Fort Collins restaurants: 4 openings, 4 closures announced in January
Fort Collins saw a bittersweet start to 2024, with the opening of an anticipated new eatery at a popular Old Town corner and the closure of a Fort Collins fixture just down the street.
Avery Eatery debuted Jan. 10, breathing new life — and breakfast and lunch — into 100 N. College Ave. Less than two weeks later, Jay's Bistro announced it was departing Old Town and closing up shop after more than 30 years on Oak Street.
Three more openings and three more closures were also announced, while multiple in-the-works eateries and one coffee shop are making moves. Here's the full rundown of what happened on the Fort Collins and Windsor dining scenes in January:
What opened
Arboretum Coffee, 221 W. Prospect Road, debuted in Midtown on Jan. 22, serving up far more than coffee and breakfast pastries. The nonprofit coffee shop offers apprenticeship programs for Fort Collins' refugee and immigrant youth, with its first cohort of five youth starting in January and its next cohort set to begin this summer. Participants in the program will learn barista and customer service skills through on-the-job training and receive one-on-one mentoring and classes in financial literacy and career preparation, according to Arboretum Coffee founder and former Fort Collins caseworker Hannah Norris. The shop's model will rely on fundraising from the community and volunteer mentors, who can sign up to work barista shifts at arboretumcoffee.org.
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Avery Eatery, 100 N. College Ave., officially opened its doors Jan. 10, according to an Instagram post from its sister restaurant, little. The breakfast and lunch spot takes over the darkened doors of ND streetBar, which shuttered at the popular Old Town corner the beginning of 2023. AFH and Friends Inc. — operating under the trade name Avery Eatery — was granted a liquor license for the site at a liquor licensing authority meeting back in November. Dan Smalheiser and Brent Jackson, owners of Mountain Avenue restaurant little, represented the restaurant. It has started out serving breakfast and lunch five days a week, with plans to eventually debut dinner service, according to the Instagram announcement.
Yellow Crunch opened in mid-January at The Exchange, 200 N. College Ave. The eatery, named for its yellow and crunchy Colombian cornmeal empanadas, serves up traditional Colombian finger foods, including its namesake empanadas, tamales and dishes like bandeja paisa. Yellow Crunch is open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The Cakery has officially moved to Fort Collins. The Wellington-born bakery softly opened at 2842 Council Tree Ave., Unit 141 — previously home to Poeme Macarons — on Jan. 11. The Cakery started as a cupcake truck in May 2017 and opened a brick-and-mortar shop in downtown Wellington later that year. After six years in Wellington, The Cakery's building went on the market last year, prompting Cakery owner Jackie Isvanca to look for a new location in Fort Collins.
What closed (or is closing)
Jay's Bistro, 135 W. Oak St., closed up shop after more than 30 years in Fort Collins. Business at the Old Town mainstay "just became unsustainable," co-owner Colin Randall told the Coloradoan — owing the closure in part to increases in property taxes, minimum wage and the cost of goods. Its last day in business was Jan. 31.
Marchitelli's Italiana Cucina, 2400 E. Harmony Road, has closed after a little over two years in the Villagio shopping center, owner Michael Marchitelli confirmed in an email to the Coloradoan last month. He did not respond when asked when and why the eatery shuttered. Marchitelli's Cucina Italiana was the second restaurant for Marchitelli, who also owns Crested Butte fixture Marchitelli's Gourmet Noodle.
Lupita's Mexican Restaurant, 1720 W. Mulberry St., is saying its goodbyes. After 13 years dishing up its popular breakfast burritos, breakfast plates and fan-favorite menudo, Ernesto Becerra and his family will be closing the doors of Lupita's cozy dining room Feb. 24. The decision was bittersweet for Ernesto, who has run the restaurant with his wife, Martina; daughters Vanessa and Nicole; and son-in-law Jesus Varela since it opened across from City Park in 2010.
Cacciatore at Heller's Kitchen is closing its last Northern Colorado location in February. The Italian eatery, which opened in Fort Collins' Jessup Farm Artisan Village in 2017 and expanded into Windsor's newly developed Windsor Mill two years later, has sold to new owners and will be closing its Windsor Mill restaurant Feb. 17, according to co-owner Mick Occhiato. Cacciatore at Heller's Kitchen's flagship Fort Collins restaurant closed in fall 2022, with Occhiato and chef and co-owner Troy Heller pivoting to open Wedo's Tacos and Tequila in the space later that year. Now, the duo has sold and is closing Cacciatore at Heller's Kitchen's Windsor location for "personal reasons," Occhiato told the Coloradoan. While Occhiato declined to name the restaurant's buyers, he said they are experienced in the Northern Colorado restaurant industry and plan to open a new, to-be-announced restaurant concept in the Windsor Mill space.
What's coming
Bread Fellow is looking to bake new life into 247 Linden St. The bakery and cafe — brought to you by the couple behind Jessup Farm's Bindle Coffee — has taken over the long-vacant Linden Street space with plans to open Bread Fellow there in late February. The opening will mark the end of an eight-year vacancy and two-year redevelopment of the property, which was the longtime former home of Joe's Auto Upholstery.
Stoneflower Market & Eatery is picking up where The Fox and the Crow left off. After the Midtown cheese and meat shop closed late last month, the owners of Old Town's Bistro Nautile have swept in to take over the former shop's space in the Scotch Pines Village Shopping Center. The trio — made up of Bistro Nautile owners Kat and Mike Reeves and Ryan Damasky — plan to turn the space into Stoneflower Market & Eatery, a more casual lunch and dinner spot that will serve a new menu of salads and sandwiches made from locally sourced ingredients, according to Damasky, the future restaurant's executive chef. The group hopes to open Stoneflower Market & Eatery in early February after a small remodel and January hiring push.
Just Love Coffee, 1335 W. Elizabeth St., has taken over the Campus West space formerly occupied by Starbucks. It will open Feb. 5, bringing the Nashville-born coffee franchise to Fort Collins, according to mother-daughter franchisees Cindy Richards and Jordan Ingram. The shop will serve up a range of coffee drinks as well as breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, with a waffle-iron-centric menu that includes a waffle-meets-omelet creation known as a "womelette," artisan waffles and iron-cooked breakfast biscuits, burritos, sandwiches and wraps. It will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Richards.
The Original Pancake House is on the move. The Fort Collins breakfast spot is set to close its current location at 2909 E. Harmony Road, Suite 140, on Feb. 11, according to Danny Park, who opened the restaurant with his wife, Nannette, roughly a decade ago. The eatery plans to reopen in Fort Collins' former Village Inn, 1402 E. Harmony Road, in late February, Park said. The move will triple their business's parking and give them 900 additional square feet of restaurant space.
Sweet Dream Cakery is growing from its cottage roots. The cottage bakery, which started in 2022 out of owner Nichole Chapin's Fort Collins home, moved into a commercial kitchen last month. The move will allow the bakery to increase its output of customizable cupcakes and cakes, as well as launch a line of breakfast goodies like coffee cake cupcakes and muffins in the new year, Chapin told the Coloradoan. After expanding its operations in its new kitchen space, Chapin said she hopes to move Sweet Dream Cakery into a larger location with its own storefront by the end of this year.
Chicken Salad Chick is headed to Windsor. The fast-casual chicken salad restaurant chain, known for serving its salad by the scoop and sandwich-full, is planning a new location in the town's growing East Pointe Business Park. The new restaurant will be located at 475 E. Main St. just east of Freddy's Frozen Custard and Windsor's newly opened Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, Chicken Salad Chicken announced in an Instagram post last month. This will mark the second Chicken Salad Chick location in Northern Colorado, with another location also in the works in Johnstown.
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Catching up
Ollie's Malasadas opened Dec. 5, bringing a Hawaiian favorite to Northern Colorado. The Fort Collins food trailer serves up malasadas — or Portuguese doughnuts — which are typically described as a mix between a doughnut and a beignet, according to Michelle Olander, who co-founded Ollie's with her husband, Sean Olander. While the fried treats originated in Portugal, they were later brought to Hawaii and popularized by Portuguese immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s, Sean said. Due to their eggy dough, malasadas are known for being crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are traditionally rolled in sugar, though Ollie's also offers a rotation of filled options. Ollie's Malasadas can often be found outside Fresh Foods Market, Madwire and Bath Garden Center & Nursery. For the trailer's most updated schedule, visit the Ollie's Malasadas Facebook or Instagram page.
Wedo's Tacos and Tequila, 1939 Jessup Drive, closed in mid-December, ending its year-long run in Fort Collins' Jessup Farm Artisan Village. The space had formerly been home to Italian eatery Cacciatore at Heller's Kitchen, which was opened by business partners Mick Occhiato and chef Troy Heller in 2017. After Cacciatore at Heller's Kitchen shuttered the flagship Fort Collins location, Heller and Occhiato opened Wedo's Tacos and Tequila in its place, serving up tacos, Mexican dishes and margaritas in a more casual setting. Wedo's debuted in Jessup Farm in November 2022. Occhiato confirmed the end of Wedo's Tacos and Tequila in an email to the Coloradoan last month, citing "personal reasons" for its closure.
Other food news
Girl Scout cookies season is almost upon us. Cookie sales kick off Feb. 4 and run through March 10, and local cookie booths are popping up in the organization's online cookie finder tool. Adventurefuls, Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Dos-si-dos and Lemon-ups are $5 per package while S’mores cookies and gluten-free Toffee-tastics are $6.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins restaurants: 4 openings, 4 closures announced in January
