Cabin Fever craft cocktail. (Provided by Earls.)
Earls Kitchen and Bar restaurant on the 16th Street Mall reopened last week after being closed since June for renovation, and lunch hours are bustling with power-lunchers in business suits. The new space is light and airy, with soaring ceilings, because Earls – a Canadian chain with 65 locations – wanted to update its image.
“It was like a good ol’ boys club but now it’s just for everyone who wants a great meal, with salads and burgers,” said Dana Pluss Parks, who represents the restaurant. “They wanted it to be more like the Cherry Creek Grill or Hillstone, as opposed to a sports bar.”
They also want it to fit the image nationally, with architecture as modern as at the new Earls that recently opened in and Miami.
In Denver, the new downstairs is open, the second floor – a place for private parties, and the meeting place for celebrities during the Democratic National Convention in 2008 – is still under construction and opens on Nov. 21.
“Before, it was dark and removed, but it also will be more light and airy,” said Parks.
Architecture isn’t the only aspect that’s been renovated. To keep up with Denver’s thriving cocktail scene, Earls brought in its top mixologist from Vancouver who focused on craft cocktails. The Cabin Fever – with Crown Royal whiskey, port, ginger, fresh lemon and spiced bitters – looks like its straight from the mountain of Colorado, served in a blue-tin camping mug with a pine cone on top.
Another craft cocktail, the Bees Knees, is served in a glass jar shaped like a honey bear along with a honey stick.
Metro Denver had three Earls restaurants – on the 16th Street Mall, in the Park Meadows shopping mall, and in Cherry Creek — but the company closed the Cherry Creek location to fully focus on updating the 16th Street Mall location.
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