Hodson's Bar & Grill opens in early June at the Streets at SouthGlenn, taps Tim Opiel as executive chef

The Streets at SouthGlenn, which is fast becoming a food utopia, thanks to restaurants like Pho 95, The Oven and Restaurant Home, is about to yield another new restaurant: Hodson's Bar & Grill will open at 6851 South Gaylord Street in early June.

"Our main focus is on rotisserie cooking, mostly chicken, but we're doing steak, prime rib, some seafood and a few pastas, too," says general manager J.T. Taylor, who spent six years working for Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc., where he did time at the Boulder Chophouse in the People's Republic and Rock Bottom on the 16th Street Mall in Denver.

"We're aiming to be just a good solid, upbeat American grill," Taylor tells me. The restaurant, which has 284 seats, including a 100-seat covered patio, is canopied under Center Restaurant Management, a company that also owns Colorado's four Dusty Boot Steakhouse & Saloon locations, Reiver's, Spanky's Roadhouse, the Whippletree in Evergreen and several other Colorado mountain restaurants. "This is going to be a little more stylish than some of the company's other restaurants," says Taylor, who adds that Hodson's will have a "great wine list, a lot of craft beers from Colorado, hand-crafted cocktails and a fire pit on the patio."

But for those of us who have spent the last decade in Denver, the most exciting news about Hodson's may be the fact that Tim Opiel is the restaurant's executive chef. Opiel was the opening chef of the Rialto Cafe, a gig that lasted for ten years. He was also the head chef of the long-departed Fourth Story in Cherry Creek for a few years, and, according to Taylor, has spent the last several years consulting. It's been a while since I've had Opiel's food, but when he was cooking at Rialto and the Fourth Story, the guy turned out some seriously excellent grub.

Hodson's had hoped to open at the end of may, but construction issues (as usual), delayed the debut, which, Taylor says, will likely be on Tuesday, June 8. When it opens, lunch and dinner will be served daily until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Sunday brunch, notes Taylor, will kick off sometime in July. In the meantime, you can find out more by calling 303-618-6030.