Every Opening and Closing This Week: Adelitas Adds Edgewater Location and More

In 2024, we reported over 260 openings and just over 100 closures in the local dining scene. As the new year kicked off, the week ended with four losses and six new places to eat and drink.

The day before New Year's Eve, Sushi Sasa announced that it had shuttered for good after a twenty-year run, though fans can still get a taste of owner Wayne Conwell's Japanese fare at the restaurant he opened in 2020, Tai Tai, at 5078 East Hampden Avenue in the Happy Canyon shopping center.

The other three closures this week had been announced in advance, giving some fans the chance for one last visit. The South Federal location of Taco House, which had been serving since 1958, served its last taco; Café Brazil in Berkeley, which had a thirty-year run, closed but hinted at a comeback in another form; and Fiction Beer dried up entirely. "We have given ten years of our lives to the craft beer industry and we're both experiencing burnout," Fiction co-owner Christa Kilpatrick told Westword of the decision to shut the doors.

Of the six openings we reported this week, three come from familiar names. Adelitas has been a staple for tacos, molcajetes and margaritas on South Broadway since 2013. In recent years, the family that owns it rebranded the attached mezcal bar as La Doña Mezcaleria, which was named one of the best places to sip the Oaxacan spirit in the country by Forbes in 2024. They also added Ni Tuyo in Bonnie Brae in 2022 and another bar, Desert Social, the following year. Now they've added a second Adelitas location in the former Cochino Taco space adjacent to Edgewater Public Market.

Great Divide also added another one of its Brewery & Roadhouse concepts in Lakewood, while Pomodoro Pizza and Pasta debuted its second location in the former Monaco Inn space.

Brand-new to the scene are the upscale Bison American Cuisine in Aurora; subterranean omakase counter Sushi by Scratch in Larimer Square; and the Denver outpost of Michigan-born chain Tapville Social.

In other openings-and-closings news:

• Southern fast-food chain Bojangles will make its Colorado debut this year.
• Alex Seidel's Fruition will serve its last meal on January 12.
• J's Noodles & New Thai is set to close at the end of the month.

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

Openings

Adelitas Cocina y Cantina, 5495 West 20th Avenue, Edgewater
Bison American Cuisine, 205 South Abilene Street, Aurora
Great Divide Brewery & Roadhouse, 7260 West Alaska Drive, Lakewood
Pomodoro Pizza and Pasta, 962 South Monaco Parkway
Sushi by Scratch, 1441 Larimer Street
Tapville Social, 1010 Park Avenue West

Temporary Closure

Tamayo, 1400 Larimer Street (renovations, expected to reopen in March)

Closures

Sushi Sasa, 2401 15th Street
Taco House, 581 South Federal Boulevard
Fiction Beer, 7101 East Colfax Avenue
Café Brazil, 4408 Lowell Boulevard

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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