Every Restaurant Opening and Closing This Week, September 17-23

New additions just keep coming to Denver's dining scene as we head into fall. And if the cooler weather has you craving spicy food, there are two new options for Thai.

In Edgewater, one of the co-owners of Daughter Thai, Orrapan Botthaisong, debuted her first solo venture, La Mai Thai Kitchen, named after her mother. Westword spoke with her about the concept and her journey to becoming a restaurant owner after moving to Denver from Thailand a decade ago.

Mountain Thai Kitchen, from owners Bruce and Sopit Buckman, started as a food truck early in the pandemic and just opened a brick-and-mortar in Broomfield.

La Rola Colombian Kitchen also started as a food truck back in 2017. It later moved into Zeppelin Station and, after that lease ended, was operating as a ghost kitchen. Its brick-and-mortar space in Littleton opened September 21, with a menu that includes empanadas, stuffed arepas and Colombian-style hot dogs loaded with shredded chicken, ham, bacon bits, mozzarella, diced onions, mashed potato chips, pineapple sauce, pink sauce and a quail egg on top.
In Cherry Creek, Kini's, a Greek-inspired concept from Quality Branded, the group behind Quality Italian, has opened inside the Clayton Members Club & Hotel. It replaced Of a Kind, and will soon be joined by Cretans, a Mediterranean wine bar, which is slated to open in November.

Spanish tapas concept Botellón closed its East 17th Avenue location last year, but now it's reopened in the Ballpark neighborhood, in the space that was formerly home to Ignite and Su Taco. The new space has outdoor seating on the street-side patio as well as a rooftop terrace.

There's a new bakery nearby: Hearth Bakery + Coffee opened inside the former home of Third Culture, behind Uchi. It's owned by Matt Quinlisk, previously the pastry chef at Moxie Bread Co. in Louisville. It serves bread and pastries such as raspberry and white chocolate scones, croissants, morning buns and Hatch green chile and cheddar twirls.

While the Korean fried chicken trend in Denver continues to grow, Mono Mono's outpost on East Colfax has closed. But a Littleton outpost made its debut on September 22; the chain will add another this year in Highlands Ranch.

In other openings-and-closings news:

• Welton Street Cafe's temporary, takeout-only space will close September 24, and its new permanent location will not open until spring 2023 at the earliest.
• Margot is a new Sunday-only tasting menu concept that's serving out of the Coperta space.
• King of Wings is hoping to reopen its Wheat Ridge location by the end of the year, but also recently announced a second location coming to Golden.

Here's the complete list of restaurants and bars opening and closing this week:
Restaurants and bars opening this week:*

Botellón Spanish Tapas & Wine, 2124 Larimer Street
Hearth, 2500 Lawrence Street
Kini's, 233 Clayton Street
La Mai Thai Kitchen, 2001 Sheridan Boulevard, Edgewater
La Rola Colombian Kitchen, 5350 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton
Mono Mono, 9719 West Coal Mine Avenue, Littleton
Mountain Thai Kitchen, 1000 Depot Hill Road, Broomfield

Restaurants and bars closing this week:*

Mono Mono, 3014 East Colfax Avenue

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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