See also: - First look: Big Smoke Burger opens Monday in Glendale - First look: Jax opens in Glendale on Tuesday - First look: Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria opens in Glendale
"If this works," he adds, "This is the restaurant that we'll multiply in the future -- a full-service dining experience in a luxurious fast-casual atmosphere."
The 175-seat space, which includes a patio, features three separate areas: a large ordering counter that doubles as a fresh pastry stage, a centerpiece marble-surfaced bar trumpeting two flat-screen TVS and Art-Deco flooring, and a dining room strewn with wooden tables and sepia-hued leather booths. "We're focusing all on meal periods -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- and this space really gives us the ability to do all three services well, plus we also have a coffee bar and a juice and smoothie bar," notes Bliss.
The kitchen, helmed by Denis Hynds, who was most recently at Three Tomatoes Steakhouse & Club, the in-house restaurant at Fossil Trace golf course, will serve continuously throughout the day -- and late into the night Thursday through Saturday, offering a limited happy hour menu until midnight. And that abbreviated menu will also be available between 2 and 6 p.m. daily.
Within the next several months, City Set will welcome two more restaurants: Native Food Cafe, a vegan restaurant based in Boulder, and The Kitchen [Next Door], which also began in Boulder. "I see this as becoming like Larimer Square, insomuch that it's just a great restaurant destination where you can park your car in one spot and take your pick from just about every kind of food imaginable," says Bliss.
Here's a first glimpse of the space and a few of the dishes -- some of which are only served at this Udi's -- that the kitchen is pumping out.