Soon-to-Open Populus Hotel Announces Restaurant Concepts Led by Frasca Alums

Populus, the eye-catching building at 240 14th Street, at the edge of Civic Center Park, is slated to open in September. When it does, the aspen tree-inspired structure will be the country’s first carbon-positive hotel.

On June 11, the Aparium Hotel Group announced two restaurant concepts that will open in the Populus: Pasque and Stellar Jay, which will operate with a focus on "responsibly sourced ingredients" and "zero waste dining" and will "turn 100 percent of food waste into compost to be shared with local farmers."

The announcement notes that "Populus will be the first hotel in downtown Denver to use unique 'Food Cycling' technology from BioGreen360, the leading innovator in distributed food waste management solutions, which diverts 100 percent of food waste away from landfills and into all-natural compost and generates real-time data to track and report the total amount of food diversion. All food waste will be inserted into BioGreen360’s waterless, continual feed aerobic digesting system that uses microbial formulae and patent-pending mechanical and evaporation technologies to repurpose waste into an array of compost and fertilizer products. These all-natural products will then be distributed to local farms in Colorado, taking the food from table to farm and establishing a circular solution for food waste."
The restaurants are set to open late this summer.

Overseeing the restaurants are executive chef Ian Wortham and director of food and beverage Curtis Landrum, who both previously worked at Tavernetta, the Frasca Hospitality Group's Italian restaurant at Union Station. Wortham also had a stint as chef de cuisine at Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, and most recently has led culinary teams at various Aparium hotels, including Cherry Creek's Clayton Hotel & Members Club.

Landrum was the general manager for Tavernetta as well as its sister concept at Union Station, Sunday Vinyl. His most recent position was director of operations for the Frasca Hospitality Group.
At Pasque, which is located on the “forest floor” of the hotel and named for a Colorado wildflower, Wortham "will take a nature-based approach to cooking," according to Aparium. It will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and bar menus, with a focus on seasonal, plant-based ingredients and local proteins.

In a city that loves to spend time on rooftop bars, Stellar Jay is poised to become a destination for locals and tourists alike. Perched in the "canopy" of the Populus, Stellar Jay will "offer a lively rooftop dining experience, featuring shared plates and live-fired cuisine overlooking Denver’s downtown skyline, parks and iconic Rocky Mountains," the announcement notes. Its name is a nod to the Steller's jay, a bird that "shares a symbiotic relationship with pasque flowers, consuming and dispersing their seeds."

The hotel will also include a coffee bar, lounge area, event spaces and a private dining room.

For more information and hotel reservations, visit populusdenver.com or follow @populus_denver on Instagram.