12 FEBRUARY 12-18, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Inside the Grind THE HIGH-RISK GAMBLE OF OPENING A RESTAURANT IN DENVER TODAY. BY ANTONY BRUNO On January 29, Dear Emilia, the highly antici- pated new restaurant in RiNo, celebrated its grand opening. As the ownership trio of chef Ty Leon, hospitality director Heather Morrison and Austin Carson cut the ceremonial ribbon, their eyes beamed a mixture of pride and weariness, their laughs a cathartic release. To the public, the event marked the start of the group’s second restaurant since the 2020 debut of Wash Park pasta temple Restaurant Olivia. But for the team, it was the end of a long, grueling grind. By any measure, Dear Emila is already a massive success. The critical response is downright fawning. Reservations are booked out through April. So it’s hard to believe that just over a year ago, Dear Emilia almost closed before it even opened. “We were going over budget, and we were working as hard as we could to get it down to a place that was feasible,” recalls Carson. “I think it was Heather who was going to ask, point blank, whether we can get out of this. ... It was a very emotional meeting.” That’s a sobering reality familiar to nearly anyone who has had the quixotic dream of opening a restaurant. Before the fl ashy ribbon-cutting, the slick social-media infl u- encer posts and the newspaper write-ups, the path to success is often a gauntlet of sac- rifi ce, anxiety, determination and blind faith, all taking place entirely behind the scenes. To learn more, we embedded with the Dear Emilia team for the last three months of a journey that had began nearly two-and- a-half years earlier. A Sweetheart Deal The origin of Dear Emila came in the form of a 2023 phone call from property-man- agement fi rm Schnitzer West. As fans of Restaurant Olivia, the brokers wanted to offer the team fi rst shot at a ground-fl oor space in a new offi ce building, the Current. Initially, the Olivia team wasn’t certain they were ready for a second restaurant. But after visiting the space that August, they fell in love with the idea of creating something from scratch. No legacy surprises behind the walls. Everything brand-new, and to their specifi cations. After securing a guarantee that they’d pay no rent before receiving a certifi cate of occupancy, they signed the lease in April 2024. The kicker? Schnitzer West would foot nearly the en- tire bill for building out the res- taurant infrastructure needed in the completely empty space. “Basically, if you picked up the place, turned it upside down, and shook it, all the stuff that comes free is our responsibility and the stuff that stays fi xed ul- timately belongs to them,” says Carson. By all accounts, the Dear Emilia Team had a sweetheart deal. As it turned out, they needed it. Developing the Vision Lease agreement signed, now the team needed a concept to set the tone for the menu, the space and the overall direction. The goal was never simply to open “Olivia 2,” but rather expand the concept to new themes. According to Leon, Dear Emilia was envisioned as a love letter to the Emilia-Romagna region — home to such quintessential Italian favorites as Par- mesan cheese, prosciutto, tortellini and ragu alla bolognese — that blended the technique and traditions of the area with ingredients local to Colorado. The goal was to create a restaurant re- flecting a unique “sense of place” that’s the foundation of Italian cuisine, whereas Restaurant Olivia is more focused on the art of pasta and all of its forms, without regional specifi city. “There really isn’t a sense of place at Ol- ivia,” Leon notes, “unless the place is inside of a ravioli.” Reality Sets In Deal in hand and vision in place, the effort quickly turned to planning the buildout — which is when complications came almost immediately. Running a restaurant is one thing. Building a restaurant is another. A scan of the foundation revealed under- ground cabling that required repositioning the walk-in cooler, among other things. The plumbing for the toilets had to shift ten inches. Each adjustment to the design re- quired approval fi rst by Schnitzer West and then by city inspectors, meaning something as simple as a one-inch adjustment could translate to twelve weeks of delays. “There’s an order of operations with the city,” explains Carson. “The fi rst person has to get in and sign off before the second person can get in, and that second person’s still contingent upon the third person com- ing in to sign off. So if something goes wrong early in the process, inches turn to feet turn to miles real quick.” Then came the tariff impact, which forced a revision of many of the original decor ele- ments, thanks to increasing material costs. The wine cellar designed as a glass-enclosed space became a drywalled room. The mate- rial for the chef’s counter went from locally milled custom wood to stainless steel, and then to simple butcher’s block. Ovens, meat slicers and gelato machines all got down- graded to less expensive options. Shelving plans got…shelved. “We had our hearts set on this big, beau- tiful, shiny restaurant that we signed off on initially,” says Carson. “It was like for the fi rst time in our lives we were going to get this chance to use really high-level, high-tier equipment, and it was just one by one getting checked off. And it was rough.” But things got much rougher. A Catastrophic Surprise In 2021, Denver City Council had passed an ordinance dubbed Energize Denver that, among other things, established energy ef- fi ciency rules for new commercial construc- tion, which the Current (and by extension, Dear Emilia) had to comply with. That meant the restaurant had to power the kitchen entirely with electricity, even though it would be using gas. The cost of meeting this requirement decimated Schnitzer West’s share of the construction budget, leaving Dear Emilia with more of the bill than they’d budgeted for. “When we entered into this project, we weren’t anticipating spending any money on construction,” says Carson. “We ultimately ended up spending about $300,000 all in, and over half of that was as a result of this one specifi c thing.” That’s when the project nearly shut down. The team went from dreaming about building their dream restaurant to consid- ering throwing up raw drywall and foldout tables from a thrift store just so they could start serving food to pay off the costs. “It was terrifying,” Carson recalls. “These are numbers I can’t just write a check for. If we didn’t have the ability for the three of us to step in and work [at Olivia] to increase income and push that money in the direction of the new project, I don’t think we would have been able to complete this.” The Pop-up Through a loan and a massive amount of sweat equity, the budget gap was closed and construction resumed. By mid-December, things had progressed to the point where the focus returned to the food. As the fi nal touches were being applied to the space in RiNo, Restaurant Olivia hosted a Dear Emilia pop-up dinner for longtime regulars, friends and press to test the menu. Spirits were high as Leon ran the staff through each dish and the servers lined up for a taste, asking questions and jotting down notes to prepare for service. This was, after all, the fi rst time the Emilia menu would be shared with the public. Minutes before the doors opened, the lights dimmed and the mood got tense. All banter and chatter stopped. Any questions were answered in short, tight, clipped re- sponses. It was clear that nerves were start- ing to fray, and the importance and weight of the evening began to set in. “It’s all coming to a head tonight,” said CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Chef Ty Leon (left) cuts the ceremonial ribbon offi cially opening Dear Emilia. ANTONY BRUNO
