The brewery debuted a decade ago, when then-23-year-old Brandon Capps opened it in a small space in Olde Town Arvada. The business has expanded over the past decade, adding a Wheat Ridge taproom in 2022 where all its beer production now happens. It's also built a reputation for having some of the best beers in the metro area — creative brews made with a focus on thoughtful sourcing.
While the Wheat Ridge outpost serves wood-fired pizza that has proved popular, the Arvada location stuck to typical pub fare in recent years. "This used to be a place of creativity and cutting-edge stuff and pushing the boundaries, and that just kind of got lost," Fox notes.
Capps had a vision for a reboot in Arvada with a focus on food that highlights local sourcing. Fox, who formerly worked for chef and restaurateur Paul Reilly at Coperta and Apple Blossom until that concept changed ownership, was the right fit.
Fox joined the team at New Image lasts December and has been slowly working to expand the kitchen, bringing in new equipment and developing the menu for Table, which quietly launched a couple of months ago and celebrated its grand opening on September 23. He's also overseeing the pizza program in Wheat Ridge, which has moved to using Dry Storage flour and a longer three-day ferment for its dough. "As a company, we are masters of fermentation," Fox notes.
The space now has bar seating and high tops as well as a more formal dining area.
Stephanie Kelly Photography
The change is also a chance for Fox to flex his creativity and utilize the many farm connections he's built over the last decade-plus. It also offers something that can be hard to find in Arvada: higher-end, seasonal cuisine. There are plenty of taco, pizza and burger places, Fox notes, but Stone Cellar Bistro is the only other farm-to-table-type concept in the area, and the New Image team thinks there's room for at least one more.
The space has changed, too. It's now divided into two sides: one with some high-tops and bar seats where patrons can still pop in for beer and a snack, and the other a more formal dining area, where the staff has been training to offer service to match.
Fox plans to change up the options at Table regularly, listing which ingredients came from which purveyors right on the menu. Current dishes available for both lunch and dinner include a Badger Flame beet salad ($13 or $24 for a large portion) and heirloom tomato bread ($13) using housemade foccacia. The lunch menu is more succinct than the dinner roster and includes casual-leaning options like a fried chicken sandwich ($22) with confit garlic aioli, lettuce, pickles and tomato on a brioche bun with chips or salad on the side.
The dinner menu features more small plates and larger entrees such as milk-braised lamb osso buco ($34), Maine lobster and potato ravioli ($34), and butter-basted tofu steak ($26) with Thai coconut creamed chard, roasted fingerling potatoes, crispy garlic, toasted chile oil and cilantro.
There is a happy hour from 4 to 5 p.m. as well, with drink deals and small plates such as crispy potatoes with roasted garlic aioli ($6) and marinated anchovy toast ($5).
The drink program has evolved, too. While beer is still the star, Table has an expanded wine selection with plans to bring in certain bottles to pair with specific dishes, as well as a lineup of classic cocktails and seasonal concoctions such as the whiskey-based Miso Gold Rush and the Elderberry Aperol Sour.
Though Table by New Image is officially open, it's an evolving project. Fox wants to continue to expand the food program with additions like sourdough bread; he also plans to experiment with using beer, cider, barleywine and fermentation techniques. There's also been talk about beer-pairing dinners.
"We're working on purchasing the space here," Fox notes. If that happens, "we can do a lot of construction in the back — turn it into bread production or add a private dining experience or add another bar." In the meantime, the team wants to "really build out the patio," he adds.
The shift has been a big one, and there has been some pushback. "A lot of people, even regulars that were coming in and people around the neighborhood, were very skeptical," Fox admits. Still, he's looking forward to continuing to develop what's essentially a brand-new restaurant inside an existing business.
"We'll see six months from now what this turns into," he concludes. "I don't think we have it all figured out...but we're excited to see what people respond to, and to keep playing around with new ideas."
Table by New Image is located at 5622 Yukon Street in Arvada and is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit nibrewing.com or make a reservation via Tock.
