"A tremendously unsettling time"
Five years later, a batch of improbable businesses reflect on opening their doors amidst the Covid pandemic shutdown; Base Camp launches in OCC; a visit to Sliced + more food & drink news
St. Patrick’s Day, on March 17 next week, will mark the five year anniversary of the mandatory shutdown of dine-in restaurant service in Colorado during the Covid-19 pandemic. You’ve by now probably seen some other media coverage by way of reflection related to wider national topics. Each piece has sought to find its own way to commemorate the somber Covid anniversary, such as this collection of 30 charts by the New York Times that illustrates “How Covid Changed Everything.”
Initially inspired by my partner’s suggestion that I do something in this newsletter, I struggled to find my own way into a unique angle for a story. I didn’t want to do an obvious then-and-now style piece or bite off something too ponderous. So I was glad at a recent lunch meeting with occasional Side Dish contributor Matt Sayar when he suggested talking to restaurants who had just opened or were in the process of opening as the shutdown happened. As bad as the close of doors for all businesses was, it must have been a distinct hell for those who had barely opened them or planned to within weeks of the Governor’s orders.
Conveniently for me, Matt — the guy who recently brought us this data science-driven “best restaurants” list — is an IT guy who’s not afraid to comb databases and build custom spreadsheets and such. He volunteered to scrape the City sales tax license database (which I’ve often pulled leads from in the past to find new businesses) and build us a list of Who’s Who Among Businesses That Had Their Asses Handed To Them In A Display Of Worst Timing Ever.
That’s not the actual title he went with for his part — that’s me being an ass myself — but he’s jointly publishing data on his own site in tandem with me this week. He’s called his work “Tracking the improbable restaurant openings of 2020.” See a list there of food-and-drink-related businesses who filed paperwork around that time, even though the “liability date” doesn’t necessarily reflect their actual opening dates.
What the compendium did for me, though, was allow me to pick a handful of diverse spots to interview for a snapshot of their experiences. I confess with limited time I leaned on existing contacts who I knew I could quickly reach (as I still effectively operate on newspaper-like weekly deadlines, albeit self-imposed). It turned out three businesses are current Side Dish Dozen members, which says something about how they’ve recovered from difficult starts. My OCD brain wishes I had bandwidth to speak to many more, as I believe everyone’s story, though common in its underpinning, would be different and illuminating of individualized struggles.
A sincere cheers to all who made it to the other side. (Actually, sometimes we’re still asking if we’re there yet, like petulant back seat children.) And an equally earnest moment of pause for those who didn’t. I don’t mean to be too flippant with literal matters of mortality. Anyway, here’s my look back, in the words of some survivors:
Karrie Williams and Mark Jakusovszky, Colonel Mustard’s Sandwich Emporium co-owners
Colonel Mustard’s Sandwich Emporium co-owners Mark Jakusovszky and Karrie Williams first signed the lease at their space on 21st Street in July, 2019. It would end up being July, 2020 before they could get open.
Their biggest “if we had only known” regret, says Jakusovszky, is not working more aggressively in those early months, instead taking their time on their renovation initially. “Covid wasn’t even in the lexicon when we started. We would have paid people who were fast instead of cheaper,” he says, noting he demo’d the ceiling himself, among lots of other odd jobs. While Williams had some industry background, Jakusovszky didn’t, and they ran into familiar delays with architects, tradespeople and eventually Regional Building, who finally did their inspection virtually. “We paid a year’s lease basically to play corn hole in an empty building,” he says. “We’d have a beer and watch the sunset on the back patio. That was about all that was happening.”
By the time the reality of the pandemic had set in, they were already too committed to turn back. “We were full bore,” says Williams, adding her parents thought they were “lunatics for opening during Covid,” let alone opening at all given restaurants’ high failure rate. “We didn’t get down or depressed” says Jakusovszky. “We just knew it was going to take longer and cost more.” They’d originally hoped to launch by January or February, and because they never created revenue before the shutdown, they had no recorded income to be able to qualify for federal assistance like the Paycheck Protection Program money and such. “Had we known early on what we know now, maybe we would have cut the cord,” he says. “But we’re happy now anyway.”
Even after they did finally open, they didn’t have an easy go of things initially. The statewide color chart (remember that?) kept moving back and forth and capacity limits were a somewhat silly notion given they only seat 16 people regularly, so half and a quarter of that barely makes dine-in service sensible. They donned their PPE, figured out an online ordering platform, ran a relatively robust to-go business out of a display in their entryway and offered curbside service. “I joked I should have had on roller skates,” says Williams.
They struggled on through their first fall season with a couple of employees, coping with supply chain issues, soaring costs for goods and silly situations like receiving boxes of latex gloves in one order that were all missing thumbs. Yet still they signed up to feed other restaurant workers who’d lost jobs (with support from local stipends), feeling good about the camaraderie of the moment. “We never closed once. We were there the whole time for the community,” she says.
Dave Query, founder of Big Red F Restaurant Group, including Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar
Jax Fish House’s Colorado Springs location was immediately kicking ass after it opened on Jan. 5, 2020, following a six-month renovation to get open. “We were so busy we were thinking this was going to be our busiest Jax of all of them,” says founder Dave Query. “The response from the city was so positive, it was crazy.”
Then real crazy arrived in March when the world shut down. “When we closed the restaurants, Dana [his wife and business co-owner] and I, within an hour, were millions of dollars in debt that we owed vendors and employees and everyone. The way restaurants work is you’re paying last week’s bills with this week’s revenue. So it became really real, really quickly.”
To add injury to insult, he and Dana both tested positive for Covid right around when the shutdown happened on March 16 — months before vaccine availability, when news of the earliest global cases, with high mortality rates, was very scary. “My birthday is March 19,” he says, “and on that day I furloughed 650 people on a Zoom call, coughing with a 103 degree fever, just delirious. It was surreal. It was just like, ‘oh, my God, what in the hell is going on?’”
Three days later, the company opted to open six of its restaurants: five of its The Post Chicken & Beer locations and West End Tavern, a barbecue joint on Boulder’s Pearl Street. “It was food that travelled well,” he explains. “Nobody wants to get into an expensive, very volatile plate of seafood to-go.” Governor Polis’ quick move to allow to-go liquor sales was an immense help, he notes. “We just got busy. All the managers, chefs and AGMs and bar managers and sous chefs, a 100 of us, we piled into those five locations and started cooking, getting back in the game. That's what we do in the restaurant business.”
They also turned Big Red F’s original eatery, Zolo Grill in Boulder, into a version of World Central Kitchen, feeding first responders and shuttling meals down to the Springs both for employees and area food banks as part of wider outreach. They pumped out thousands of meals daily. After 90 days, they invited the furloughed staff back. Jax’s Springs location was among the re-openings, and they created ghost kitchen concepts like a “Lasagna Project” and “Chicken Project” and a Philly cheese steak concept to create more travel-friendly food fares.
“We pivoted and we figured it out,” says Query. “Restaurant people are resilient. We're hustlers. We're hungry. We're quick on our feet.”
Jae Cho, owner of Dozo Sushi
After acquiring his space off Eight Street in early January, 2020, Dozo Sushi owner Jae Cho worked furiously for a month to get open roughly 30 days later. He and his team enjoyed around six weeks in business before the mandatory closure orders came.
“One minute we were slicing sushi and pouring sake, and the next we were pivoting to takeout and surviving on will power,” he says. “We had prepared for Friday rushes and food critics, not shutdowns and shipping delays. It was like throwing a grand opening party, then the universe RSVPs with a middle finger. It was the worst time possible.”
Still, his instinct wasn’t just to survive, it was to serve others. Brainstorming with a good friend he decided to focus on the wider community, similar to what he saw fellow restaurateur Eric Brenner do by creating Meals to Heal at Red Gravy. Cho asked customers to buy gift cards to other restaurants, throwing in around $2,000 worth from Dozo himself. He then distributed them among first responders and frontline workers. Together, everyone raised around $15,000 in donations in total. He also tried to comp meals for doctors, though he said they would insist he instead treat EMT’s and nurses, so they would end up paying it forward for others.
Cho says he never entertained thoughts of retreating, but he felt tremendous remorse when he was forced to lay off more than half his staff. “It was a nightmare,” he says. “These people had worked very hard for me. A lot of them had helped me lay flooring, and erect walls. They helped me get open, and my gift in return was letting them go. That was the most difficult part.”
Due to their limited run-time, Dozo received very minimal government assistance after the shutdown. “We did it all through savings and prayers,” says Cho. “The reason why I’m still here is because the community supported us through it all… It’s great to still see them today. These people are some of the closest friends I have now.”
Joseph Coleman, founder of Blue Star Group, which includes Stellina Pizza Cafe
Following a scouting to trip to Italy with BSG Executive Chef Will Merwin in October, 2019, construction on Stellina had started in December. It was supposed to open in April, 2020, but BSG opted to delay a month until May, not knowing how long the full dine-in shutdown would last. “By the time we closed Ivywild,” says Coleman, “I realized it was going to be a long time [until normalcy resumed].”
Even though limited-capacity dine-in returned in late May, with most restaurants throwing open their doors as wide as possible, Coleman opted to stick with the to-go-only model that Stellina launched with for another nine months. That was mainly for the wellbeing of BSG staff, some with vulnerable circumstances.
“We lost people close to us — not employees — but it was a tremendously unsettling time,” he says. “We’re in the hospitality business first. We didn’t want employees sick, and didn’t want to make customers sick. We didn’t want to be part of propagating it. The only thing that helped us is we used that time to root down and think about our systems and our employees. And we used it to redesign and reboot Ivywild.”
I ask him if at any point during the opening process was he tempted to scrap Stellina, to cut bait. “You must not know me very well if you’re asking me that question,” he replies. (Touché.)
Michael Thompson, owner of Choice Restaurant Concepts, which includes T-Byrd’s Tacos & Tequila, District Elleven and bird tree cafe
In the spot along Tejon Street where T-Byrd’s now resides, Michael Thompson and his wife and co-owner Crystal Byrd Thompson originally opened Mood Tapas Bar. That was in December, 2019, and it was joined by a co-opening of attached District Elleven, followed by bird tree cafe’s launch in late January.
“I remember the first week of February, sitting in the back of District Elleven,” Thompson recalls. “We’d been packed for two months straight. Then suddenly, we were empty.” He initially wondered whether it was the spate of cold winter days, when people tended to stay home more anyway. But then he noticed T-Byrd’s revenue drop by half as well [at it’s original location, blocks away]. “We were dead for about a month before the shutdown even happened.”
After it did, he remained optimistic it wouldn’t last too long. “We never once considered stopping. I put half a million of my own money into keeping this alive,” he says. “We said ‘this will break us before it beats us.’ Our resolve was there. It was successful enough in those first two months to give us confidence.”
They decided to close T-byrd’s and District Elleven but serve T-byrd’s menu to-go out of bird tree cafe. Since the batch of three new businesses hadn’t been open very long, they didn’t quality for the federal assistance programs, and Thompson had to float the difference of what they did receive for T-byrd’s with another $200,000.
They had around 90 employees total who he felt responsible for. “We were fighting for something bigger, we felt. The livelihoods of people working for us. We weren’t giving up on our people.”
Reach out, taste Base
Base Camp Restaurant grand opens March 14 in Old Colorado City at 2611 W. Colorado Ave., the former Westside Cantina and Wobbly Olive west location. (Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday.) Helmed by chef/owner Matt Maher, formerly Chef de Cuisine at Ristorante Di Sopra, the eatery nods to Colorado’s outdoor culture. “This state has always been a place where people come for adventure, whether it was the settlers and Gold Rush miners in the 1800’s or today’s skiers and hikers,” Maher says. “Base Camp is where you come to relax, kick back and plan your next adventure.”
Maher and team have designed the space and menu to reflect that theme, though decor is somewhat minimalist and not cluttered with tchotchkes. There’s a small campfire-circle-evoking display with a cook pot, axe and portable camp chairs in a wall recess next to the front bay windows, as well as a rear area for private dining and events, set with a book and wine bottle rack. Maher has taken a similar approach as Four by Brother Luck by splitting the main menu into four sections, though his is organized by pricing: Plains ($10), Foothills ($15), Mountains ($20), and Peaks ($25). “We want everything to be clear and approachable,” he says. “No hunting through a menu to find the $50 entrée surprise.”
The first two tiers offer more of shareable/small plates, ranging from smoked trout croquettes and spicy glazed carrots to savory waffles and buttermilk biscuits. The latter two feature more indulgent fare like lamb lollipops, fried quail, bison steak frites and a black bean calamari udon bowl. Guests can also choose to take Expeditions, which are multi-course tasting menu options that give small price breaks for bundling versus going à la carte. Those also offer chef-selected tours like a 10-course with off-menu “surprises.” There’s also Choose Your Own Adventure and vegetarian options, plus a “nutritionally balanced” selection (named the Incline Menu) co-created with an assist from a performance nutritionist.
Maher views the menu structure as versatile enough to cater to everything from casual, post-hike snacking and sipping to lengthier date-night dining. He plans to change the menus every few months, prioritizing local ingredients where possible. One item he will keep around in rotating form is a dessert S’mores option — again playing off the camp-inspired concept — whose “interpretation will change with the seasons,” he says. The current springtime take is a Mint S’mores, with house-made marshmallows and graham crackers and an Andes mint chocolate sauce.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect behind Base Camp though — if I know how to bury a good lead, and I do sometimes — is the longtime friendship that’s made it possible for Maher, who’s “pushing 40” in his words. His sole investor in the enterprise is a college pal named Annabelle Peltzer, who’s now a defense contractor. She’s been supporting his career dating back to his attendance at Paragon Culinary School locally. She’d encouraged him to drop out of Colorado School of Mines prior because he wasn’t happy. While there together, though, she’d witnessed his culinary potential, as he always cooked for their friend group before their engineering tests. She suggested he pursue a culinary career.
The way he tells it, this past fall after he left Sopra, as he was just beginning to investigate buying a food truck or renting a stall at a food hall, prepared to leverage his house for capital, he reached out to her for counsel, saying “I think it’s time to start my own business.” That’s when she revealed she’d quietly been saving money for him ever since he left college 17 years ago. “She said, ‘let’s talk.’ It was a true surprise.” She never told him, he says, because she didn’t want him to feel pressured before he was ready to pull the trigger on his own. She apparently also downplayed the gesture graciously, saying “I figure investing in a business is cheaper than buying a boat.”
Another slice of Fountain
After my late February writeup on a handful of spots in Fountain, I heard from several readers and online commenters that they wished I’d gotten to Sliced Bagel & More. Well, conveniently for me, my co-pilot Lauren Hug, aka sidedishsidekick, did just that earlier this week. I asked her to file a guest writeup for me, and she graciously obliged. Here it is, in her words:
Sliced Bagel & More brings hand-rolled New York bagels to Main Street in Fountain, right across the street from Fountain City Hall. Because I'm not Schniper, I don't ask a million questions about the bagel-making, -shipping and -baking process on my visit. I just place an order for a plain bagel with plain cream cheese. (In my opinion, the best way to judge a place is by the most classic execution). A sign says the spread is housemade. It has a heavenly, fluffy texture and just the right amount of flavor. The bagel is perfectly crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It makes me want to go back and try more flavors, spreads and sandwiches (several of which are "steamwiches").
Every month Sliced creates two state-inspired sandwiches. This month is Alaska (onion bagel with smoked salmon, lettuce and mayo) and Louisiana (sesame bagel with ham, salami, bologna, Provolone cheese and olive salad). I almost ordered the Love You Lox off the regular menu, a non-steamed sandwich of poppy seed bagel, garlic herb cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion, avocado and capers, but they were out of poppy bagels (the only flavor they were out of at that point in the day). Plus I was on my way to facilitate a focus group and didn't want to breathe garlic onion breath on so many people. Next time!
Bites & Bits
• While I was putting the finishing touches on this newsletter this week, a fire burned to within a few hundred feet of Red Leg Brewing Company.
• Last call: Native American-owned CarefreeBar and Grill is permanently closing after St. Patrick’s Day service on March 17. Business owner Cynthia Bickal (of the Ho-Chunk Nation) cited “the rising cost of rent” as an insurmountable challenge, according to reporting in the Gazette. The article doesn’t mention that in fall of 2023 Bickal had tried to expand by opening Circle Back Tap on Circle Drive in the former Bernie’s Place Tavern. By fall of 2024, it went bust (and was later replaced with One Love Island Bar & Grill, which I recently visited, here).
• Between now and Easter, Colonel Mustard’s Sandwich Emporium is offering Fish Frydays, featuring a breaded, baked white fish sandwich with cheddar, lettuce and tomato on toasted ciabatta with Lars Danish remoulade for $10.95.
• The Warehouse Restaurant has added a small grab-and-go retail area to its entryway
• According to a press release I received, Colorado Springs is set in the coming months to receive two Jeff’s Bagel Run locations via franchisee Dave Weinberg. He’s quoted in the release as saying “Colorado Springs has been asking for a fresh bagel experience, and I’m excited to deliver with Jeff’s Bagel Run.” Upon reading that, some of you may be wondering if he’s familiar with Olde World Bagel, Bella’s Bagels, The Springs Bagel Company, Sliced Bagel & More, etc. (Sounds like he might be missing the hole story — I pun! I also wonder where one makes such requests to the universe as “I want a fresh bagel experience!” Perhaps it’s the culinary-craving equivalent of making a call on a wind phone, but it turns out Siri is listening 🤔.) Anyway, in early January of this year, I shared a Denver Post article citing Denver’s biggest food and restaurant trends in 2024, one of which was bagels. So, in true Springs fashion as we trail behind Denver trends, the resurgence of bagels indeed seems underway.
• The Sourdough Boulangerie has created a new product: The Super Sourdough. Owner Shawn Saunders tells Side Dish “It’s fermented for five days real slow in the cooler. It brings out the really nice sweet and sour flavors of an extended fermentation period. [It’s made with] all local unbleached flour and a touch of stone ground whole wheat from mountain mama milling in Monte Vista and a touch of extra salt to help slow the fermentation down… it’s also seed oil-free as we are using olive oil in the fermentation bins and the bread pans.” Saunders notes it’s only available at his bakery on Omaha Boulevard, Saturdays only (or Sundays if any is left). Call ahead to place orders if you wish; medium loaves are $14 and XL loaves are $16.
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Odyssey Gastropub: St. Patrick’s Day specials March 14-17 include chips & curry and the 719 Reuben: house corned beef, green chile sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye. Drink specials include car bombs, Jameson and milk stout.
Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar: March is Oyster Month, featuring hot and cold specials, raw bar flights and limited-time cocktails like the Umibozu martini with MEll vodka, kombu brine, kelp and bonito pearls. Reserve early for Bubbles & Pearls, March 22, with all-you-can-eat oysters from both coasts, bottomless Veuve du Vernay bubbles and luxe fixings like caviar bumps, crème fraiche and more. 1-2:30 p.m.; $125/person.
Goat Patch Brewing: Bleating Heart Night benefitting Ithaka Housing, 5-9 p.m., March 18. Trivia, 6:30-8:30 p.m., March 19. Keep an eye out for updates on our new north location taproom opening date!
Stellina Pizza Cafe: Limited seats remain for our next Supper Club, March 31 at 6 p.m. Five courses and a seasonal spring spritz are $75, with an optional $25 paired wine flight.
Kangaroo Coffee: Join us at our new concourse location at Weidner Field on Saturday for the Switchbacks' home opener. We'll have our hot beverages to keep you warm! Our Drink of the Month: Shamrock Shake at all locations.
Edelweiss: Featuring corned beef and cabbage March 15-17, plus pastry specials like shamrock cookies, chocolate mousse shamrocks and Baileys Irish cream bombes.
Wobbly Olive: March 15 only we’re featuring St. Patrick’s Day specials for lunch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) alongside our regular menu, with special shots and cocktails too. Stick around for a Harry Potter butterbeer in Allusion Speakeasy at 4 p.m.
Ascent Beverage: We’re pouring at Falcon Liquor Outlet from 3-6 p.m., March 14. We’ll be tasting Arcola, Jackson Hole Stillworks, Celestial Mead, and 1874 Distilling.
Upcoming events
March 14-15: Grand opening weekend of The Lot at Meanwhile Block. Weekly food truck rallies with limited hours.
March 15: SoulFULL Series Community Dinner at COSCityHub.
March 16: ACF Culinary Passport 2025 at the Broadmoor’s Cheyenne Lodge. Proceeds benefiting the Springs Rescue Mission and its Culinary Training Program.
March 19: Irish Whiskey School tasting at Whistle Pig Brewing Co.
March 19: Knife Fight and Sip with Schnip at Eleven18. The battle of Justin vs. Dustin: be there! 7 p.m. pre-game in the lounge; 8 p.m. head-to-head chef’s cook-off.
March 25: Community Wine Dinner benefitting Rocky Mountain Field Institute at Pizzeria Rustica.
March 30: 2nd annual Rooftop Invitational cocktail competition at Lumen8 Rooftop Social. Eight teams, seven rounds, one winner takes all.
April 10: Wine Walk in Manitou Springs. Small pours at Manitou Winery, Swirl Wine Bar and The Mona Lisa.
April 12: Sip and Support Rotary Wine Fundraiser at the Manitou Art Center.
Parting shot(s)
Congrats to Metric Brewing, who’s Arnold Palmer drink-inspired John Daly Black Tea & Lemon Experimental Ale won the Golden Firkin award at this year’s 18th annual Firkin Fest hosted by Bristol Brewing Co. at Ivywild School. There were “lots of solid beers” featured in the words of Focus on the Beer’s Josh Howard. One of his and my favorites was a pickle beer aged in a Sauternes wine barrel, created by Breckenridge’s Broken Compass Brewing. The fest is the perfect place for playful beers versus straightlaced ones, though Urban Animal impressed with its Old Fashioned Wee Heavy Ale and Goat Patch dropped a splendid dry hopped Belgian Farmhouse Ale. Snap up tickets as soon as they go on sale next year, because Firkin Fest always sells out and it’s always a good time to get to know your brewers.
