If you built it, they *might* come
Roth's Sea & Steak is all swank with a lofty goal in its sights; Hayato ramen pops up in District Elleven; a closing, an expansion, a testimonial + more food & drink news & events
This much is clear from our media tasting last week with Executive Chef Ricky Biswas and GM/Sommelier Jeroen Erens at the newly opened Roth’s Sea & Steak attached to Ford Amphitheater: They really, really want to earn a Michelin star here.
VENU and its Chairman and CEO J.W. Roth aren’t shy in sharing that they’ve shelled out $44.5M to construct Roth’s, its attached cocktail bar Brohan’s and a series of Owners’ Clubs and “private luxury event spaces” that all overlook the music venue. That fact leads off a prior press release, which also notes Biswas’ and Erens’ prior positions at Michelin-awarded restaurants internationally.
As local Top Chef Brother Luck has been promoting lately on his social media accounts, getting Michelin to town would do a lot to push our hospitality scene forward and put us on the map. Trickle-down factors spawn from that, like attracting kitchen talent to the city to be part of award-winning (and award-chasing) teams. Overnight, Smallarado Springs could transform itself from the littler (than Denver) city that could, to the growing city that did.
Of course all that’s aspirational at this point. But Biswas in particular sounds intent to will it into reality. “I asked J.W. ‘how far do you want to go?’” he says during an hour-long presentation and tasting for us. “Do you want mediocrity, or do you want people to be leaving saying this is the best dining experience they’ve ever had?”
Biswas even evokes the lauded dining guide in a description of himself that he repeats to us multiple times: “I cook like a grandma and I plate like a Michelin star.”
Hell, he says it more explicitly to us: “We want to bring a Michelin star. Otherwise there’s no purpose… I’ve got 17 years in this business and I’m all in. There’s no plan B. Either I’ll be the best chef or I’ll die in the kitchen… I learned from my dad to ‘do it completely or don’t even touch it.’ If you’re a chef, you want the Michelin. I tell my staff that we will all achieve this together.”
If you’re reading this and getting cold sweats thinking about a particularly stressful episode of The Bear about now, you’re not alone. Especially if you’ve worked in the industry and carry around the common perfectionism PTSD.
Biswas knows exactly where his obsession started, and he begins his presentation by detailing his upbringing inside an Army family in India, where “I got my ass kicked through discipline,” he says. That included passing an inspection on making his bed up properly in the morning as a kid, and the later expectation to become a doctor or engineer. But after two years of medical school, he says he’d gained 200 pounds just studying and eating.
He finally told his father he couldn’t do it anymore, and declared he would follow a hospitality track. He describes being laughed at by classmates. Shrugging that off, he set out on a journey that took him around the world, from an island off Madagascar to classic kitchens in France, Singapore, Dubai and spots around the U.S. Those included a stage at The French Laundry, a casino in South Dakota and a lonely posting on a resort ranch in Wyoming. It wasn’t so much living in a trailer park that bothered him, he says, as the fact that “there was no audience there.”
He both feeds and feeds off a crowd.
Particularly formative experiences from back in the more toxic days of his restaurant work included seeing a chef throw lemons at a cook who sliced them wrong, and watching a whole kitchen of whitecoats empty out to throw a mouthy F&B Director against a wall and threaten: “If you ever talk to Chef like that again, we’ll kill you.”
“I was trying to figure out where this love was coming from,” he says. “This is the guy who’d been yelling at you every single day of your life.” But here they were, ready to die, or more so murder for him. “I want to command respect like that.”
He’d started in front-of-the house on a sommelier track, but the day after witnessing that kerfuffle, he went into the kitchen and told that chef “I want to be a chef. From then on, I never looked back.”
He earned a baking and pastry diploma and in France witnessed the “passion and love” of the profession. “I kept my head down and learned. You learn ‘oui, no and sorry chef’ — that’s the mantra for being successful.”
Back to the high stakes of it all: “This industry will take so much away from you if you aren’t all in. I tell my staff ‘you’ll spend more time with me than your partners. You better fall in love with this place.’”
He’s instilling a foundational respect, based on French kitchens. His line cooks wear toques. A piece of printer paper taped on the stainless steel at the kitchen pass in front of the expo reads: “Make excuses, or make changes. The choice is yours.”
He says “discipline looks cool at the highest level. Guests enjoy the show.”
Roth’s has an open kitchen just past the central bar and a long dining counter reserved for chef’s tables. But behind the scenes in the back kitchen, during family meal, he says the dishwasher eats first. Everyone gets called “chef” during service as a sign of mutual respect. “It’s because of them that I can do this,” he says.
Though it’s Biswas’ chef’s journey story at the kitchen counter, J.W. Roth’s face is the one actually printed in menus. It’s his story of “unforgettable” meals around the world that invites diners into the ambiance. He calls Roth’s “a love letter to the meals that shaped me” and a “personal expression,” through “every curve in the booth and flicker of candlelight.” He embodies the space, allowing Biswas to create its flavor.
By way of attention to detail, Erens tells us it took the team a month to decide on the right cloth napkin for Roth’s. They’re setting bone china from England on tables and Austrian crystal glassware. For his part, he says he’d prefer to earn two Michelin stars.
Our tasting is a mini-course tour through several menu sections, and it begins with the gorgeous beet salad pictured at the top of this page. Then it moves to a wagyu beef tartare with capers, shallots, sherry vinegar, aged balsamic and (real) truffle aioli. It’s a recipe so solid that he shared it with Forbes magazine. We relish every bite.
Next arrives an Alinea-inspired French onion soup prepared with an aromatic herb component inside of a Heisenberg siphon typically utilized in the craft coffee world. They pour the broth tableside over a bowl containing onion “flan” and Comté cheese “custard.” The show is sort of a molecular/deconstructionist/recomposition hat trick, clearly meant to wow the likes of you and the mythic Michelin reviewers some day. But it’s not all a dog and pony show; the soup’s fucking delicious.
On to equally delightful steamed halibut wrapped in Savoy cabbage and set in a pool of citrus-laced Champagne beurre blanc. It’s topped with a fennel frond and trout roe. Those pop across your tongue and lend an inherently smoky flavor that almost makes the fish itself taste lightly smoked.
Then comes the meats: elk tenderloin and New York strip. The first, unknowingly or not, presents sexual in nature, with a phallic smear of salsify root vegetable purée pointed directly at a V shape created with dehydrated huckleberry powder made from that same fruit’s sauce pooled elsewhere on the plate. (Did I pass the Rorschach test?) A score-marked, browned trumpet mushroom rests aside from a trio of elk cuts, blue at their core and gradually darkening through hues of pink and red to a seared rind. It’s another outstanding bite, with the sweetness enhanced by Maldon finishing salt.
The elk pairs wonderfully with a wine that Erens pours us, a full Tempranillo from Spain’s Ribera del Duero region, named Pingus Psi. It’s one of 27 wines available by the glass from a very deep wine list that ranges from a shockingly affordable $5 pour to bottles costing many thousands of dollars. Three other staff members listed on the wine menu carry advanced sommelier certifications. Even our bottled water has a viticultural tie, sourced from Spain’s La Rioja region. Named 22 Artesian Water, it carries its own 150-year vintage, explained to us by Erens as the time it takes from today’s rainwater to reach the deep aquifer this water’s been pulled from. Roth’s claims to be the only restaurant West of the Mississippi River to carry it. (Take that, Broadmoor. Ahem.)
Back to that New York strip: Intended to let the high quality Prime-grade wagyu speak for itself, it’s prepared only with salt and pepper and presented with a little drizzle of lime green herb oil around the plate. Biswas has by now talked to us about the feminine element of their seafood menu, “simple and light,” with high-end black cod, turbot and sushi-grade fish shipped in overnight. (There’s also a sushi counter at the cocktail bar.) The steaks are the masculine counterbalance and what most people expect out of a steakhouse concept. (Duh.) Still, with the simplicity of this plating and delicate, marbled nature of the super tender meat, it doesn’t feel like machismo fare for the cigar-sucking, Old Fashioned-pounding crowd.
We finish with a lovely dessert called the Citrus Fog, composed of Meyer lemon curd on an olive oil shortcrust, topped in wavy, torched meringue. It’s your basic lemon bar all grown up and fancy and ready for its debut in front of — you guessed it — a Michelin reviewer. Thinking back to the poor cook Biswas witnessed, who got the lemons thrown at him by the abusive chef: If you can turn around and make this lemonade out of those lemons, then yeah, it seems like it’s all worth it in the end.
Apart from our tasting, we take a short tour of Brohan’s, up a majestic spiral staircase from the entryway where a piano awaits fingertips and a row of wine coolers glow orange behind the hostess stand. Brohan — which yes, is as Bro-y as it sounds — is J.W. Roth’s nickname for his good friend, musician Gary Tedder, who’s the father of OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder.
Bar Manager Lazlo Steele greets us and starts his bartending team on whipping up a few drinks for us to sample. He and Erens describe the bar as built on craft mixology, with a cocktail lounge vibe atmosphere wise: “a space where you feel like you’re well taken care of.” They describe simple cocktails with “moments of surprise.”
Like presenting the Old Friends cocktail inside of a bird-cage-like lantern filled with oak smoke, which pours out when the front door’s opened to reveal the drink. A gold-colored mini sword with a pirate-evoking hilt skewers a butterfly-shaped citrus peel folded around a Maraschino cherry. The drink’s made with peated scotch, Loyal Coffee-infused sweet vermouth, Cynar 70 bitters and a Chartreuse-like alpine liqueur. It sips like a smoky coffee Negroni. That pleases me greatly.
The Let’s Draw Straws also has a slight Negroni edge thanks to Bruto Americano Italian bitter orange liqueur (replacing what would be Campari) and India dry gin. But they’re mixed here with mezcal and cream sherry, taking on more complexity where botanicals meet earthiness.
Lastly, the Speak No Evil is a classic Bees Knees spinoff with lime leaf-infused gin, ginger and galangal syrups and Colorado honey. It’s highly herbaceous and clearly Thai-inspired. Refreshing too.
Steele tells me that cocktail consultant Josh Suchan of Ice & Alchemy out of L.A. helped Roth’s develop menus, which will likely refresh twice a year.
As with the downstairs restaurant, the decor upstairs is left to speak for itself sans artwork on the walls. A bank of private drink lockers (similar to District Elleven’s whiskey lockers) flank a fireplace next to wide, brown leather couches. With one floor more elevation than Roth’s Brohan’s offers a better view down into the music venue, lit purple at night, with the natural blue mountainscape behind it.
Brohan’s is ideal for pre- or post-meal drinks, and it and Roth’s can be enjoyed by non-ticket holders during concerts. But don’t expect a free show beyond the visuals. We’re told the spaces are pretty sound-proofed by design.
There’s a small bites menu upstairs and reservations are recommended at Roth’s, with Brohan’s easier accessed by walk-in. There’s also dedicated parking for the eatery and drink spot and valet service on certain nights, we’re told. Roth’s is open daily from 5-10 p.m. and Brohan’s operates from 4-10 p.m. nightly, extending to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Popup ramen at the whiskey bar
Until sometime in February, tentatively, District Elleven will host a guest ramen popup every Sunday and Monday evening from 4-9 p.m.
It’s an experiment that could eventually lead to a brick-and-mortar location in town. But for now, a couple guys from Miami are testing the waters. Actually, one of them’s originally from Japan: Keiichi Maemura. He’s called Chef Kei.
And he’s behind two concepts in Miami: Shimuja Ramen and Hayato by Shimuja. In 2024, Miami New Times awarded Shimuja Best Ramen shop, saying: “It’s one of those places where everything on the menu is just right… most people make the journey deep into suburbia for one particular item: the Kagoshima special ramen… it’s far better than your average ramen.”
At a soft opening trial run this past Monday, he tells me that his first experience with ramen was at age four, with his father. It made an impression he never forgot. He’s now 56. He played baseball through college then became an investment banker, eventually leaving that to pursue a passion for making ramen.
After postings internationally to hone his craft, including a stint in New York, Chef Kei opened a shop in his home town of Kagoshima in 2011. “I had a dream to open in America,” he says, so in 2016 he moved to Kagoshima’s sister city in the U.S.: Miami. In 2018 he finally opened Shimuja’s doors. Now, he’s wanting to expand locations around the country and Colorado Springs could be first in line. “My priority isn’t making money,” he says. “If I can show people my ramen, I’m very happy.”
As for why Colorado Springs, that gets to Chef Kei’s longtime friend Melvin Davila, a former employee who’s now partnering with him in this venture. Davila has moved to the Springs, where his older sister has lived for the past nine years. “I like it here, people are nice,” he tells me.
Davila walks me through his own past journey in the Miami industry, which includes bartending, serving celebrities, work under Michelin chefs and operating his own gyoza taco and bao bun food truck for a stint. Somewhere in the middle of all that he and Chef Kei crossed paths and he was handed his first bowl of the man’s ramen. “It blew my mind,” he says. “I understood why my friend was working for him.” Davila followed suit, eventually learning to make ramen his friend’s way.
Flash forward and Davila’s now helping Chef Kei realize his dream with the ramen expansion. Davila tells me he approached a number of downtown restaurateurs inquiring about popping up in their space, but it was owner Crystal Byrd Thompson at District Elleven who enthusiastically responded, inviting Hayato to utilize the whiskey bar space during hours it would otherwise be dark. For the time being, Chef Kei’s flying in weekly to assist Davila as they explore next steps after the popup concludes.
During the soft opening they served a Tori Chicken Ramen from a 13-hour broth with special soy sauces. Davila tells us they had to work through an import store in Denver to obtain specific ingredients from Kagoshima that Chef Kei requires to achieve his hometown style. They utilize thin noodles, topping them with slices of chashu pork belly and chicken breast, a yuzu-chicken meatball, burdock root, scallions and onions, chopped lettuce, a soy-marinated egg, nori, narutomaki (surimi with a symbolic red swirl) and yuzu kosho (a spicy citrus chile paste).
All combined it’s a symphony of flavor with a deeply nourishing broth you’re going to think about next time you have a cold. It’s texturally creamy with little bubbles of oil floating on the surface and as rich as can be for an opaque soup. They serve it alongside a pair of pork belly bao buns filled with kewpie mayo and a vibrant Hayato spicy sauce atop the thick, succulent meat slices. Those are so good we order a second round after our ramen to bookend the meal.
Davila and Chef Kei tell me the menu will rotate weekly, and that if they can nail down the right supplier for pork bones by next week, they plan to do Chef Kei’s tonkotsu ramen. No reservations needed, kids welcome. District Elleven serves from its cocktail menu and is acquiring some Japanese products to enhance the experience.
Bites & Bits
• Salsa Latina has closed after nearly 20 years in business. The business — a family spinoff from the original El Taco Rey downtown — originally posted on Nov. 5 to say they’d be closing doors on Dec. 23 “due to an exceptional opportunity that has arisen.” But on Nov. 17, they re-posted to say “Update! Salsa Latina is now closed. We have made the decision to cease operations.” The Gazette put up a short remembrance that same day, noting they’d been unsuccessful at obtaining a comment from the owners.
• Por Favor Tacos & Tragos — who opened in July 2024 and immediately earned our affection — posted Nov. 18 to say “We said we’d hope to do it in 3 years… Colorado Springs made it happen in 1.” In other words, they’re opening another location, “coming in early 2026.”
• Johnny Joy of The Local Motive posted this week to share his harrowing story of how obtaining insurance for 2026 nearly forced them to close their otherwise successful business: “… we were staring down $7,600 a month in insurance costs. And keep in mind, as busy as we are, our average ticket is $25 a seat, so everyone can afford it… Each of our buses holds 40 people… That means we needed to fill: 304 seats every month = 7.6 full tours JUST to pay for insurance. That’s before: Payroll, Maintenance, Fuel, Repairs, Storage, Accounting, Marketing, Compliance, Loan payments And our own family’s living expenses… This is the real math behind keeping a community-driven business alive… Do we throw in the towel? Or do we fight like hell to stay alive?” (Click the link to read the full story and how they answered that question.)
• A reader testimonial from a college friend of mine from CC: “I know that you visited Rocky Bowl Bistro when they first opened. [Indeed I did, here’s the link.] I work down the street and have dined there consistently since they opened because of your review. I have to tell you, Reese and crew have upped their game considerably in the past few months! The bowls are amazing as always, the apps are on point, too. But where they have really raised the bar is with their desserts. They vary from day to day as Reese’s wife (I believe) makes them in house and uses what is fresh and available. They are nothing short of amazing! Rocky Bowl is a small, Mom & Pop establishment and I think a revisit could really help their business. They deserve it because they put out a quality product for a fair price. They are good people that should be recognized.”
• Springs Magazine has a list of where to dine out or grab takeout for Thanksgiving meals.
Side Dish Dozen happenings
Four by Brother Luck: We’re cooking from a place — the Four Corners — where mountains meet desert and cultures overlap in ways that shape every ingredient we touch. Our team has been refining the menu to make sure guests can feel that story on every plate. Come experience a newly refocused Four. Nov. 20 we’re doing a five-course Thanksgiving wine dinner; limited seats remain.
Red Gravy: Our next Sunday Supper Club with Chef Eric Brenner is Dec. 14. $150 all inclusive for a four-course, wine- and spirit-paired meal. This month’s theme is Francophilia. The menu will highlight French bistro favorites: Sole Meunière; roast chicken with stewed lentils and truffle sauce; tournedo of beef filet with béarnaise; and a dessert soufflé with crème anglaise.
Kangaroo Coffee: Activities abound at our Hillside location: Poetry Meetup, 6-7:30 p.m., Nov. 25, hosted by the Pikes Peak Arts Council; work on your own poems, participate in workshops. 3rd Shift Grind, 5-7 p.m., Nov. 24: Bring work you’re passionate about to a creative co-working experience. Cozy PJ Board Game Party, 6-8 p.m., Dec. 5: Enjoy specially crafted coffee drinks with Minor Figures oat milk; savor a refreshing Frios Pop; enter a raffle to win awesome Minor Figures merch.
Rasta Pasta: Come see us for our happy hour deals, 3-5 p.m. daily: $5 munchies, $5 house wines, $4 rum punch and $3 Red Stripe beer. On Tuesdays get two pints for the price of one! Every Monday kids eat free with the purchase of an adult entree.
Elephant Thai and Chaang Thai: The same great menu at two locations, each with their own vibe and authenticity, though Elephant Thai serves a full bar selection. We have dedicated gluten-free and vegan menus for easy and worry-free ordering. We also serve teriyaki and fried rice. We’re known for our nine Thai curries, including pineapple, panang, kabocha squash and green curry with avocado.
Bristol Brewing Company: There’s still time to join the brand new Bristol Beer Choir (18+) which practices with a pint or two every Sunday. Our Christmas concert will be Dec. 14 in the Pub. Cost is $50 to cover sheet music, take-home rehearsal tracks and organizational fees. Black Friday begins our merch promotion: spend $50 or more on Bristol swag in our Merch Store and get a free pint card.
T-Byrd’s Tacos & Tequila: Happy hours are 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and all day Sunday, when there’s free parking in the downtown garages. Find $6.50 Tommy-Style Margs, $3.95 tacos and lots more screamin’ deals. Taco Tuesdays feature $3.50 tacos all day and $5 Margaritas and Swirls. Our $12.99 lunch special gets you chips & salsa, two tacos, rice, beans and a fountain drink; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
The Chuckwagon 719: Talk about turkey… we do a smoked turkey and lather it in garlic butter. (You know it’s amazing.) Come see us for brisket nachos, smoked wings and a full smoked prime rib dinner. Noon to sellout on everything, Thursdays-Sundays.
Upcoming events
Nov. 22: 5th annual EaDo Colorado Springs Christkindle Market at Mash Mechanix. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendors, holiday drink specials and barbeque bites.
Nov. 22: Disc Golf Brewery Bike Crawl. Noon to 4 p.m. Ride between four breweries and throw discs at each stop. $25 includes, beer and gear, benefitting PikeRide.
Nov. 23: Frost n’ Sip: Cozy Fall Edition at Latigo Winery. 4 p.m. Small Batch Cookies will guide guests through cookie decorating while enjoying wine. Tickets required.
Nov. 24 & 25: Friendsgiving Pot Luck at Cocktails After Dusk on the 24, 7:30-9:30 p.m. And Neon Poker Night Canned Food Drive (with an extra $100 in poker chips per can) Nov. 25, 6-8 p.m.
Nov. 26: A Friendsgiving Celebration at Oro at The Mining Exchange. 6-9 p.m.; $60 includes a glass of wine. To be followed by a Tuscan Thanksgiving feast, Nov 27, with seatings at 3 and 6 p.m.; $90, reservations required.
Nov. 29: Small Business Saturday Makers Market at the Ivywild School Gym. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coffee and cocktails from the P.O., breakfast and lunch at Ivywild Kitchen, gift card deals and lots of local vendors.
Nov. 29: 4th annual Winter(ish) Market at Lost Friend Brewing. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; with 40-plus vendors, food treats and drinks from the brewery.
Dec. 4: Holiday Wine Dinner at My Cellar Wine Bar. 6-9 p.m.; $80 includes four wine-paired courses.
Dec. 11: Beer, Blood, and Blame! A Murder Mystery Beer Dinner at Cerberus Brewing Co. 6 p.m.; $50 for three beer-paired courses.
[Save the date] Dec. 14: Sip with Schnip Brunch Bash at Kangaroo Coffee Hillside. Details to follow.
Parting shot(s)
Nothing major to unpack here this week, but here’s some recent behind the scenes shots via sidedishsidekick:
Before I had stickers of my face, Lauren’s brother Drew, a high school teacher in Fort Collins, was immortalized in sticker form by one of his students. It graces his coffee mug now. Recently, he picked up our full run of Side Dish flavors at the Josh & John’s location up there; sending us photo evidence. (I’ll call this a proof-of-lick pic.) We’re waiting to see if any of his students think it’s his face on the ice cream pint.
Next, a look at documenting the ramen popup this week at District Elleven:
And finally, a quick stop into Allusion downtown to see the Stranger Things-themed decor. On the to-do list: return for drinks and a bite from the ’80s throwback menu.
A colleague of mine and I were talking about this Michelin star idea and I think it’s a bit lofty and so do they. Some thing’s to ponder on that subject are; what employees do you think are going to work there from this city? Are there any people here willing to pay for a meal like that CONSISTENTLY?
Let’s not fool ourselves that Colorado Springs is the proving ground for corporate concepts unfortunately! That being said we have many amazing restaurants that are locally owned and operated that need the business over these corporate concepts so we should definitely try to focus on that over anything else.
Then let’s say they manage to get a Michelin star restaurant here, what happens to the lease rates everywhere in town? They go up exponentially and run all the smaller restaurants out because they can’t afford it.
Is it a sustainable business model? No it’s not. I love that the idea is being floated around but I just don’t think it adds anything beneficial to Colorado Springs.