You likely won't notice that the front door of Jimmy's Urban Bar & Grill slants, if only a little. It has something to do with luck -- good luck -- and Alicia Bernat, along with her husband Jim and their son and exec chef Jimmy, deliberately designed their new namesake restaurant with teases of feng shui: copper and metal elements are strategically placed among the televisions, while earth tones, the color of warm spices, brush the walls showcasing original art from local artists, which, by the way, is all for sale -- and every dime of what's sold goes directly to to the artist.

See also:
- Killer Cuisine & Cocktails" coming to 1500 block of Blake Street
- TD's Dogs dries up downtown
- Pouring craft beer, pulling Strings: Our restaurant roll call for April

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Pizza palaces, as we reported earlier today, are peppered throughout the downtown Denver restaurant landscape, and while some of those same pizzerias that opened within the past year have since shuttered, Pizza Republica, the original of which resides in the Landmark development in Greenwood Village, has proven that it has staying power (not an easy feat in the 'burbs). And tomorrow, at 11 a.m. owner and executive chef George Eder will open a second outpost of Pizza Republica at 890 14th Street, directly next door to the Colorado Convention Center, and given its prime location (and what may the city's best patio to date), we're willing to bet that downtown denizens will greedily chew it up (and not spit it out).

See also:
- Round two with George Eder, exec chef of Pizza Republica
- Pizza Republica's George Eder on grubs, Groupons and the guest who was aghast
- Toppings is tapped out in LoDo, but two more pizza places coming

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All photos by Kate Gibbons.

Swapping out butter and eggs for applesauce and almond milk has been a sweet deal for Blair Ednie and Michael Craig, who started Beet Box six years ago as a vegan catering and wholesale baking company. And this month, they gave up their base in Arvada for a new home just minutes from downtown,where they've added a retail bakery -- a project so new that the Beet Box Bakery doesn't yet have a sign.

See also:
- Vegan ginger muffins for a soothing breakfast on Meatless Monday
- The five best vegetarian/vegan dishes in Denver
- Justin Brunson taps pastry queen Nadine Donovan for Old Major's dessert program

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A string of pizza joints opened in LoDo last year, in a neighborhood that already included the Wazee Supper Club and Two-Fisted Mario's, with Mellow Mushroom and Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria just a few blocks outside of LoDo. Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza was the first to open -- and also the first to close, less than a year later, in August 2012, when Charlie Palmer also shuttered District Tavern. Now Toppings, a take-and-bake enterprise that opened in April 2012, has closed its doors.

Still going strong: Lucky Pie, which opened at the end of February 2012.

See also:
- Charlie Palmer closing his namesake District Tavern and Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza
- Good execution turns into good pizza at Lucky Pie
- Chef and Tell with Randy Balch of Wazee Supper Club

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Lori Midson

A "rising star." That's how Westword restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz described Red Star Deli, a smashing sandwich joint that opened in the Icehouse, along with Studio F, a spacious culinary stage -- and pop- up venue -- for local and visiting chefs to shine in front of captive audiences, in March of last year. The deli, which was initially overseen by James Mazzio, who departed late in October -- and is now cooking in Aspen -- soon tapped Glenn Smith to take his place, but now Smith is gone. And so is Red Star Deli, which shuttered after lunch on Friday of last week.

See also:
- Foodography: James Mazzio opens Red Star Deli in the Icehouse
- Red Star Deli, pop-up dinners and a chef series all part of chef James Mazzio's vision
- Year in Review: Red Star Deli lost its star chef

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Factotum Brewhouse Facebook page

Laura and Chris Bruns

Denver's craft-beer scene has exploded over the past three years as the number of breweries tripled inside city limits, but most of those brewery owners started off as home brewers, roasting grains in their ovens and tweaking recipes in their garages.

Chris and Laura Bruns, a sister-and-brother team, want to pay their respects to those home brewers by opening a new brewery in the Sunnyside neighborhood that uses their recipes and gives them a chance to make their beers on a much larger scale.

See also:
- A handful of breweries? CNN's beer-city list misses the mark on Denver
- Diebolt Brewing will join Denver's Sunnyside neighborhood this year
- Stomp Them Grapes is moving north

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Back in December, we broke the news that Spuntino, chef John Broening and pastry chef Yasmin Lozada-Hissom's neighborhood restaurant in Highland -- a restaurant that turns out everything from unassailable gelato to equally unparalleled porchetta -- would temporarily shutter sometime this February to undergo a significant renovation. Timing, of course, is relative, and Broening and Hissom stretched the planned closing a few more months, locking the doors yesterday after Mother's Day brunch.

See also:
- Spuntino will undergo a remodel, expand its menu and pursue a full liquor license
- 100 Favorite Dishes: chocolate caramel sea salt tart from Spuntino
- Our favorite local culinary gifts of 2012: Spuntino's hot chocolate mix and salted caramel marshmallows

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Odyssey Beerwerks Facebook page

Arvada will get a new brewery later this month when Odyssey Beerwerks opens up at 5535 West 56th Avenue, Suite 107, just north of the Denver border.

The 1,700-square-foot taproom, which will include a fifteen-barrel brewing system and room for at least eighty people, was founded by friends Chris Hill, who is originally from Fort Collins, and Josh Van Riper, who grew up on the Western Slope.

See also:
- Photos: Utah's Epic Brewing is preparing new Denver facility, three Colorado beers
- Colorado Plus opens Monday with 56 local beers on tap -- and a brewery next month
- Arvada Beer Company expands, will begin canning soon

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Danielle Lirette

For almost eighty years, the Micky Manor -- and that's Micky, without an "e" -- was a landmark on Federal Boulevard, its trademark-respecting neon Mickey and Minnie signs a constant. But in the fall of 2011, the mouse finally left the house.

The circa 1904 firehouse at 2544 Federal Boulevard first became the Micky Manor in 1932, and that identity stuck for the next 75 years, through a couple of owners and managers, one of whom made it a haven for classic Rockybilt burgers. A brief transformation to the Twelfth Man in 2006 didn't last, and Micky made a comeback in 2007, the neon repaired and shining brighter than ever. But it didn't last, and the space has been dark for almost two years. Until this week, when it lit up again as Federal Bar & Grill.

See also:
- The Micky Manor has gone dark
- Micky Manor: Of Mice and Men
- Micky Manor: A Federal Case

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Lori Midson

For years -- YEARS! -- I've prayed to the Mexican food gods that someone in my Wash Park 'hood would open a taqueria, or at least a taco joint, saving me from hiking to Federal Boulevard when I want my al pastor fix.

And, now, it looks like I'm finally going to get my wish.

See also:
- Best Taqueria - 2013 La Calle Taqueria y Carnitas
- Best Free Chips and Salsa - 2013 Zocalo Restaurant and Bar
- Best Salsa Bar - 2013 El Trompito Taqueria

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