Apple Spice Junction closes in a space that's clearly not meant for a deli

Lori Midson

The strip along South University and Exposition is stamped with merchants, bars, cafes and restaurants, including the (inexplicably) long-standing Saucy Noodle and the Bonnie Brae Tavern, but the space at 723 South University Boulevard, next door to the Saucy Noodle, is cursed with bad luck.

For several years, it housed Fisher Clark Urban Delicatessen, a stellar sandwich shop that shuttered in 2010 when owner Mark Clark, who had worked at the long-gone Tante Louise, sold it to Laurie Page and Stacy Irwin, who turned the space into Loaves n Ladles, a soup-and-sandwich joint that sucked -- and closed just five months after it opened.

But it hung on longer than Apple Spice Junction, a nationwide sandwich chain that relocated from its former Denver digs at 43 West Ninth Avenue -- now Charcoal -- earlier this summer to take a chance on the Bonnie Brae neighborhood space. But now, it, too, has closed, leaving in its wake an empty storefront that can't seem to keep a tenant.

Three delis have occupied that address, all of which have closed, which suggests that the neighborhood isn't clamoring for cold cuts.

But it is whining for a taqueria.