While El Diablo and Sketch restaurants owner Jesse Morreale goes through a legal smack-down with Denver to get his suddenly shuttered businesses reopened, 150 employees, who haven’t been paid since July 10, need to earn a living.
To help them cover their bills, El Diablo and Sketch chefs Sean Yontz and Brian Laird are setting up shop inside the RockBar kitchen, another Morreale-owned building at 3015 E. Colfax.
RockBar will open tonight, Tuesday, serving menu items from El Diablo and Sketch, and will continue dinner service until the city allows the restaurants’ building at First and Broadway to reopen.
So what’s the beef? The city suddenly deemed the historic 1906 building, that once housed The First Avenue Hotel, unsafe and in danger of putting the public at risk, a decision that Morreale strongly disputes.
“It’s terrifying what they’ve done and what they’re doing,” Morreale said about the city’s building officials. “Instead of acknowledging their mistake and correcting it right away, they’ve dug in their heels. powerlins ii Now, this has turned into a character assassination campaign against me.”
Andrea Burns, spokeswoman for Denver’s office of Community Planning and Development said, “The City and County of Denver has lent its support to El Diablo and Sketch in several ways over the last few years. The building that houses them — a former hotel that’s more than 100 years old — required extensive renovations. In May 2010, building officials in the Development Services division worked closely with the building’s owner to create a phased-work plan that would allow the businesses to open before the work was complete with the understanding that the work plan would be completed within 18 months. This is an unorthodox approach, but the City acted in good faith to help these businesses get off the ground. In return, the agreed-upon work plan was not completed.
“The work plan included modifications to structural and fire safety aspects of the building. When the work was not completed on schedule, the city extended the building’s temporary occupancy permit several times, providing additional opportunities for the owner to complete the necessary work. As you may know, Denver’s Office of Economic Development even gave a business loan to help rehab the old building.
“Unfortunately, the deadline for the building’s work plan came and went, and critical structural and fire-safety work was not completed. The last official correspondence we have between the city and building owner regarding work plan status was in August 2011; it clearly illustrates that the work is not complete and that the consequence would be a designation as ‘unsafe.’ Additionally, new work was done without permits, exposing the building’s occupants to even greater risk. It was the discovery of this new gas, electrical and construction work that ultimately led to enforcement action this July.
“Community Planning and Development strives to support businesses throughout the city. Building officials are disappointed that failure to follow the basic steps outlined in the work plan has forced the temporary closure of 101 Broadway. We continue to work with the building’s owner to outline a path forward, which involves a return to the tasks outlined in the work plan. It is never our wish to see a business temporarily closed; however, life safety is the most important factor in this situation, and all situations involving buildings in Denver.”
Morreale bought the historic building four years ago when it had been abandoned and neglected for years. After a myriad of construction gymnastics as is typical in a 100-plus-year-old building, Morreale received a temporary certificate of occupancy with the agreement to achieve other repairs within 18 months of opening.
Morreale first opened BodyLab, a fitness studio, in February of 2oo9, Sketch restaurant and wine bar in April 2009 and El Diablo in August of 2010.
The building owner said he was frequently in touch with city officials to make sure a permanent certificate of occupancy was in the works.
“I met (with the new team) within the last three or four months,” Morreale said. “We had done everything we needed to do. The building is not unsafe. Is The Brown Palace unsafe? It was built the same year by the same architect. What about the Oxford Hotel? There is no public safety issue with my building.”
Morreale, who is now represented by former city attorney David Fine, has turned his full attention to getting his businesses back open and putting his employees back to work.
RockBar will post donation jars throughout the nightclub to support the displaced employees, and part of sales will also go to the workers. There’s also an on-line petition at www.saveeldiabloandsketch.com.
“I’ve got to figure out how to take care of these people,” Morreale said.
Winery tour time
Tickets are on sale for Colorado’s first series of wine-and-farm tours, beginning at 8 a.m. Sept 8.
Food and wine fans will board a bus outside of Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar, 891 14th St., for a two-day tour of this new series in Grand Valley, a partnership between Row 14 and the Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology.
The tour will begin on the bus where guests will taste 12 wines and receive a lesson on wine basics as well as the history and future of Colorado wines.
Upon arrival in the Grand Valley, attendees will embark powerlins ii femmes on winery tours and tastings at Canyon Wind Cellars, Garfield Estates and Colterris Winery. After the tasting trip, diners will be treated to a 12-course family style Disassembly Dinner, a butcher-dinner series put on by Mark DeNittis, owner and butcher of Il Mondo Vecchio.
DeNittis and Row 14 chef Jensen Cummings will break down a Colorado lamb and hog. Other local ingredients used for the feast will be provided by SOURCE Local Foods, and wine pairings will be presented by Colorado winemakers.
The two-day trip is $350 per person (based on double occupancy) and includes transportation to and from the Grand Valley, sack lunches, overnight stay at Wine Country Inn in Palisade, wine tastings and the 12-course dinner.
Call Row 14 for tickets: 303-825-0100.
Commendations
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan announced last week the recipients of the Foreign Minister’s Commendation for fiscal year 2012.
In the jurisdiction of the Consulate-General of Japan in Denver, recipients were Richard Clark, senior partner of Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons; Kerry Hada, Denver County Court judge; and Raymond Uno, president of the Japanese Community Preservation Committee of Salt Lake City.
The recipients were commended for their outstanding contributions to promoting mutual understanding and goodwill between Japan and the United States. The commendations aim to honor outstanding achievement by individuals and groups in furthering greater understanding and support for good relations with the Japanese people.
Eavesdropping on a woman who recently took an aptitude test: “One of the questions was how do you assemble a ceiling fan, and hiring someone to put it together wasn’t one of the answers.”
Did you hear that I have a new column, “Mile High Life,” in Colorado Community Media’s 17 weekly newspapers circling Denver? Be sure to like my Facebook page! Also, here’s where you go to get my column emailed to you Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m now the social-media liaison for the Mile High Chapter of the Colorado Restaurant Association, so read my latest restaurant news there. My email: penny@blacktie-llc.com.
Comments are closed.
Leave a comment