Central Park's Newest Tables Come From Kitchens It Already Knew

TAG Burger Bar closed its Eastbridge Town Center space in July. A day later, Fire on the Mountain had taken over the lease. Andrea West told Westword that the wing restaurant "took over the lease the next, and started doing a little bit of a flip," and the whole process took about a month and a half. Westword's September roundup lists it as open at 10155 E. 29th Drive.

That quick handoff fits a pattern in Central Park's dining this year. The openings that have actually changed where the neighborhood eats come from Denver operators opening a second, third or fourth room, and several of them came over from Stanley Marketplace on the Aurora side of the line.

One Day Between Leases

Fire on the Mountain started in Portland. West brought it to Denver with a Highland location in 2012 and opened in Washington Park in 2019, so Central Park is the chain's third location in the city. It arrives as a known name: Westword readers had already picked it as the city's Best Chicken Wings.

West and co-owner Craig "Cheech" Oberlink told Front Porch they inherited much of TAG's equipment and called the space "turnkey." They also said some longtime employees who live nearby would move over to the new location. West explained the move to the paper this way:

"It's like those old Denver neighborhoods. This is the newer version of those neighborhoods."

The menu is built around wings and 15 sauces made in-house every day, plus sandwiches, salads and craft beer. Front Porch reported hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends. West also told Front Porch it had been seven years since the team last opened a restaurant. Having a ready-made space in Eastbridge is what got them to open a third.

Across the Plaza, a Stanley Kitchen Moves Over

Hida Japanese Skillet & Grill opened at 10195 E. 29th Drive, in the former Cholon space on the other side of the plaza from Fire on the Mountain. It is the third area restaurant from Robert and Charlene Thai, who already run Misaki and Lemon Grass inside Stanley Marketplace.

Front Porch says Hida grew out of customer requests at Misaki. Over three or four years, Robert Thai kept hearing from diners who wanted vegetarian and vegan versions of the menu. He added a page of those dishes at Misaki, and when the Cholon space became available he opened a restaurant where those options fill the whole menu.

Hida has no raw fish on its menu, since Misaki still covers that. Instead it serves pressed sushi, which is cooked, along with yakisoba, pork loin curry and sizzling steak. The two restaurants are meant to complement each other, and the same family runs both.

Eastbridge picked up two other openings this year. Encanto Taqueria y Cantina appeared on Westword's May openings list at 10155 E. 29th Drive. And WhatNow reported in April that Little Man Ice Cream was rebranding the former Constellation shop at 10175 E. 29th Drive. Here is who now runs the plaza's newest spaces and where else they operate:

Northfield's Exception Started as a Burger Night

Avenues at Northfield is growing in a different direction. Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners bought the center in 2022, renamed it from The Shops at Northfield, and is in the middle of a multimillion-dollar redevelopment, The Denver Post reports. Recent openings there include 3 Margaritas, Bubba's 33 and Pandora, all national chains. The center's own site advertised a Monday, October 5 grand opening for Bubba's 33 at 8268 E. Northfield Blvd.

The one local operator in that group took a familiar route. Marczyk FineBurger opened in the former Wahoo's space at 7980 E. Northfield Blvd. BusinessDen reported that Burger Night had been an occasional summer cookout outside Marczyk Fine Foods' Uptown and Colfax stores for 24 years, and that FineBurger makes it a full-time restaurant. Pete Marczyk told the outlet the old format had reached its limit: serving 400 burgers in a two-hour window wasn't something it could scale. The restaurant is operated by Tom Sprung, and Marczyk supplies the branded concept. Marczyk's two grocery stores are at 770 E. 17th Ave. and 5100 E. Colfax Ave.

So even at a mall being reworked around national tenants, the most locally rooted addition is a summer event that had already proven itself elsewhere in Denver for more than two decades.

Stanley Keeps Adding Concepts From Its Own Operators

If Eastbridge is getting operators from Stanley, Stanley is also expanding from within. Chase Devitt and Charles Troup, who own Boychik, plan to open Sorella in a 400-square-foot stall at the marketplace, The Denver Post reported in a September story shared with BusinessDen. Boychik already has one of its three locations at Stanley in a sit-down space, and Sorella will be a counter stall serving sandwiches, charcuterie and take-and-bake pastas. Troup said every individual meal will be under $20, with spaghetti and meatballs at $17. The opening is expected in November, and no exact date had been announced as of that report.

The same report said Magnetic Capital, a local developer, had recently bought Stanley for $41 million, and that the Sorella team signed a three-year lease. Retail at Stanley is expanding the same way. According to Front Porch, Wax Trax Records moved from its kiosk into a 1,000-square-foot storefront at 2501 N. Dallas St. and began buying and selling used music and stereo equipment there in July.

Taken together, the Thais, the Boychik team and Wax Trax show the marketplace working as an incubator. Businesses build a following there, then grow into a bigger footprint inside the building or move across into Eastbridge.

November 20 Brings Both Ends Out on One Night

On the calendar, the Northfield and 29th Avenue stories meet on Friday, November 20.

Wayfair opens its 140,000-square-foot, two-story store at 8298 E. Northfield Blvd. that day, in the former Macy's that closed last year. It is the online retailer's fourth large-format store, and The Denver Post says it will have 19 departments, including furniture, appliances, mattresses, florals and design services. Grand-opening events run November 20 through 22.

The same evening, the Central Park MCA holds Winter Welcome at the 29th Avenue Town Center. The day runs like this:

1. 8 a.m. 29th Avenue closes from Quebec to Syracuse Street for setup.
2. 5 p.m. The event opens with vendors, a Winter Welcome bar serving hot chocolate and adult beverages, Girl Scouts selling s'mores, and photos with Santa.
3. 6 p.m. The tree lighting ceremony starts, with performances from the Denver Dolls and Aerial Cirque Over Denver.
4. 8 p.m. The event ends.

The MCA has posted a traffic control plan for the 29th Avenue closure on the same event page.

Into December at Stanley

Stanley Marketplace has a full holiday calendar on its events page:

• First Fridays Creator Market: November 6 and December 4
• Yuletide Carolers: November 28, with Victorian carolers
• After Hours Market: December 11 and 12
• S'mores in the Field: December 11 through December 26

Some of Northfield's changes will take longer. Denver7 reports that the Trader Joe's planned for 8564 E. Northfield Blvd. is aiming for 2027 and has no opening date yet. The Denver Post lists a 103,000-square-foot Life Time at 8568 E. 49th Ave. among the center's planned additions. If Sorella opens on its November target, it will be the next new counter at Stanley before then.

Between Wayfair's opening on November 20 and Trader Joe's target year of 2027, Northfield and Eastbridge will keep changing on separate timelines. Mark Callaghan tracks openings like these alongside the sales data across Denver. Request your Downtown Denver Market Update for a regular, data-driven read on what's shifting in the neighborhoods you care about.