La Loma Postpones Its Move Downtown Until End of June

If you haven't headed to Jefferson Park for your last supper at La Loma, you have another reprieve. Since 1981, the massive Mexican restaurant has been perched at 2527 West 26th Avenue — just down the hill from the little bungalow where Savina Mendoza opened her original spot in 1973. (Today that space is home to Sassafras.) Sonny Brinkerhoff, a fan and investor in La Loma, built that new building out of three old Victorian homes; his family took over La Loma altogether three decades ago, and today Sonny runs it with his son, William.

In February, the Brinkerhoffs announced that they would close the location on West 26th in April — the property has a stunning view of downtown, and is slated to become a high-rise apartment building — while they build a new flagship home for La Loma in the Platte Valley, near the Downtown Aquarium. And in the meantime, they said, La Loma would move into the former home of the Trinity Grille, which had just closed after thirty years. But then the move was postponed until May, and it was recently postponed again, because the transformation of the Trinity space at 1801 Broadway has taken longer than anticipated.

Now plans call for La Loma staying put until the end of June, when the restaurant will close and much of its contents — including the tortilla maker — will be moved to the downtown location, where La Loma will reopen a few days later, in early July.

When the Platte Valley La Loma is finished sometime in the next two years, the downtown restaurant will stay put; it will be joined by a third La Loma in the Castle Rock area. The Brinkerhoffs are also planning a new concept, Sierra Grill, that will debut by the end of 2016 in Lone Tree.

If just thinking about going without one of La Loma's Signature Margaritas for even a few days makes you nervous, here's the recipe.

740 ml of La Loma’s All Natural Sweet and Sour Mix
10 oz of 100% blue Weber silver tequila
5 oz of triple sec

Specialize your margarita by adding fruit purees such as strawberry, mango, peach, prickly pear, blood orange, or passion fruit.

Sorry, the restaurant isn't sharing its green chile recipe. But if you're feeling very ambitious, you'll find the recipe for the La Loma tortillas on the new website, lalomamexican.com.

And make a note that you'll be able to sample La Loma's fare at Tacolandia, Westword's celebration of street tacos coming to Sports Authority Field on August 14. Devour the details at westwordtacolandia.com.

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