Coming Soon: KPot Korean BBQ & Hot Pot

Walking through the Belmar Plaza this morning I spied the sign below in the window of the old Qdoba corporate office space. Most of the old Qdoba office has become the home of Google Fiber, but the I love the idea of the plaza getting another restaurant. And Korea BBQ? Yes please.

Having lived in Korea, I have my own thoughts about what makes for good Korean BBQ, but I'm excited to try KPot when it opens, and I'll write a review after I've had a chance to check it out. In the meantime, it's good to see another restaurant coming to the Belmar Plaza.

 

Bridge 33 Hosts Fun, Festive "Boo-mar" Event for Belmar Residents

Bridge 33, the new owners of the Belmar commercial district, put on a private "Boo-mar" Halloween event last Thursday in the Belmar Plaza for local residents. Their goal was to solicit community input about the future of the commercial district. (This is probably a good place to note that Bridge 33 only owns the main commercial district in Belmar, and not the private residential areas or rental apartments within the borders of the larger Belmar development).

Since completing their purchase, Bridge 33 has been quite active in the community, attending community business forums. This latest event, however, was an attempt to reach out to the broader community. To that end, "Boo-mar" featured a costume contest, free craft beers and ciders from local taprooms, and music by local band Guerrilla Fanfare.

Jack Hechinger, Bridge 33's VP of Acquisitions, was there, along with Philip Knott, who is Belmar's new General Manager, and Alberta Davidson, Belmar's new Director of Marketing. Together, they spent the evening listening and answering questions, while residents quaffed beers from Locust Cider and 6 and 40 Brewery. 

It was also a chance to imagine a future where the Belmar Plaza-- arguably the heart of the entire New Urbanist development-- is a bustling, fun place to mix, mingle and relax every night, not just on nights when there are special events. I asked Philip Knott what it would take to make this happen. "It's a chicken and egg problem," he told me. "Take the idea of more restaurants and bars here on the plaza. These kinds of places bring in more foot traffic, but restaurateurs don't want to sign leases until the foot traffic is already there. That's what I mean by a chicken and egg problem." Bridge 33's answer in other markets, he said, has been to create bustle with fun, interesting pop-up spaces that bring people in and showcase the area's potential. "Belmar happened too soon for the west side of Denver," Jack Hechinger told me, but that he feels the thinking and the demographics have caught up. "We're excited to be here.

I'm excited too, as someone who believes in urban spaces and walkable neighborhoods enough to make my home in one. And in the next few weeks I'm going to start posting my top 5 ideas for how Bridge 33 should move forward with revitalizing Belmar as the pandemic begins to recede. 

Locust Cider Coming to Belmar Plaza

It feels like a million years since last January, which is also the last time anything seemed to be going right with Downtown Lakewood, America, or the world. 

Belmar has felt like a ghost town for much of 2020. During the mandatory shelter in place orders, the lights were literally turned off throughout the shopping district. Cars gathered dust in the parking lots, untouched and undriven for weeks. Store shelves were emptied at Target and King Soopers. It became hard to find toilet paper, bleach, meat, milk.

Then, as the nation reckoned with protesters demanding an end to police brutality and affirming that Black Lives Matter, storefronts in Belmar were literally boarded up by owners fearful of looters. 

Later, as the virus spread unchecked and the economy plunged into depression, a dozen or so businesses in Belmar shut their doors permanently. 

Yes, it's been quite the year. 

So when a sign appeared on the boarded up Crazy Mountain Brewery space, I couldn't help but feel like a weary traveller who has stumbled across single flower sticking up in a field of snow. 

Locust Cider is based out of Washington state, but has locations all over the western US. They specialize in flavored ciders like Dark Cherry, Pineapple Smoked Pepper, and Hibiscus, but make a traditional dry cider as well.

Now, I love hard cider. The first time I encountered it was as a university student in Wales, where cider was the preferred drink of coal miners, fisherman, and other hard-working types. This was over thirty years ago. Since then, I've sampled ciders in England, France, and Spain. Some are sweeter, while others are indistinguishable from a dry sparkling wine. But cider was always hard to find in this country. 

That's changed in recent years. Our own local Lakewood event, Cider Days, has for several years now hosted a cider tasting event, and Denver's RINO is home to several boutique cideries. But the thought of a cidery in downtown Lakewood, right on the Belmar Plaza, has me flashing back to my days wandering the streets of Europe.

If, that is, restaurants and tap rooms are allowed to stay open. The coronavirus is currently spreading uncontrollably in Jeffco, with Lakewood as the hottest of hot spots. New restrictions could be announced any day. It's a brave bet, opening a cidery in the middle of pandemic, just as the weather outside is getting cold. But if Locust Cider does open, I'll be there, mask on, to get a case of bottles to go.