A New Food Hall Is Opening Off I-70, Just Minutes from Red Rocks

Just off the Red Rocks/Morrison exit, where Interstate 70 and Highway 40 meet, sits Gateway Village, a mixed-use development that is home to Avalanche Harley-Davidson, Over Yonder Brewing Company, Origin Hotel Red Rocks and more, including a new co-working space and food hall that's set to celebrate its opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. on December 9.

"I approached the builder because they wanted co-working on the first floor, and then we quickly pivoted and decided to put a food hall in, as well," explains Jen Thoemke, who founded the co-working business Connects Workspace in Golden in 2015.

The new Connects Workspace outpost and its adjoining food hall, Morris & Mae, also connect to Aurum, a co-living apartment complex with 168 units that tenants began moving into in June. With a lack of food options in the immediate vicinity, Thoemke, who also owns Cafe 13 in Golden, decided that a food hall would fill a need for residents at this new development as well as hotel visitors and anyone traveling along I-70, from skiers to Red Rocks concert-goers.

Though Thoemke isn't new to running a business, "building a new space is just a lot," she admits. "A lot of all the parts coming together. And it is no joke on this side of COVID how hard and expensive it is. Everything is taking longer and costing more money. ... We've learned a lot."

At the center of the food-hall space will be a bar anchored by a 1922 Ford Model A that Thoemke's husband found on Craigslist, which will house plants and flowers. "It's been sitting in our garage since summer 2020, waiting to move in," she says.

The beverage program includes twenty taps plus cocktails and wine, which will also be sold by the bottle in a market area that will include other artisan goods. "You'll be able to pick up everything over there to build a charcuterie plate," Thoemke says. All the booze offerings will be "hyper-local," she adds, including a special brew that Over Yonder is making for the food hall.
The space also includes a section of stadium-style seating, a nod to its famous music-venue neighbor, as well as six stalls that will house the various food vendors, all of which will prepare their food in an on-site communal commissary kitchen. "They're all local, which is what I wanted," Thoemke notes. "Food halls are fun because it's like giving a startup opportunity for people in the food industry, just like co-working gives opportunity for startups in office and tech and all the other things."

The food partners are Mac Nation, a mac-and-cheese concept owned by a mother-and-daughter team who operate its original location in Indian Hills; Kiki's Fresh Bowls, which is based in Evergreen; a street taco concept called La Rosita; an Italian piada stall called Paisan from the chef at Buffalo Rose in Golden; the Alpine House, a concept from a former Golden firefighter that will serve breakfast burritos in the mornings and transition to high-end bar bites in the evening; and sweets and espresso from Gold Mine Cupcakes, which Thoemke also owns.

Though Morris & Mae is set to open just as this year's Red Rocks season comes to an end, Thoemke plans to offer concert pre-parties and other events next spring, and would love to see the food hall become a go-to pit stop for people leaving shows. The space also includes an outdoor patio that will have additional seating once the weather warms up.

Morris & Mae is located at 18475 West Colfax Avenue in Golden and will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, with later hours planned for weekends after its debut on December 9. For more information, visit morrisandmae.com.