Every Opening and Closing This Week: Stockyard Saloon Rides Off, Schoolyard Starts Pouring

Happy trails to the Denver Stockyard Saloon, which just rode off into the sunset. Dean Maus ran the restaurant/bar in the historic Livestock Exchange Building for 25 years, ever since a regular at his Willy's Wings in Evergreen suggested that they buy the historic watering hole that had been dark for a year, after decades of business as the Stockyards Inn, Doc's (where a Westword Christmas party almost set the place on fire), the Old West Tavern and other venues lost to time.

The bar is in the newest (1919!) building in a group of three structures that make up the Livestock Exchange, which the city purchased for $11.5 million six years ago as construction of the massive new National Western Center got underway; Denver sold the property in 2020 to a partnership that includes EXDO Development, Elevation Development Group, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and the nonprofit National Western Center Authority. After that, Maus knew the end was year; unable to come to terms on a new lease, he sold off much of the interior and closed before his lease ended on April 30. He's now looking for a new spot to set up camp.

While the Stockyard Saloon was a sad loss for the city, there were some gains this week, too.

Six years after City Street Investors bought the long-vacant, circa 1904 Evans School in the Golden Triangle, the Schoolyard Beer Garden and Schoolyard Café opened on Monday. "It's hard to believe that in such a great location, that building could sit basically unused for half a century," says Joe Vostrejs, one of City Street's founders and principals. "We were very excited to get it." And the neighborhood is excited to see what they've done with it.

Although Cracker Barrel first came to Colorado in 1995, Denver just got its own location of the down-home Southern chain. The Central Park spot opened Monday, complete with rocking chairs on the porch, an inescapable gift shop and lots of diner-style comfort food.

Roberta's is out at the Urban Cowboy Public Bar, but Little Johnny B's Woodfired Pizza is in. It's a new concept from the Mamas & Papas Hospitality Group, the team behind Dio Mio and Redeemer Pizza that will be opening Johnny Bechamel's in Washington Park this summer.

And a fourth location of Chili Shack is now serving in the former home of Biker Jim's on Larimer Street; meanwhile, Jim Pittenger reports that his hot dogs are hot now that he has his business name back.

In other restaurant news:

• Pho King Rapidos is on the move again. This summer, it will open Saigon Noodle Club by PKR in the Edgewater Public Market.
  
  
• Fans are rallying around Frank the Pizza King, the Englewood pizzeria that next month must leave the stand-alone building on South Broadway that's been its home since 1961.

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

Openings

Chili Shack Larimer, 2148 Larimer Street
Cracker Barrel, 9111 East 40th Avenue
Et Voila French Bakery, 866 Lookout Mountain Road, Golden
Little Johnny B's Woodfired Pizza, 1665 Grant Street
Schoolyard Beer Garden and Schoolyard Cafe, 1115 Acoma Street


Closures

Colfax and Cream, 1238 East Colfax Avenue
Denver Stockyard Saloon, 4710 National Western Drive
Pho on 6th, 1312 East Sixth Avenue

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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