MORREALE IS BACK AT THE DINING TABLE
Former El Diablo owner Jesse Morreale is getting back into the Denver restaurant game.
Larimer Associates and City Street Investors, the team behind Larimer Square and the retail leasing at Denver Union Station, have formed a partnership with Morreale to open a new restaurant/bar in northwest Denver.
“We wanted an edgy concept designed from the ground up to specifically serve the demographic and location, and Jesse is the perfect partner to make this vision a reality,” Larimer Associates partner Joe Vostrejs said in a statement. “His proven track record of creating successful businesses in transitional neighborhoods and on traffic corridors was exactly what we were looking for at this location.”
The exact location was not revealed Tuesday, other than that it will be “on a traffic corridor on the border of the Highlands and Sunnyside neighborhoods.”
A top contender is the now-vacant TAG Burger Bar space at 3759 Lipan St., which Larimer Associates has owned since 2012. The Highland location of chef-restaurateur Troy Guard’s burger concept closed in July.
Morreale previously owned El Diablo and Sketch restaurants on Broadway and Rockbar on East Colfax Avenue. Both properties ran into problems with city regulators and were ultimately lost in bankruptcy.
“I’m back in the business in Denver, and the timing is more related to who than when,” Morreale said in an interview Tuesday. “We’ve talked for probably 10 years or longer about doing something together.”
The new concept, which will be similar in spirit to Morreale’s past endeavors, could open in September, he said. “My strength is in providing places where people feel comfortable and have fun and no one feels like they’re underdressed. I’ve done white tablecloth, but this won’t be.”