Denver’s Union Station just wrapped up an $11 million renovation, but that wasn’t enough to keep its first restaurant tenant in the house.
Stoic & Genuine was the first restaurant to open in the historic building when it reopened with a hotel, shops, restaurants and bars in 2014. But restaurant owners Beth Gruitch and Jennifer Jasinski announced that the seafood spot, at 1701 Wynkoop St., will serve its last spoonful of caviar and buttery lobster roll on Sept. 1. They cited an expiring lease and changing market conditions as the main factors behind the decision.
Downtown Denver has struggled to bounce back since the COVID-19 pandemic. Offices remain vacant and pedestrian traffic is down, especially in the midst of the lengthy and ongoing 16th Street Mall renovation. Other downtown restaurants, like Bistro LeRoux and Three Saints Revival, have called it quits as a result.
In addition to closing Stoic & Genuine, Gruitch and Jasinski, a James Beard award-winning chef, have decided to step away from two of their other well-known restaurants, Ultreia, a Spanish tapas restaurant also located in Union Station, and Bistro Vendome, a French food standard that moved from its longtime home in Larimer Square in early 2023 to Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood.
“Conductors pass the baton. Itap time to pass along stewardship of these beautiful places,” Jasinski said in a statement. “Surviving the pandemic and the changes to downtown Denver has left us in a great place to make this move.”
Ultreia partner Adam Branz will return as executive chef and sole owner of the Spanish tapas restaurant, which opened in 2017. Branz took a few years off to start Split Lip, an Eat Place inside Number Thirty Eight (home to one of the best burgers in Denver), which he will continue operating.
Tim Kuklinski, who has been with Gruitch and Jasinski’s restaurant group, Crafted Concepts, for 18 years will take over Bistro Vendôme. Kuklinski began his career with Crafted Concepts in the kitchen at Rioja and worked his way up to culinary director of the restaurant group in 2019.
Branz and Kuklinski plan no major changes to the restaurants.
Speaking of Rioja, at 1431 Larimer St., Gruitch and Jasinski have extended their lease, and plan to continue running the Mediterranean restaurant, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
