- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free.
If you find yourself in front of the Illegal Pete's location at 1530 16th Street, wondering why it's locked up and dark, look a block farther up the mall. After two decades in the original spot, the burrito joint packed up and reopened this week at 16th and Wazee streets, in a former corner of Dixons that had been occupied by Lucky Pie; the new space is twice the size of the previous location and offers more outdoor seating. The original Illegal Pete's had opened back in January 2001, and was the first in founder Pete Turner's growing restaurant chain to be located outside of Boulder, so the new space celebrates twenty years of Illegal Pete's in Denver while giving downtown burrito fans what they've been missing since the move began last December.
Bacon Social House is growing, too; the breakfast-anytime eatery that got its start in Sunnyside in 2015 and then added a Littleton outpost in 2019 now has another location. The company (which also operates a restaurant in Minneapolis) just opened a Bacon Social House at South Broadway and Evans Avenue, in what had previously been Morning Collective (and was briefly Huevos Tacos).
New this week is Famille, which opened in Westminster's Origin Hotel. Famille is overseen by executive chef Laurent Méchin, who is well known for his tenure at Jill's Restaurant in Boulder's St Julien Hotel. Also debuting is Boulder's first Shake Shack (the fifth in Colorado).
Here's our complete list of restaurant and bar openings and closings this week:
Restaurants and Bars Opening This Week*
Bacon Social House, 2160 South Broadway
Elevat38, 5455 West 38th Avenue, Wheat Ridge
Famille, 8875 Westminster Boulevard, Westminster
Hidden Gems, 1411 Larimer Street
MonoMono Korean Fried Chicken, 1550 Blake Street
Shake Shack, 1680 29th Street, Boulder
Squeeze Juicery (at Kobe An), 3400 Osage Street
Restaurants Moving This Week*
Illegal Pete's (from 1530 16th Street), 1610 16th Street
Restaurants and Bars Closing This Week*
Streets Denver, 1501 East Colfax Avenue
*Or earlier, and not previously reported.
Do you know of any openings or closings that aren't on our list? Let us know in the comments, or send an email to cafe@westword.com.
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.
