Japanese restaurant opening in former Tony P’s space
Tony P’s name is no longer in lights. The iconic neon sign on the corner of 32nd Avenue and Zuni Street now reads, “Kumoya Japanese Kitchen.”
Denver restaurateur Juan Padro, owner of Culinary Creative restaurant group, is opening a fourth restaurant on the same strip of 32nd Avenue, which is also home to his latest brunch spot Fox and The Hen, Highland Tap and Burger and Bar Dough.
“We have a real opportunity with this block to create a more elevated dining and late-night strip,” Padro said.
Kumo y a Japa ne s e Kitchen, located at 2400 W. 32nd Ave., opens Oct. 12, serving daily rotating sushi specials and izakayastyle hot dishes for dinner from 5 to 10 p. m. It was previously home to Tony P’s Bar & Pizzeria, which closed in February last year after 15 years before moving to a smaller location just two blocks south.
The corner restaurant has been transformed into a Japanese oasis with cherry blossom details, translucent shoji screens and paper lanterns. But you don’t have to take your shoes off at the door.
Culinary Creative partner and chef Max Mckissock and Kumoya executive chef Corey Baker are also co- owners of the group’s latest venture. Baker’s wife Jana has been serving at Culinary Creative restaurants for nearly a decade, which is how he was introduced to Padro, and will be joining her husband’s waitstaff team.
“This has been a long dream of his, and it’s finally coming to fruition,” Jana said. “It feels especially good knowing that we’re going into business with people who I know and have a lot of respect for.”
Baker has worked with Japanese cuisine for the last 20 years and has visited Japan multiple times. He was previously executive chef and part owner of Sushi Ronin and Izakaya Ronin, worked at Sushi Den and helped open Sushi Hai in the Highlands.
Kumoya’s dining room is centered around the sushi bar, where you can watch a line of sushi chefs, including Baker, putting together their rotating fish specials. Whatever is served that day is based on the restaurant’s daily deliveries from renowned fish markets in Toyosu and Fukuoka, Japan, which Baker has cultivated relationships with over the past two decades.
“There’s not really food like this around the Highlands,” Baker said. “A lot of sushi bars only offer fish people like instead of branching out and teaching them about new seasonal fish. I want to guide them into new territory.”
The seasonal menu also has its own daily rotating dry- age fish program and hot Japanese dishes, like Chawanmushi, a silky steamed egg custard; nasu misoyaki, a broiled eggplant with a savory Japanese vinegar and miso dressing and crunchy rice balls to break up the soft texture of the eggplant.
“We’ve built up a lot of trust in this neighborhood for adventurous food,” Padro said. “When we first opened Bar Dough, we couldn’t sell anything but Margherita pizza and buccatini, but as people began to trust us we were able to get a little more adventurous there and that carried over to the other restaurants.”
Next door, where Tony P’s Zio Romolo’s Alley Bar previously operated, the group has created a moody lounge, dubbed Bar Kumo, to activate the space from 10 p. m. to 2 a. m. The space will boast a cocktail bar with lychee martinis, Japanese whiskey and sake, live DJ music and a separate late-night menu with Japanese snacks, like miso soup, katsu sandos, curry dishes and chirashi (sashimi scattered over rice).
“This space is finally going to be buzzing from the inside out,” Baker said.
Padro is already on to his next list of projects: opening his first out- ofstate Mister Oso, which won a Bib Gourmand award from Michelin this year, and an A5 Steakhouse, one of 30 recommended restaurants in Colorado’s Michelin Guide, in New Orleans. He’s also eyeing Boulder for a Mister Oso and Aviano Coffee expansion.