Reader: Squeaky Bean, Kitchen Denver don't qualify as 'new'

Reader: Squeaky Bean, Kitchen Denver don't qualify as "new"

By Patricia Calhoun Thu., Feb. 21 2013 at 6:57 AM

Mark Manger

The Kitchen came to Denver last March -- but is it new?

Last week we posted our list of the Ten Best New Restaurants to open in 2012, and included Squeaky Bean -- which had closed in LoHi in 2011, then opened in LoDo a year later -- and the Kitchen Denver, the latest outpost of a Boulder-based empire.

But do those spots really count as new restaurants?

Says 1800saint:

I love the Squeaky Bean, but how many times are they going to be included on the 'Top NEW Restaurants' list? They are not new. For that matter is the Kitchen really 'new'? If a new McDonald's opens downtown will that be eligible? Why do we continue to rehash the same places when there are so many truly new options? No doubt these are great restaurants, but both of them have been on the 'new' lists for years.

Do Squeaky Bean and the Kitchen Denver qualify as new restaurants? What other places deserve a spot on the Best New Restaurant list?

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Squeaky Bean

1500 Wynkoop St., Denver, CO

Category: Restaurant

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The Kitchen

1530 16th St., Denver, CO

Category: Restaurant

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dpr-breck

Squeaky is not new (but not overrated either). Kitchen IMO qualifies as new just because the concept/menu is different than the one in the suburbs of Boulder (yes, that's Boulderite bait, but my rule is you first need your own Boulder International Airport to fly out of before you get your own status as your own metro area :)

dpr-breck

NoBoBear

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Mixed opinion on this. I guess there needs to be a basic checklist for "new".

For example: is the restaurant actually new to town? If just changing locations, not new. If they moved and totally changed the concept/food, kinda new, but even then, they're trading on the old name, so, still comes down, for me, as a menu change vs. truly new. Same name, new location, pretty much similar to when an establishment closes down for a month or so to do a remodel.

Second location with a different menu and chef, that I can see as new, but barely. This is were Kitchen Denver can be considered new.

And let's not get into the occasional dust-up of Denver vs. Boulder vs. other burbs arguments re: "What's Denver dining". If we go down that angle, Kitchen still is new since, in this argument, Boulder doesn't count.