The Oven Closes After 10 Years

After a ten year run, the Oven in Belmar has closed. 

Last Lot on Saulsbury Under Construction

If you had any doubt that the housing market in Belmar has recovered, well, this should change your mind. The last free-standing home lot on Saulsbury, which has sat vacant since the crash in 2007, is under construction at long last. 

These are lovely homes, and were selling for 600-700k before the recession. There's one for sale right now at 7050 W. Custer Street for 780k.

Yep. I think we can say the housing market in Belmar is officially recovered.

Gas Station at 290 S. Pierce Street to be Rebuilt as 7 Eleven

The dilapidated gas station at the corner or S. Pierce and Wadsworth looks like it will soon be replaced, as the Dimension Group has a proposed 7 Eleven store and fueling station plan before the Lakewood planning commission.

The Dimension Group, a civil engineering firm based out of Dallas, TX, but with an office in Greenwood Village, CO, specializes in gas stations. Nothing in their portfolio suggests the final product will be anything particularly interesting architecturally, but a decent gas station in downtown Lakewood would be nice, and anything would be better than the run down structure that's there now.

Update: The new building will be a 3350 square foot convenience store fronting the corner of Pierce and Alameda. The fueling pumps will be to the east, under a canopy.

More Renderings of the Village at Belmar

The Village at Belmar, as you may recall, is an upscale retirement center planned for the north side of Alameda and Wadsworth, across from King Soopers in downtown Lakewood.

Here are some more renderings of the proposed development, which is currently working its way through the city planning process.

Qdoba Brand Central in the Belmar Plaza

The scaffolding and plywood is down in the Belmar Plaza, revealing the facade of Qdoba's new corporate headquarters.

It's mostly glass, which will help add a sense of vibrancy for passerbys. Yes, the view will be of office workers sitting in cubicles, but consider the alternative: blank walls or walls of Qdoba advertisements. People feel safer and behave better in public spaces when other people are around. Windows facilitate that feeling, so I think the Qdoba design is a good one.  

In Photos: 2014 Belmar Boo

Review: Rocko's Cantina

When Rocko's first opened in Belmar, I chimed in with my dislike of the bar's original name, Rocko's Tacos.

Well, as it's turned out, Little Pub changed the name not long after to the non-rhyming, much less annoying, Rocko's Cantina. They also chose a bull as their mascot, and not the Chihuahua I had feared (and not without reason-- among Little Pub's businesses are the Three Dog Tavern, Irish Hound, and Doghouse Tavern. Clearly, Mark Berzins, the owner, has a thing for canines.)

Rocko: Not a Chihuahua, Thank Goodness

The good news is that Rocko's Cantina has turned out to be a nice place to grab a drink, some chips and salsa, and sit outside on a beautiful fall day.

When it opened last year, service was spotty and the chips (made in house) were greasy and poorly fried. All that went away with time and practice. The place still seems understaffed in the late afternoon, just as customers start to get off work and trickle in, but the staff has become much more attentive, and I haven't had to flag down a server in a long while.

And the chips and salsa are now my favorite item on the menu. Crisp and lightly salted, they come with two kinds of salsa (a red and a green). The secret is then to add a bit of the Rocko's house garlic salsa (the kind that comes in a little bottle on each table) to each chip. I usually ask for a side of guacamole as well. It's the perfect accompaniment to a beer or two on the patio.

I can recommend the tacos as well, which avoid the Tex-Mex cliche of ground beef, iceberg lettuce, and cheddar cheese. Instead Rocko's serves up authentically Mexican options, like hongos (mushroom and scallions), barbacoa (slow cooked shredded beef), chorizo (spicy Mexican sausage), and al pastor (pork in a slightly sweet pineapple-chili sauce), all on a mixed flour/corn tortilla. There's even the uber-authentic option of chicharron (fried pork belly)!

Chip & Salsa at Rocko's: Now Crisp and Delicious

I haven't tried anything on the menu yet, but Rocko's has burritos as well (made with the same filings as the tacos, plus black beans and rice), along with nachos and even queso fundido (a Mexican style cheese dip). For details, take a look at the menu here.

It's the outdoor seating, though, that really makes Rocko's a place worth visiting. With two outdoor patios, it's easy to grab a seat outside on a warm fall afternoon and watch the progress on the David Weekley townhomes going in across the street. As the vacant lots get filled in over the next year in the northeast corner of Belmar, that sense of urban street life is only going to improve.

My advice is to take advantage of Rocko's patio and order a beer and some chips and salsa now, while the weather is still good and the trees are full of those beautiful red and yellow leaves.