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| Friday, March 13, 2009 |
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Venue Adventures: Jet Entertainment Takes Off
By Orange Peel Moses @ 8:08 PM :: 1234 Views ::
0 Comments :: Nightlife, Events
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The hottest hotel in LoDo finds itself at the heart of a budding empire
txt: George Peele
George Eder is a master at multi-tasking. As CEO of Jet Entertainment’s expanding empire, he regularly juggles a number of different hats. DJ headphones, though not technically a hat per se, aren’t normally included in that metaphorical juggling. Yet when one of Wicked Garden’s residents failed to show recently (due to family illness), he bravely stepped up to the dub-plate and fired up his apparently vast iTunes library. Fortunately for George, the forty-something in the DJ booth wasn’t the only detail out of the ordinary that night. Patrons were too enthralled by a décor addition to notice Eder. Stripper poles have a way of commanding spectators’ attention…whether the women orbiting them are nude or not.
“We recently installed two stripper poles and, ever since, girls AND guys have been channeling their inner stripper, with some moves better than others,” says Jet Marketing Director Jordan Bullock.
To be clear, the ladies in question weren’t naked. Wicked Garden isn’t a strip club. It’s a new rock bar in LoDo. Operating in the basement formerly known as Open Bar (and, before that, Hush), Wicked Garden was plucked up by The Jet Group in an attempt to branch out their branding endeavors. The Jet Hotel (and its membership-only basement Twenty) has long been successful enticing high-end clientele and Purple Martini in the Tabor Center (another recent purchase) has a lock on a certain percentage of the hip hop crowd. Wicked Garden, after the Stone Temple Pilots’ stomper, would fill the rock bar niche market. Luring rockers, whose natural habitats include Cap Hill, Colfax and South Broadway, to Larimer Square can be a challenging proposition, though. Live Band Fridays, featuring a mixture of tribute groups (Van Halen homage Romeo Delight, etc.) and original locals (Anima, etc.), is one strategy already implemented. Hosting an in-the-flesh performance by The Suicide Girls (SuicideGirls.com), modern pin-up models known for both piercings and ink, is another. December 27 saw their official Sabotage Saturday debut, courtesy of Wasted Space Vegas resident DJ Klaw and de facto Denver Suicide contact and point person, Ginger Perry.
Wicked Garden isn’t the only new addition to the Jet family either. Nine 75, the eclectic comfort food concept in The Beauvallon, was recently rescued from the brink of oblivion. Eder simply couldn’t bear to see it disappear. He was, after all, a member of the original “midwife team”. You see, when Nine 75 was first unleashed into Colorado’s cuisine scene by The Sullivan Group a few years ago, Eder was still a bona fide, paycheck-collecting Sullivan employee. Although his allegiances shifted last year, his affection for Nine 75 was never in question for a nanosecond. Chef Jose Guerrero has been appointed the man in charge of neighborhood appetites. Many new menu items have been manifested since the place changed hands. Buttermilk fried chicken and waffles, Cuban sandwiches, shrimp and artichoke linguini and giant chicken pot pies are among them.
“Comfort foods like your mom would make, whether your mom’s from America, Mexico, China, wherever. Comfort foods from around the world. Jose’s traveled extensively; he’s come a long, long way. He’s so down to earth. It’s never about him. He’s so open to feedback, letting the dish evolve until people go, ‘That’s awesome.’ The pot pie dish started off kind of soupy, flat…not awesome. Now, it’s the best pot pie in the world.”
As if Guerrero didn’t have enough on his plate with bringing Nine 75 back to life, Jet’s eatery division is apparently just as ambitious as its nightlife one. XO, a health-conscious noodle bowl joint inspired partially by London-based chain Wagamama, is set to open soon in the rear of The Jet Hotel. Guerrero’s extensive experience with Asian-influenced cuisine (Mau, Aqua) will certainly come in handy there. Also, Pizza Republica, the Neopolitan pie concept slated for DTC’s Landmark development, could benefit from some consulting as well.
“Pizza Republica will focus on very old-world Italian, authentic cooking styles and processes. Organic ingredients. We’re going to grow hydro-basil. Grow all of our own basil in front of the kitchen. It’s amazing how much fresher it tastes,” explains Eder.
No one will ever accuse Eder of resting on his haunches.
“I think it’s what keeps me sane. I’m so ADD, that if I don’t have ten things going on…it keeps me more focused. Plus, I love opening places.”
Cheap Thrillz Tuesdays @ Wicked Garden w/ Alex K, Amen, Soup & Ty Tek
WickedGardenDenver.com
Nine75-Restaurant.com
TheJetHotel.com
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