Denver restaurateur Jared Leonard has opened and closed three totally different restaurant ideas in the identical constructing, at 81 S. Pennsylvania St., in Denver’s Washington Park. He’s hoping that the fourth thought — which stays true to what he is aware of greatest: hearth and meat — would be the closing one.
When it opens subsequent month, AJ’s Steakhouse might be a sister restaurant to AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, which received a Bib Gourmand award from Michelin final yr. It’ll change Clairette, a Mediterranean-inspired cocktail lounge and restaurant that Leonard opened in June and can shut on Saturday.
“This would be the closing idea right here,” Leonard stated. “The opposite ideas have been all the time slightly out of our class, like we have been attempting to make up an idea match for the house. Now that I’ve been within the neighborhood for nearly 4 years, I’ve discovered what they actually need is a neighborhood steakhouse, and this suits into our class of eating places so properly, since we already work so intently with meat and hearth at AJ’s.”
Leonard’s first restaurant within the constructing was Budlong Scorching Rooster, which he delivered to Denver from Chicago in 2019. That closed in 2021 when he changed it with Au Feu Brasserie, a fine-dining French-Canadian restaurant that he first tried within the Zeppelin Station meals corridor. Two years later, he changed Au Feu with Clairette. Leonard additionally owns Campfire, with places in Lakewood and Evergreen, and Grabowski’s Pizzeria, which he moved from Denver to Lakewood.
“Denver continues to be a meat and potatoes city that loves an old-school steak menu,” Leonard stated.
AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q, at 2180 S. Delaware St., has been serving occasional steak specials for the previous couple of years, however with no wood-fired grill, it didn’t make sense so as to add the cuts of beef to the barbecue menu, he stated. Now, Leonard could make use of Clairette’s wood-fired grill in collaboration with AJ’s pitmaster Patrick Klaiber’s meaty experience.
“AJ’s is a very recognizable model and has a variety of model energy in Denver as an knowledgeable for all issues meat, so it made sense to maintain the title,” Leonard stated.
AJ’s Steakhouse will serve 4 prime cuts of beef, together with filets, hanger steak and New York strips. The steaks might be smoked at AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q to provide it that barbecue taste, earlier than they’re cooked sous vide and completed on the steakhouse.
Leonard stated he plans to supply the meat from native butcher Rugby Scott Ranch Provisions. The menu can even supply pork chops, salmon, and Lion’s Mane mushrooms, in addition to traditional sides like creamed corn and spinach, fingerling potatoes, Brussels sprouts and asparagus.
“It is going to be a laid-back neighborhood steakhouse, the place servers aren’t dressed up in fits and ties, however there’ll nonetheless be that old-school-style of service and showmanship, the place friends can see their steaks uncooked on a tray earlier than they order, so you’ve got an thought of what you’re really getting,” Leonard stated.
Subscribe to our new meals e-newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver foods and drinks information despatched straight to your inbox.