The Populist opened its doors about a month ago, bringing Chef Jonathan Power’s vision of making fine-dining more accessible to Denver’s RiNo neighborhood to fruition.
The 1,900-square-foot restaurant, which also includes a 50-square-foot patio, features interesting small plates ranging from $5 beer-marinated olives to $18 striped bass on the half shell. Other unique dishes include a curried chick pea salad, smoked fish rillettes and a chicken liver mouse.
The restaurant also offers a seven-course tasting menu for two for $65, or $100 with wine.
“Price is important, but the primary focus is to have quality food and drink,” says Power, who, with partner Noah Price, also owns the popular
Crema Coffee House at 2862 Larimer St. “We can play around a little bit and keep our price point more reasonable.”
The restaurant at 3163 Larimer St. is in the former Garden Spot Cafe space and tends to attract a younger crowd, though there are plenty of “stylish people from Cherry Creek” checking out the establishment in the gritty neighborhood.
“What we’ve seen with Crema over the last three years has been great,” Power said. “It’s an interesting neighborhood and there’s so much industrial and then residential on Blake Street.”
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