Every Opening and Closing This Week: Westminster's New Brunch Spot and More

One door closed while another opened in Westminster this week. After moving from San Diego to Denver in 2017 to buy a food truck for her California-based fried chicken pop-up concept, Lydie Lovett ended up staying here.

She grew Chicken Rebel from a food stand, opening three brick-and-mortar locations. But now the last one has shuttered "due to rising costs in operating costs and decline in customer traffic," she shares. "Very sad to close due to it being a ten-years-in-the-making dream, from food stand to food truck to Avanti."

While Chicken Rebel was her first restaurant venture, she is still operating a different concept: her brunch spot, Wilde, on Tejon Street, where you can still get her fried chicken in the form of chicken and waffles as well as a Nashville hot chicken sandwich.

While Chicken Rebel has flown the coop in Westminster, the former Emilio's Almost Famous space at West 100th Avenue and Wadsworth is now home to the Brunch House, a daytime eatery serving Mexican and American dishes such as waffles, pancakes, breakfast tacos, chilaquiles and burritos. It also has a full bar.

A new brewery debuted this week: Milieu Fermentation opened its doors in Aurora, near the future location of a Spinelli's Market.
There was some quick backpedaling at the historic Brown Palace Hotel after it announced on May 1 that it would be closing the 74-year-old Palace Arms on May 4 "until further notice." That notice came on May 2, when it changed its website to say that "Palace Arms reservations will not be available from May 5th to May 17th as we prepare for the launch of the new summer menu."

Also poised for a possible future comeback is our 2024 Best of Denver pick for Best New Coffee Shop. Glissade Coffee Company debuted in Aurora in early 2023, then announced a temporary closure on April 30. The shop just posted this followup on Instagram: "Thank you for your patience this past week. We are navigating family health issues and have made the difficult decision to close indefinitely as we make some changes to the business. We are eternally grateful to this community for all of its support and we look forward to serving the community again in the future.

In other openings-and-closings news:

• Vine Street has pushed its reopening back to early June.
• Goosetown Tavern has a new owner and recently reopened its kitchen with a new food menu.
• Huckleberry Roasters is set to open its sixth location next month, in a former Starbucks in Larimer Square.
• Misfit Snack Bar is ending its run inside Middleman but is looking for a new space of its own.

Here's the complete list of restaurants and bars that opened and closed this week*:

Openings

The Brunch House, 10081 Wadsworth Parkway, Westminster
Milieu Fermentation, 2101 Ursula Street, Aurora

Temporary Closures

Palace Arms at the Brown Palace, 321 17th Street
Glissade Coffee Company, 2520 Galena Street, Aurora

Closures

Chicken Rebel, 10448 Town Center Drive, Westminster

*Or earlier and not previously reported.

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