OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation site (www.opentable.com), hosted a pre-opening VIP party at Stoic & Genuine, the Jennifer Jasinski-Beth Gruitch seafood and granita bar concept at the Union Station location Monday night.
In a previous column, I wrote about sampling S&G menu items at Jasinski-Gruitch’s original eatery Rioja on Larimer Square. The menu runs the gamut from fried whole-belly clams to caviar.
The place is tiny (62 seats inside; 40 on the patio), so getting a reservation early on may be a challenge. But going to any restaurant on opening week is risky business. Best to wait until all the kinks are worked out.
The restaurant, with the kitchen helmed by chef de cuisine Jorel Pierce, opens to the public on today serving lunch and dinner daily.
“It’s gorgeous, stunning like an executive suite in a train!” said party patron Pat “Gabby Gourmet” Miller, whose been to more restaurant pre-openings than she’d care to count. “It’s super looking, great fun and the food was divine. The open kitchen and the bars are focal points.”
The fourth restaurant from owners Jasinski, a James Beard award-winning chef and business partner Gruitch, owners of Rioja, Bistro Vendôme and Euclid Hall, Stoic & Genuine is committed to impeccably fresh, sustainable and creative seafood preparations set in the grand ambiance of Denver’s newly renovated historic Union Station.
Gruitch, general manager Alaina Silva and bar manager Jessica Cann crafted beverages centered on a granita bar, craft and classic cocktails. estate wines and a broad champagne selection by the bottle and glass.
Designed by Denver’s Boss Architecture, an exhibition kitchen opens up to a fresh bar with an ever-changing selection of shellfish. Clean lines and basic colors provide the backdrop for finishes and architectural elements that might surprise including the colorful original art octopus mural hand painted by Denver artist Lui Ferreyra that pops off one wall and the “float wall” – a glass “sandwich” of green and blue reclaimed fishing net floats gathered from the beaches of Alaska, LED lighted from above and below.
A ceiling backdrop of classic beach sand fencing stained with a recycled combination of iron filings and vinegar sets the stage and a stained concrete floor provides a base. Lighting reminiscent of barnacles dot the ceiling above and around the raw bar. Other lights that suggest shrimp boat outriggers decorate and light various areas of the dining room. Local millwork company Fin Art Co. executed many of the interior elements including the “float wall”, a unique wine wall, the sand fencing, host stand and the raw bar and cocktail bar counter tops from solid reclaimed wood, sanded, stained and finished.
Stoic & Genuine is located at 1701 Wynkoop St. and will be open for lunch and dinner daily from 11 a.m. serving food Sunday-Thursday until 10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday until 11 p.m. The bar will remain open one hour after these times. For more information, go to www.stoicandgenuine.com or call 303.640.FISH (3474).
Jennifer Jasinski, left, and Beth Gruitch (Bryan Grant photo). Below, menu items from Stoic & Genuine (Pat ‘Gabby Gourmet’ Miller photos)
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