“RiNo reminds me of Williamsburg in 2004—just pretentious enough to be good, not yet pretentious enough to be annoying.” Kevin Burke is joking, of course. As the general manager of American Bonded—one of the hottest new watering holes in one of the hottest enclaves in Denver, which itself is consistently ranked as one of the most desirable cities to live in—he knows all too well that the River North Arts District is years ahead of, not behind, Brooklyn’s cultural epicenter.
Am I joking, too? Maybe, maybe not. As of today, a neighborhood that no one had heard of a few years ago has carved itself out from the intersection of four long-established neighborhoods to house dozens upon dozens of restaurants, coffeehouses, coworking spaces, boutiques, and art galleries—all in less than three square miles. Heck, it’s even got three food halls to Williamsburg’s one—the oldest of which, The Source, is about to open an adjacent hotel complete with a satellite of Fort Collins craft-beer pioneer New Belgium. And speaking of beer: We’re talking more than a dozen breweries, plus two cideries, two urban wineries, and a distillery as well as countless bars—each more representative of RiNo’s specialness than the last.
