I asked myself that question a half dozen times while aimlessly driving down Platte Street searching for Colt & Gray, a new gastropub opening in late May at 1553 Platte Street in the Platte River Valley.
It wasn't that I couldn't find the address: The numbers were right there, clear as day, tacked above the door...of an office building -- the old "Zang" building, to be precise, which is now New Town Builders. After several jaunts up and down the stairs of said office building, only to find nothing remotely resembling a restaurant, I stumbled out, panting and defeated -- which turned out to be a good thing because I needed liquid, which I got, along with a few crucial details, including a geography lesson, from the dude behind the counter at Paris on the Platte, right next door.
"Oh, yeah, that place. It's gonna be a New American/French bistro right around the corner from the office building."
He was right on one count.
Colt & Gray is, in fact, right around the corner from New Town Builders, wedged between two vacant spaces with big signs advertising for retail or restaurant tenants.
But the barista missed the mark about the concept.
According to Nelson Perkins, owner and executive chef (and a graduate of New York's French Culinary Institute), Colt & Gray (which is named after Perkins's two sons, Coulter and Grayson) will be a gastropub, described by Perkins as "a comfortable neighborhood place with higher-end food, particularly at dinner, and a menu offering interesting and eclectic dishes that are, at the same time, simple."
It's been a while since I've seen a menu that really grabs me, but this one? I can't wait. Here's the short list: roasted marrow bones with caramelized onions and grilled country bread, house-cured charcuterie (prosciutto, guanciale, bresaola, lomo embuchado and saucisson sec); housemade country pate; lobster bangers and mash; duck confit; and foie gras "Oreos."
And sticky toffee pudding.
Jesus, yes.
It reads along the lines of the menu at New York's Spotted Pig, widely regarded as America's first gastropub. And considering that Charles "Brad" Rowell, Colt & Gray's chef de cuisine, spent a year cooking in that kitchen, the similarities come as no surprise.
While I'm waiting for Colt & Gray to open, I'll be hanging out at Jonesy's EatBar (http://www.jeatbar.com), Denver's first gastropub, operated by Leigh Jones, at 400 East 20th Avenue. According to Penny Parker's column in the Sunday Post, Jones's ex-husband, Robert Thompson (together, the two had Brasserie Rouge), will be opening what could be Denver's second gastropub, the Argyll, in the former Squealin' Pig in Cherry Creek, sometime this spring.
