A mainstay of Wheat Ridge’s bar and restaurant scene is back in business, after an 8-month hiatus to expand and change not only its appearance but its business approach.
Co-owner Eugene Kahng has operated the Colorado Plus Brewpub, 6995 W. 38th Ave., in Wheat Ridge for 18 years. During that time, he also volunteered to help at Great American Beer Festivals in Denver.
“The crazy thing is I never really wanted to be in the food service industry, I just wanted a taphouse,” he told the Neighborhood Gazette in a mid-October interview. “I guess the experience rubbed off on me but I didn’t know it. It’s kind of strange how things come full circle.”
Kahng grew up in Lakewood and owned Vern’s Liquors in Wheat Ridge from 2006-2012. When he heard the building on West 38th Avenue that used to be the home of Valente’s Italian Restaurant was for sale, he and his wife took the opportunity to buy it and open Colorado Plus.
The bar and restaurant opened in 2013 with an all-Colorado craft beer tap list and scratch kitchen concept. It closed in February of 2024 for a significant makeover, focused on a hybrid service model, with a fast-casual food counter and a full-service indoor/outdoor bar.
The west wall behind the bar was removed and replaced with a large window to feature a much longer bar at 28 feet. Wine and cocktails are still served. The exterior of the building received a full paint makeover.
Colorado Plus reopened on Friday, Oct. 11, and is open for regular hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
“A lot of our regulars showed us they love we’re back and we had quite a few new customers, too,” Kahng said.
The main change was the addition of quick-serve orders for meals and food to go along with ordering from menus at tables, Kahng stated.
“This is a big change,” he said. “This kind of hybrid restaurant is one of the first in this area.”
Colorado Plus also takes online orders.
The COVID-19 pandemic “kind of forced our hand,” Kahng added.
“You had all these restaurants delivering food while we were on shutdown and the younger people seemed to really go for that,” he said. “We wanted to appeal to the younger generation but we also wanted to keep our older customers with our table and counter service.”
Colorado Plus’ menu has been streamlined to focus mostly on hamburgers, fish and chips, hand-cut French fries and new additions such as vegetarian items, salads and chicken wings.
The son of Korean immigrants, Kahng noted the menu includes a few Korean items, such as a Korean barbecue burger called a “KoAm Smash” and vegan “Sloppy Kos” with tofu instead of Impossible Meat, a brand of alternative meat.
Beer drinkers have fewer choices but Kahng hopes the ones they choose taste better. He said Colorado Plus cut back from 56 craft beer brands to about 20 to focus on quality, a faster rotation and improved freshness. Between 4-5 house brews will be included as well, he noted. Brewer Brian Ashby remains in charge of that aspect of the operation.
The project also allowed Kahng to try to equalize wages for his 18 kitchen and front-line workers. Tips that were formerly limited to front-line staff are now discouraged and kitchen staff saw their hourly wages slightly increased, he stated.
“We still have jars for tips and there’s still some discrepancies between front and back.,” Kahng noted. “But you see this in place elsewhere and we hope it helps.”
The remodeling also included better lighting, both from the large bar window and electrical lights, Kahng said.
“One of our regulars is a lighting professional so they helped out with the scheme and the result is a much, much brighter place,” he explained. “It’s not just because we have a big window behind the bar.”
Kahng said the remodeling project went well but cited high construction costs due to inflation and challenges such as learning the hybrid ordering and serving system.
