A wood-fired, gas-assisted oven within walking distance of the State Capitol has roared with consistency for the past two years despite changing hands three times in that period.
Its newest handler, chef Justin Freeman, has no intention of slowing down that fire. His project, Monarch, has landed at the small kitchen space in the barroom at Urban Cowboy, a western-themed boutique hotel at 1665 N. Grant St..
“I never cooked at a wood-fired oven until I got here,” Freeman said, rather unbelievably given the Denver-via-New York chef’s lengthy experience since graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 2010. “Honestly, after this, I’ll never go back.”
Monarch takes over what was last known as Little Johnny B’s, the launching pad for Italian-American restaurant Johnny Bechamel’s, and Roberta’s Pizza before that. Like those two businesses, pizzas reign supreme, but the current enterprise has a far wider roster of dishes.
Freeman’s fortes are thin-crust pizzas made with whole wheat and vibrant veggie plates with coarse elements such as crunchy French radishes and tender Mokum carrots. It’s also whatever other protein he orders and gets delivered to the hotel, whether that’s clams from Washington state or beef raised in Colorado.
Monarch’s salads are translated from the vegan dishes he prepares as chef at Somebody People on South Broadway — they are both his cooking, after all, he said. The “little gem” salad, $16, melds a green Freeman described as “a milder version of romaine” with a pistachio dressing. It hits like a fresher, tangier Caesar salad.
What the downtown happy-hour crowd and conference clientele want the most is his margherita pizza, $21, with a crushed tomato sauce, basil and his own mozzarella recipe, he said.
Pizzas and salads keep Freeman gliding from one end of the kitchen to the other, carefully monitoring the inside of a red Fierno Forni-brand oven that can reach up to 700 degrees F.
His business partner and Monarch’s co-founder, Danny Matthews, stays busy mainly on the other side of the order counter. A barber by day, Matthews said he is generally chatty as he takes orders from customers and checks in on the tables on the terrace. He’ll also dip into the kitchen to make desserts. (Right now, that’s a French chocolate mousse.)
The duo met when Freeman was working at The Greenwich, also in Denver. At the time, Matthews had stepped away from the restaurant industry and was focused on getting sober, he said. His barbershop clients included many of the chefs and cooks around town, including Freeman.
When they talked about food and launching a concept, Matthews felt inspired to return. “It had to be with the right person,” he said.
He is now 10 years sober — with 10 tally marks tattooed on his neck to designate his journey. And he still cuts Freeman’s hair.
“I think the biggest thing for me is, how do we build community?” Freeman said.
It’s a mission similar to that of his partners at Somebody People, one that can make the relationship between restaurant and diner feel symbiotic.
