Kourisa Cdebaca is flowing down the Platte.
Her bar , which she debuted with husband Gil in 2021, is moving southwest within Denver from 3759 Chestnut Place to 3500 Delgany St., where it will open on June 19.
She’ll slide into the ground floor of The Catalyst building in RiNo to a space that was formerly occupied by RiNo Grill & Pizza.
When Cdebaca opens River’s second location, she’ll add breakfast, lunch and dinner to a drink menu known for its “power hour” where patrons can get a beer or a pickle shot for $1 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. On Delgany, Cdebaca said she’ll be adding a $5 spaghetti pitcher to the daily ritual, something that used to be popular in bars in the ’70s and ’80s.
As for her full menu, which was made with the help of Smok Barbecue’s Bill Espiricueta, she said itap going to be a simple slew of items where “everything’s awesome.” River will serve pastas, steaks, salads and even Mexican food using Cdebaca’s green chile recipe.
For breakfast, her mother’s blueberry pancakes will be the star of the show alongside bacon/sausage or egg plates and biscuits and gravy offerings. She’ll start out only serving those during Sunday brunch but expects to be seven days a week three to six months in.
River’s cocktails will still have staples like a watermelon juice and coconut rum mix alongside other offerings like local wines. She also will have to-go charcuterie available so people can take munchies across the street to the RiNo Art Park.
“It sounds chaotic, but itap really not,” she said. “I just know whatap missing in that neighborhood.”
River will also continue hosting events like NOLA night on Mondays, which is hosted by a local hip hop artist, along with open mics and EDM nights that the spot has become known for. Those will all start at 10 p.m. and run until 2 a.m., Cdebaca said, which is its closing time seven days a week.
Cdebaca said art is making up most of the $50,000 buildout cost, including several murals she described as “Greek and Roman mixed with cyberpunk.” The venue is keeping the tables and chairs as well as most of the kitchen equipment that RiNo Grill & Pizza used. Pool tables are being brought over from the old location.
River signed a 10-lease for the 4,500 square feet, which has a mezzanine and is bigger than the 3,000 square feet River currently occupies.
Itap been a tsunami of a past few months for River, which thought it would have to close in September after Cdebaca’s uncle-in-law, who owns the property on Chestnut, agreed to sell the building to local developer Bernard Hurley.
Hurley declined to specify plans for the Chestnut parcel, but said that “itap going to continue to be a bar and itap gonna stay a local thing.”
With River’s lease up there this coming September, Cdebaca started looking at other options in the neighborhood, like across the street at 3501 Delgany,where a brewery is slated to open, and on Brighton Boulevard across the street from The Source Hotel.
During her search, she was introduced to Dean Koelbel, whose Koelbel & Co. developed The Catalyst building, which opened in 2018. They looked at the space, which was home to national burger chain Kuma’s Corner before RiNo Grill & Pizza, and decided it was a fit.
“I was a little bit nervous because the other two businesses didn’t make it, right?” Cdebaca said. “But also they didn’t have the community that I have, so we have a head start in that.”
“They have a pretty big following,” Koelbel said. “They’re usually pretty packed and have concerts or some sort of themed event almost every single night.”
They’re also confident that the Art Park, which opened in fall 2021, and new apartment builds in the area will fuel traffic in an area Cdebaca said occasionally feels like the “stepchild of RiNo.”
“You got the park there, which opened during COVID and people are starting to realize that. And we’re starting to see a lot more leasing activity taking place in the Catalyst building itself,” Koelbel said, adding the building is about 80% occupied.
“People are back, people are wanting these walkable amenities,” he continued. “RiNo kind of fell off during and after COVID for a little bit. But itap coming back now.”
Cdebaca and her husband Gil, who is related to former councilwoman Candi Cdebaca and whose family has owned several bars in Five Points, are Denver natives who met while she was bartending.
The two have been riding that RiNo wave over the last five years, growing River’s revenue from $250,000 in its first year to $750,000 in 2025, its best year by far.
“That was just being a bar, and thatap hard to do now because nobody’s just going to the bar.And thatap unhealthy anyways, people want to go to dinner,” she said. “So the fact that we get to be a restaurant now, I’m hoping we triple our revenue.”
BusinessDen staffer Matt Geiger contributed reporting. comes from our partner BusinessDen.
