Get a taste of the Wolf’s Tailor at Sheep, coming soon to Cherry Creek

Last year, the Wolf’s Tailor became Colorado’s first restaurant to earn two Michelin stars. The group behind it, Id Est, has racked up awards and national accolades not only for its food, but also its deeper mission of strengthening local food systems, a story that is central to the $225 Wolf’s Tailor experience.

But that’s a story many diners don’t have access to. As Id Est founder and James Beard award-winner Kelly Whitaker admits, Wolf’s Tailor “is challenging — it’s a time commitment, it’s a financial commitment.” Which is a driving factor in his decision to roll out Sheep, a three-month residency in the sixth-floor rooftop restaurant space inside the Clayton Hotel & Members Club in Cherry Creek that will run from July 8 through October 4.

Reservations are available on OpenTable; walk-ins will be welcome as well.

Open to both Clayton members and the general public, Sheep is a new expression of the Wolf’s Tailor that will offer a four-course menu for $95. “I wanted to get people that abbreviated experience at a lower price point” and “bring the idea of Wolf’s to a broader audience,” Whitaker says.

“I’m not trying to expand to a bunch of restaurants,” he notes. “I want to grow naturally — what feels right and where we’re going to have the most impact in the world.” And when the opportunity arose to have free rein over the normally members-only restaurant space inside the Clayton Hotel, a Michelin Key property, it felt right.

“No one really does tasting menus in Cherry Creek,” Whitaker says. “It’s a perfect world for the Wolf’s Tailor to show up inside of. When we see growth and development, I’m like, I want to be part of the conversation here.”

The timing is ideal as well. “It’s the best time for the markets — we can do something that feels very in the moment, but carry a lot of the same ideas of Wolf’s,” including a focus on open-fire cooking while highlighting the group’s zero-waste ethos, fermentation program and local sourcing.

Some of the core team from the Wolf’s Tailor will be the shepherds of Sheep, including general manager Wes Zelio, Id Est director of operations Suzanne Roberts and chef de cuisine Taylor Stark, who is a co-collaborator for this new project.

Stark originally moved to Denver to work with Gregory Gourdet at the short-lived but much-missed Departure in Cherry Creek, and has been the CDC at the Wolf’s Tailor since before it earned its first Michelin star. “He’s been chomping at the bit to express himself a little bit more,” says Whitaker, who is excited to give the chef more creative control of Sheep, where “we’re gonna be changing in the moment based on what’s coming out of the ground. I hope people eat at the pop-up like six times because the menu will be changing.”

A meal at Sheep will also be a build-your-own adventure of sorts. Each course — dubbed smoke, ember, flame and ash, in a nod to a phrase Stark uses regularly at the Wolf’s Tailor — includes options for diners to choose from (vegetarian, fish or meat) as well as supplements. “Each plate will be enough for four people to have a bite, so I hope people just order the whole menu and share,” he says. “But if they want to do individual, that works, too.”

Emily Thompson, the Wolf’s Tailor executive pastry chef, will be creating the “ash” dessert course to conclude each meal. “She’s a major factor in why Wolf’s got a second star,” Whitaker notes. “She’s been transformative for the menu.”

Sheep will also offer a beverage program from Id Est beverage director Caroline Clark, which is “designed as an extension of the kitchen’s ethos, rooted in seasonality, ingredient circularity, and a commitment to the makers behind every product,” according to an announcement of the new venture.

Since the residency is temporary, Whitaker has been thoughtful about the space itself. “I wasn’t gonna come in and build a bunch of stuff and then destroy it and throw it in a dumpster,” he says. Instead, the team will “tread lightly when it comes to the space, not just do a bunch of stuff that feels unsustainable.”

Id Est is working with design studio Wunder Werkz. Plans include a collaboration with Dublin-born, West of Ireland-based artist and designer Ronan Dillon, whose work “bridges urban and rural landscapes by reimagining the neon agricultural spray paint and markings used by Irish farmers to ‘tag’ their flocks as a form of rural graffiti,” according to the announcement.

There will be new bar stools and lounge furniture from Denver Modern, which made the furniture for the Wolf’s Tailor; Id Est co-founder Erika Whitaker is creating a landscape-inspired plant installation using sheepskins sourced from the Boulder farmers the group works with.

The whole project is a way to “highlight unsung heroes in this group” while serving a menu that “will clearly point to the food systems we’ve built up,” Whitaker concludes. “It’s about sharing our impact.”

Sheep will be located inside the Clayton Hotel & Members Club at 233 Clayton Street and will be open at 5 p.m. nightly for dinner from July 8 through October 4. It will also serve lunch from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reservations are now available on OpenTable.