Denver diners will benefit from Boulder when the Kitchen opens its first Denver location at 16th and Wazee streets next spring, inside space that will be vacated by Gumbo’s.
While Denver will gain a solid player in Colorado’s restaurant scene, downtown will lose Gumbo’s on Oct. 29 after a nearly 10-year run.
“Our lease is up, and we have chosen to walk away from the space,” Gumbo’s owner Gary Hvizda said. “I’ve got a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.”
Hvizda said he’s unsure about his next venture.
Kimbal Musk, meanwhile, one of a trio of owners of the Kitchen and Next Door restaurants in Boulder, said his team is banking on boffo business along the 16th Street Mall. To prove it, co-owners Hugo Matheson, Jen Lewin and Musk signed a 20-year lease.
“I love what’s going on downtown,” Musk said Wednesday over lunch at ChoLon Bistro, just blocks from the Kitchen’s future space. “With Union Station reopening and the extension of the 16th Street Mall shuttle, there’s so much energy here. I think it has a 20-year potential.”
The Kitchen will serve lunch and dinner daily. Valet parking will be available.
Golf-tourney gig.
Denver’s consummate emcee and sports-radio personality Les Shapiro has manned the mike for Hyde Park Jewelers’ Diamonds in the Rough Charity Golf Classic for each of its 12 years.
On Sunday, Shapiro introduced the most celebrity-studded list of players in the tournament’s history during a sold-out dinner at Shana han’s Steakhouse.
The list of players or diners — who on Monday sweltered in the heat at Cherry Creek Country Club — included Nuggets and Avalanche owner Josh Kroenke; Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri; Nuggets coach George Karl; Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry; super sports agent Peter Schaffer; Broncos players Britton Colquitt, Spencer Larsen and Brandon Lloyd; former Broncos Tyrone Braxton and Haven Moses; Broncos general manager Brian Xanders; N.Y. Knicks guard Chauncey Billups; Altitude network’s Kyle Keefe; CU head football coach Jon Embree; CU athletic director Mike Bohn; 9News traffic hound Amelia Earhart; Avalanche TV color analyst Peter McNab; and Stephane Yelle, former Avalanche player who works for the organization.
The tournament, headed by Hyde Park founders Michael Pollak and Steve Rosdal and co-chaired by Rich “G-Man” Goins and Shapiro, raised big bucks for Global Down Syndrome Foundation, Judi’s House and Youth Biz.
Memories.
Long before Elway’s Cherry Creek became the place to see and be seen, the Bay Wolf, run by the late John “JJ” Dzicki, who died July 7, was the hottest spot in town.
To celebrate Dzicki’s life, a gathering will be held at Chopper’s, 80 S. Madison St., from 4 to 7 p.m. today. The Bay Wolf was the underground space that in the ’80s rocked Cherry Creek North on Milwaukee between Second and Third avenues.
EAVESDROPPING
At the Idina Menzel Red Rocks concert with the Colorado Symphony on Sunday night:
“What a beautiful night — and isn’t it great no one is smoking dope?”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Listen to her on “Caplis & Silverman” between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
