Much of the time, our work is oriented around transportation-specific issues: safety and accessibility for people walking, biking, and rolling; improving transit frequency and service; and advocating for sufficient funding so that everyone can thrive and connect to what matters most. That’s all critically important; it can also be difficult to sink your teeth into. If our work is a Thanksgiving meal, that’s the mashed potatoes and gravy: essential, omnipresent, and a lot of the same.
But when you need something juicy, something to spice up the menu of life, it’s time you considered our work supporting small businesses and local main streets across Denver. We’ve been busy.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of any community and, in Denver, the places we’re trying to get to by foot, bike, or bus. The Queen City is blessed with dozens of fantastic, locally-owned restaurants. We love highlighting the cultural offerings of the Little Saigon area, hosting festivals and drawing attention the unique flair of that corridor. Earlier this year, we helped three restaurants in Little Saigon expand their seating capacity outdoors, enabling them to host pursuers of delicious pho and banh mi in safe and socially-distant areas. We worked with the Corner Beet in central Denver to expand seating into parking, exchanging deadly hunks of metal and glass for patrons and passers-by. There’s no denying it: we consider supporting local businesses a critical element of designing communities that prioritize people.
And now we’re expanding that work even more. Thanks to a NACTO grant administered through Denver DOTI, we have funded winter outdoor seating expansions at four more businesses. In partnership with three Business Districts across Denver, we worked with restaurant owners at Kahlos and La Chilanga in the Westwood neighborhood and Tacos Acapulco and East Fax in the East Colfax neighborhood to create site plans, purchase materials such as roofing, patio tables, chairs, lighting, tents, and heaters, and construct their new outdoor dining spaces.
On this day when we pause to give thanks, consider supporting one of these locally-owned businesses. They’ll appreciate it, and so will you. Check out menus and info below.
Westwood Restaurants Little Saigon Restaurants