Udi’s owners open The Good Son eatery

March 27, 2015

Lifelong local restaurateurs, chefs and master bread bakers Udi, Robin and Etai Bar-on, the founders of Udi’s Foods (now Boulder Brands), have just opened The Good Son in the former Silvi’s Kitchen space at the Lowenstein Complex, 2550 E. Colfax Ave.

The Bar-on family, owners of a catering company and 11 restaurants, artisan bakeries and cafes, including Silvi’s Kitchen, Etai’s and Braun, closed the East Colfax location of Silvi’s last November to make way for a completely new concept: a tavern emphasizing Detroit-style pizza and a thoughtfully curated craft beer, keg wine and cocktail program.

“We wanted to create a neighborhood gathering place that focused on authentic Detroit-style pizza, excellent craft beers, unique wines and a mix of classic and inventive cocktails,” said Etai, adding that Mark Stewart, the former general manager of North and Big Game, will manage the day-to-day operations.

The Good Son, which is the English translation of the French word “bonfils,” honors the history of the 550-seat theater of the same name that predated the Lowenstein Complex. “The goal was to tap into the history of the old Bonfils Theatre by designing it with a whimsical theater and performance theme,” Etai said. The space, which boasts 120 seats, including 16 at the bar plus a patio, trumpets funky cherry-red wallpaper stamped with black-and-white zebras; wooden tables and crimson-colored stools; and conversation-piece art installations from Zoe Rayor, a local multi-media artist commissioned to bedeck the quarters with pieces created for The Good Son.

Chef de cuisine Dave Axelrod, a Berkeley, Calif., native who moved to Denver in 2005 and was most recently the sous-chef of Silvi’s Kitchen in the Glendale City Set development, will turn out Detroit-style pizzas, along with appetizers, blue-plate specials (from roasted chicken to chicken and waffles) and focaccia sandwiches, all served with hand-cut fries.

The handmade pizza dough, fermented for 36 hours, oiled and oak-fired at 700 degrees in a seasoned bread pan constructed of steel, is the recipe of Maurizio Negrini, a third generation baker from Bologna, Italy, and the head bread baker of every Bar-on restaurant.

“Detroit-style pizza is renowned for its ring of caramelized mozzarella cheese, which is our pizza’s signature trait, and it’s the intersection of the super-crispy crust, the chewy, light and airy interior and delicious caramelized cheese that makes Detroit-style pizza so amazingly good,” Etai said. “The dough isn’t stretched or rolled out; it’s treated very gently with minimal hand-touching, and the result is a pizza that has a wonderful flavor and texture.”

And since pizza pairs with beer, there’s a significant emphasis on craft drafts. The bar will feature 18 beers on tap, including a kettle-brewed sour cherry beer from Denver Beer Co. and a proprietary IPA that’s a collaboration beer between The Good Son and Crazy Mountain Brewery, located in Edwards.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; The Good Son is closed on Monday. Weekend brunch is slated to launch in May. For more information, visit www.thegoodsontap.com, or call 303-355-5445.

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