At BearLeek, dinner starts and ends with bear-shaped treats.
On the front end is a plate of brioche rolls served with a pad of charred leek butter cast in the mold of a teddy bear. On the back end, a vanilla and passionfruit sweet cream ‘semifreddo’ glistens in a black garlic salsa macha. The dessert is essentially an ice-cream bar in the shape of a teddy bear.
Harrison Porter, the restaurant’s chef and co-owner, is a bear of a man himself. He said the bears were a bit on the restaurant’s name, which comes from the German word “bärlauch.” Bear’s leeks are also known as ramps or wild garlic.
“I just thought it was a fun way to tie it all together,” he said of the teddy bears. “And they’re adorable.”
In between bread rolls and sweets, the forces behind BearLeek — opening July 30 in the basement Jeff Osaka used for a decade for Osaka Ramen before ceasing operations this winter, on 2611 Walnut St. — have found an air-conditioned den for their thoughtful, globally inspired cuisine.
One of those regional influences is Melbourne, on the southeastern shore of Australia, where Porter and his chef de cuisine and co-owner, Rema Maaliki, worked at separate times. The city inspired BearLeek’s koji fried chicken, which is plated with a white butter sauce, fennel and furikake seasoning. The dish is a “labor of love” that requires 10 days of prep, Porter said. (He deflected when asked about the time-intensive process, saying it was “trademarked.”)
Porter referenced New York City and the country of Peru as other places where he has cooked and which inspired his recipes at BearLeek.
To make the restaurant come to fruition, he recruited Maaliki, who worked with him for years inside the haute cuisine kitchen of Brasserie Brixton in Denver, and Carlos Hugo Meza, who knew Porter from his college days and led the bar at Cherry Creek restaurant Quality Italian.
Seated together in their basement restaurant as they awaited the delivery of their oven, they complemented each other’s expertise. Maaliki, they agreed, is the detail-oriented one. Meza, the beverage director, is an encyclopedia on wine with an “ability to sell water to a fish,” Porter said.
“The three of us have been together from pretty much the inception of this place until getting it opened,” Porter said.
Maaliki’s Palestinian and Lebanese heritage is referenced in BearLeek’s tuna crudo, which is served over labneh with peas, a lemon mint vinaigrette and sesame ponzu. She and Porter grew up in Denver, where all their international adventures ultimately led them back to.
Before envisioning a restaurant, they fine-tuned their recipes together, serving them at pop-up dinners to get the customers’ reaction. They began renovating the new restaurant property shortly after Osaka’s ramen shop closed in February, featuring as seating options a shared table for 14 people and a chef’s counter that fits eight. Prices at BearLeek are consistent with other restaurants in the neighborhood, they said.
“Denver has always been a weird place,” said Porter when asked about bringing it all back home to RiNo.
Maaliki interjected. “But it’s our home.”
“We’ve both explored and seen the world, but it’s always the place that we come back to,” she said.
Porter clarified his original statement.
“Weird has always been a good thing”, he said, noting the last ten years have brought even more perplexity to the city. “We’ll do Denver weird in our own way.”
For Maaliki, that means enticing customers toward her chicken liver mousse, a tart elegantly piped with pate. For Meza, it’s introducing people to his favorite agave spirit in a passionfruit mezcal margarita nicknamed “El Oso.”
And for Porter, that means showcasing his recipes in new ways. Even in the shape of an adorable teddy bear.
