Benzina Is the Latest Restaurant to Announce It's Closing

Since we released the latest edition of our Top 100 Restaurants list in December, three of our picks have closed. Fruition and Lucky Noodles said goodbye in January; this month, Lao Wang Noodle House shut its doors after 25 years.

Now another one of our favorite places to eat is preparing to serve its last meal at the end of March.

Brad Anderson opened Benzina at 4839 East Colfax Avenue in 2021, but he'd been a staple of the local dining scene for long before that, running the Rocky Mountain Diner, Rick's Cafe, Chopper's Sports Grill, the Castle Cafe and the Next Door Bar with partners Tom Walls and Jerry Good.

The Benzina project was a long time in the making. Permitting and construction delays, coupled with the pandemic, pushed the opening back. But Anderson persevered, renovating a one-time Phillips 66 gas station that had most recently been a muffler shop into a destination for Italian fare and some of the best wood-fired Neapolitan pies in town.
It became a favorite for many in the neighborhood and beyond. But on February 19, Anderson announced that its run is coming to an end — and warned of a bleak future for the local dining scene.

In an Instagram post, he wrote: "It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the closing of Benzina. We have been serving some really great food and drink to the Denver community for almost four years, but it has been an uphill battle since day one. COVID did the food indsutry no favors. The state and city government have made it almost impossible for a single operator to survive in Denver.

"The cost of labor, food, rent and property taxes has created a situation where the small guy can't compete. If something is not done, and fast, prepare to see only big, out-of-state, multi-unit operations flood the market. I've been a part of the Denver food scene since 1981, as both an employee and employer, and I have never seen it this bad. I hope the state and city wake up before it's too late. We will be closing at the end of March, so if you'd like to have one last meal (or two) please come see us soon. We can't thank our loyal customer base enough for your support."

The industry has faced mounting challenges since COVID, with many local restaurant owners citing rising costs as the driving factor behind their decisions to close. One of those rising costs, minimum wage, is the focus of House Bill 1208, which is also being called the Restaurant Relief Act. If made law, it would change regulations around tipped wages in municipalities with a higher minimum wage than the rest of the state, including Denver.

Proponents of the bill say it is needed to save local restaurants. "Right now, we’re just trying to stop the bleeding in the cities that are the most desperate," Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, told Westword. "It's been death by a thousand cuts for restaurants. This is the final cut."

The bill is slated for its first hearing on February 20 in the Business Affairs and Labor Committee.

But Benzina will be saying goodbye whether that law is enacted or not — and it's likely that we'll see more closure announcements in the weeks to come.