm nearby, and now Rodriguez is able to utilize all of that fresh produce at her restaurants.

The new Work & Class is multifaceted. The menu and decor in the space that opens for evening service will look very familiar to fans of the RiNo location, with industrial touches and even the same mural adorning the wall, along with such longstanding “house rules” as “Wait times are estimates, (not prophecies)” and “Be nice. No, really BE NICE.”

But there’s a new set of rules as well. “Be nice. It’s too early for bullsh*t,” reads a sign in Dayshift, the Work & Class daytime cafe, which is a new type of undertaking for Rodriguez. It’s a fast casual set-up where patrons — many of whom come from Craig Hospital across the street — can grab coffee or tea plus breakfast foods like Avocado Toat-adas (Rodriguez’s answer to boring avocado toast), short rib hash and a ham breakfast torta.

Dayshift also offers lunch items, including the “work lunch,” which includes a house salad plus a choice of one meat, one side and one bread option for $21. This weekend, Work & Class Englewood will host its first brunch service, complete with a spicy Bloody Mary and a citrus thyme mimosa.

Now, Rodriguez is eyeing more potential locations for future Work & Class outposts outside of Denver, and possibly outside the state.

This week’s other openings

Beyond Work & Class, we reported four other additions to the scene this week — and no closures.

Chef Liu’s, which had been a favorite for Chinese food on Chambers Road in Aurora before closing in 2014, is back more than a decade later at a new location on South Havana Street.

The Devil’s Drink, one of our favorite bars, has new digs on Platte Street in the subteranean former home of Ste Ellie and most recently, the short-lived Luci’s Shambles & Provisions. From October 2 through November 1, the original Devil’s Drink location at 3330 Mariposa Street will be transformed into the Upside Down Bar, a Stranger Things pop-up.

The Shambles Tavern, the bar that took over the former Dewey Beer space in RiNo in March, is now home to Iron Age BBQ. Owned by two brothers from Austin, it’s serving Texas-style smoked meats every Thursday through Sunday.

Over in the Colfax construction zone, the former Choice Market across from East High School is now Wyman’s Mercantile, a store and gas station offering grab-and-go sandwiches, salads and more.

In other openings and closings news:

• Pete’s University Park Cafe announced that it will shutter on November 9.
• Michelin-recommended Q House will close after service on October 4.
• Santo Remedio is ready to open its new Jefferson Park location — as soon as it gets its license from the city.
• The former Middleman on Colfax will reopen next month as the Lowbeam, under new owners. No, not the new owners originally anticipated.

Here’s the complete list of restaurants and bars that opened this week*:

Openings

Chef Liu’s Kitchen, 2222 South Havana Street, Aurora
The Devil’s Drink, 1553 Platte Street
Iron Age BBQ at the Shambles Tavern, 3501 Delgany Street
Wyman’s Mercantile, 2200 East Colfax Avenue
Work + Class, 900 East Hampden Avenue, Englewood

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

Know of something we missed? Email cafe@westword.com.