Bowls by KO Is Ready for Its Brick-and-Mortar Debut in Sloan's Lake

Since Avanti debuted in LoHi a decade ago, its food stalls have operated as an incubator — a place where aspiring restaurateurs could test out concepts and learn the ropes of running a food business with less overhead than opening a traditional brick-and-mortar.

Over the years, that model has produced some big successes, like Doris Yuen and Kenneth Wan. The couple started their Denver culinary journey at Avanti with Meta Asian Kitchen before "graduating" to the brick-and-mortar MAKfam, for which Wan was named a James Beard semifinalist in 2024 and 2025.

On Friday, September 12, another Avanti graduate will debut its first brick-and-mortar when Bowls by KO begins serving at its bright and airy new space at 1611 Raleigh Street in Sloan's Lake. "It's craveable grain bowls," says owner Katelin Overton. "I think when people think about the 'bowl' concept, they think like, Sweetgreen, healthy salads. And yes, [Bowls by KO] is healthy, but I don't really like that word. It's more fueling."

The process of developing the concept was very personal for Overton. Though her parents owned ice cream stores when she was a kid, she opted to go to school for finance. "I tried to take the responsible route," she jokes, so she was working in investment management in Boston in 2017 when her dad was diagnosed with cancer. When he passed away the following year, she recalls, "It was the story of, life is too short. What am I doing?"

So she followed two of her best friends to Denver and was inspired by the city and its many entrepreneurs realizing their dreams — a shift from the cutthroat scene she'd experienced on the East Coast. Overton took on three serving jobs and started making food for people out of her home.
Her relationship with food has been complicated, from struggling with eating disorders since age thirteen to being diagnosed with PCOS, which forced her to totally change her diet. During that time, "I got so restrictive and crazy," she admits, but her fresh start in Denver also offered a fresh culinary start. "I really focused on intuitive eating and relearning how to eat and relearning how to cook the foods I could eat, but also wanted to eat and not just diet food."

That's how the Bowls by KO menu was born. The concept started as a meal-planning service but morphed into meal delivery, which was Overton's focus when the pandemic hit. At the time, she was working out of a commissary kitchen and "everyone was selling their food trucks," she recalls, so she decided to take the leap, running the truck for three seasons before securing a spot at Avanti in 2022.

With the new space, Bowls by KO can finally be what Overton had envisioned all along. "I was crying when we got our kitchen set up," she says. "The concept was always supposed to be line-style, where people were really visually seeing the food and making the bowl."

Everything at Bowls by KO is gluten- and soy-free. The menu includes seven signature bowls, such as the popular staple buffalo chicken made with pulled chicken over rice with roasted sweet potatoes, garlic kale salad, pickled onions and dairy-free ranch; and the steak hibachi bowl with soy-free teryaki sauce. Guests can also opt to create-their-own bowls.

The new Bowls by KO serves beer and wine as well, and will offer happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with $6 pours of house wine, $5 house beers, a $9 hummus plate, and a bowl and drink deal for $20.

"I'm so excited for the neighborhood," Overton says of the location, which is on the bottom floor of a condo building. With plenty of hungry residents in such close proximity, she hopes Bowls by KO becomes a regular stop for a quick, satisfying meal that can easily be taken on the go, whether you're heading back home or to the lake for some recreation. "I really want to be the local spot," Overton concludes.

Bowls by KO is located at 1611 Raleigh Street and will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily starting September 12. For more information, visit bowlsbyko.com.