Every Opening and Closing This Week: One of the City's Best Sports Bars Says Goodbye and More

The biggest food stories of the year included many sad closures, and they've continued as 2024 wraps up.

After saying goodbye to Blake Street Tavern in 2023, the latest loss in the sports bar scene is Wide Right, one of our picks for the top places to catch a game in town. Known as a Buffalo Bills bar with solid wings and live comedy, it originally opened in 2020, just as COVID shut down bars across the state.

Also closed is Ironton Distillery, which shuttered its RiNo location but plans to debut a state-of-the-art facility and expanded tasting room in Louisville. And nearby, the Infinite Monkey Theorem closed for good on December 27.

Señor Burritos also left its original location in Baker after 34 years, though the family-owned business still has an outpost in Lakewood and will soon open another in Westminster.

We reported five additions to the scene this past week. Upscale Mexican restaurant Encanto Cocina & Cantina is now serving in the former Ignite Kitchen + Cocktails space next door to Aloy Modern Thai in the Ballpark neighborhood.

Over on Tennyson Street, the Funky Buddha Bar & Restaurant has taken over the former West End Tap House space, where it's dishing up Asian food and drinks, including Nepalese momo dumplings.

On West Colfax, a former deli is now Los Socios Birrieria, serving street tacos, burritos and plenty of birria-loaded options, from quesadillas to ramen, nachos and chilaquiles.

The One Concept Restaurant Group, which operates Go Fish, Chubby Fish & Sushi, Honey Basil Asian Grill, Honey Basil Express, Bronze Empire and two Kung Fu Tea locations, continues to expand; it's added a second outpost of its Chinese concept Miya Moon in Lone Tree, near Lincoln and Park Meadows Drive.

In Wheat Ridge, the site that was once slated to become a Live Slow Brewery and bowling alley combo at Gold's Marketplace has finally opened under new owners. The Werks is "where bowling meets burgers, craft beer meets good times, and a love of bikes rolls right through it all," says owner Paul Porter.

Here are some upcoming closures to have on your radar:

• Three spots are slated to close after their last day on December 31: Fiction Beer, Taco House on South Federal and Café Brazil in Berkeley.
• Chef Alex Seidel's first restaurant, Fruition, will host its last service on January 12.

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

Openings

Encanto Cocina & Cantina, 2124 Larimer Street
The Funky Buddha Bar & Restaurant, 3945 Tennyson Street
Los Socios Birrieria, 3910 West Colfax Avenue
Miya Moon, 9400 Heritage Hills Circle, Lone Tree
The Werks, 2625 Kipling Street, Wheat Ridge

Closures

Infinite Monkey Theorem, 3200 Larimer Street
Ironton Distillery, 3636 Chestnut Place
Señor Burritos,12 East First Avenue
Wide Right, 2100 Curtis Street

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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