As Other Downtown Restaurants Close, the Velvet Cellar Is All In

Are downtown restaurants doomed? Several establishments in that area shuttered recently, including Avelina, a restaurant that had been open at 1550 17th Street since 2016. The increased minimum wage, slow recovery after COVID and office vacancies were among the reasons cited by Kevin Jennings, its North Carolina-based owner, for the eatery's demise. "Cry me a river about your dinner reservations," he replied to a Yelp reviewer who complained when Avelina canceled his reservation with no mention of the closure.

"His perspective is shameful and telling. With that attitude, it’s no wonder that they closed the establishment," says Reilly Chunn, co-owner of another downtown eatery, the Velvet Cellar, which debuted at 1500 Wynkoop Street in December.  "Obviously, the pandemic harmed [Avelina] beyond repair, but it’s not office vacancy that adversely affects downtown."

Chunn and Chris Dominey grew up together in in Alabama, and both moved to Denver independently about ten years ago. After reconnecting, they began talking about the idea of opening a wine bar. "It's just been brick-by-brick over the years," Chunn says. "And then it started to be more pointed almost two years ago. At first, it started as just doing a small twelve-, fifteen-seat place with wine only and charcuterie. That was it."

But as those conversations progressed, so did the concept. Finding the space led to an evolution, as well, as the concept morphed into a full-blown restaurant. "We looked and looked and looked, and when we came across this place, it was vacant — to our surprise," Dominey recalls. For five years, the address had been home to the second iteration of the Squeaky Bean; most recently, it was Chow Morso, which shuttered in 2020 after two years in business.
"From what we understood, the landlord kept it vacant purposely — he wasn't just going to let anybody come in here," Dominey says. "And so we auditioned for him, for lack of a better term, and he fell in love with [our idea] and gave us a lease. So we kind of had to formulate our idea into fitting what the space would be. ... It required a lot of adaptability and flexibility."

And it continues to require owners who are open and willing to change. Operating a restaurant downtown right now is not impossible, but it is challenging. "There is a litany of red tape, process and procedure that makes LoDo problematic for all business owners," Chunn notes. "The overwhelming majority of people at the city are pleasant and fantastically helpful. ... It’s the policies that are the problem. These policies do not nurture an environment that is maximally conducive to generate sales and use tax, which I believe is roughly 25 percent of the City of Denver’s revenue stream. If accessibility, visibility and perception were improved, I think safety and cleanliness would take care of itself and there would be more widespread allure. At that point, it should become a self-sustaining cycle of improvement."

These challenges were something that Chunn and Dominey considered carefully before signing the lease for the space. "We mulled on that for months," Chunn admits.

But ultimately, they couldn't resist the spot. "This is the heart of Denver, and it only made sense for us to be in the heart of Denver," Dominey explains. "It is coming back. It is growing. It is now becoming much more of a culinary destination than it has been over the years, and for us to have the opportunity to add to it was one of the greatest things of value that we saw when looking at this space."

"We chose to take the risk to develop and further grow downtown," says Chunn. "It was a conscious decision that we made. We decided that we wanted to help the other establishments and the residents and the visitors to a healthier downtown. ... As small-business owners, it is incumbent upon us to help try to protect and preserve that and partner with the city to make sure downtown is a safe, protected environment for everybody to come and enjoy themselves."

The Velvet Cellar is housed in a building that is 124 years old, a fact that fed into both the name and the vision. The "concept was to invite everybody into our wine cellar and to make it a nice warm, wonderful hug," Dominey says.

The team removed a divider to open up the space, filling it with cozy booths and high-top tables. Bottles of wine are displayed on racks behind glass "so you feel like you're sitting right in the cellar. A lot of our guests like to get up and walk around and stare in there," perusing the labels, he adds. "They start the curiosity and the conversation there. We wanted our guests to be comfortable approaching wine from wherever they're at, whether they're knowledgeable or somebody that's a little bit intimidated."
While wine is central to the experience, "our cocktail program is exceptional, " Dominey says. "We want it to be a great drink, first and foremost. ... These have to be phenomenal drinks, and they can't take forever to make."

One addition to the cocktail menu is the Best Kept Secret, a play on a Carajillo, a spiked coffee drink that is popular in Spanish-speaking countries. "Espresso fan? Denver’s best new cocktail. Trust us," reads the description. "We made a special formulation of ingredients — the syrups, infusions and the spirit is our own, so it's our own creation," Dominey says. "We believe that this will supplant the espresso martini as the next best drink."

So far, that drink has been well received by guests, as have some food menu additions. Executive chef Jon Simoneau, who took over for the initial chef before the opening, has been making adjustments based on customer demands while also homing in on a more defined culinary approach. "It's New American, so more contemporary, but with a Southern current," Simoneau says, noting that he's particularly proud of the shrimp with heirloom red corn grits ($34).
"Really, number one for me is the sourcing of local ingredients," he adds, citing everything from the beef to the greens to the lion's mane mushrooms from Jacob's Mushrooms. They are the star of a new item, crispy lion's mane ragu with bucatini ($32), that aims to satisfy the high demand for vegetarian fare. Other hits have been the charcuterie board for two ($45) or four ($90), which is generously loaded with cheeses sourced from Longmont-based Cheese Importers, along with cured meats and other accoutrements.

"You can come downtown and have a good meal for a good value," notes Dominey. "That's our big focus."

In the Velvet Cellar's first few months of business, the response has been encouraging, and there are plans to add weekend brunch to the lineup soon. The team has seen a mix of both locals and visitors, and "about 20 to 30 percent of our guests are return guests," Dominey says. "That, combined with the ongoing week-over-week growth just with exposure, it's starting to get traction. While it's been a little bit of a challenge, we're moving in the right direction."

The people living in the buildings nearby have been especially supportive. "They have been anticipating and waiting for our opening," Dominey notes. "They've been saying, 'We were waiting for this space to be refilled with something, and we think this is that kind of perfect thing that belongs in this space.' They really enjoy the fact that we're local to here — that we're not part of any other chain. This is us. And they're very, very motivated to be behind us. They want to see us succeed, so they show up regularly."

The Velvet Cellar is located at 1500 Wynkoop Street and is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. For more information, visit thevelvetcellar.net.