Wine bar will help return historic hotel to glory

Jesse Morreale envisions many possibilities inside Sketch, which will be a wine bar inside a historic hotel. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post )Jesse Morreale, a Denver restaurateur, hotelier and nightclub owner, is recycling the name of his restaurant that went under.

Sketch, the original name of the fine dining eatery in Cherry Creek where top toque Sean Yontz ruled the kitchen, will be the moniker on a 1,100-square-foot wine, cheese and chocolate bar inside the historic First Avenue Hotel at First and Broadway that opened quietly this weekend.

The 40-seat European-style wine bar with a 12-seat patio on Broadway is the first space to open as part of a $5 million renovation that Morreale and crew are taking on to return the 1905-built hotel to its former splendor.

Next up is a 5,000-square-foot restaurant that will anchor the corner of First and Broadway. Yontz is working on the menu, which likely will be Mexican, based on the success of Mezcal and Tambien restaurants also owned by Morreale.

The opening of Sketch also marks the return of a face familiar to Denver diners. Charlie Master, Mel Master's son who helped run his dad's various restaurants, will be the general manager.

"It will be the kind of place that's really well-suited to him," Morreale said about Charlie. "He can interact with everybody here."

The wine bar, which was built from recycled wood found in the hotel, will feature 40 different bottles of wine; 20 by the glass. A mini-bar will also serve cheese and salumi platters and chocolates. Hours are 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

"The whole idea is to be small and creative," Morreale said.

Bill's bill.

"I've never done a bill signing on that type of a table," Gov. Bill Ritter told those assembled to witness him sign House Bill 1088 during the Colorado Nonprofit Association Awards Luncheon on Friday at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. Event organizers borrowed a modernistic clear glass table with spiral legs from the hotel for the ceremony that affirmed the bill, which certified nonprofits as public procurement entities.

That means that nonprofits will save up to 40 percent in purchasing because they will join the state's purchasing power.

For the occasion, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science loaned the association the chair where President Barack Obama sat when he signed the economic-stimulus bill in Denver.

Ritter used four pens to sign the bill, then handed them out as souvenirs to the sponsors, Rep. David Balmer and Sen. Linda Newell, as well as CNA chairman of the board Tom Downey and CNA chief executive Renny Fagan.

Dressed for success.

You'd think that the employees at Sage Hospitality's brand-new headquarters in the old Fontius building at 1575 Welton St. would have dressed in their finest office feathers for the dedication of the new digs Tuesday morning.

Instead, Sage folks (including head honcho Walter Isenberg) donned work boots, jeans and logoed T-shirts. Why so cas? They were dressed down and ready for Best in Class, the new Sage school partnership program where the hotel company colleagues go out to low-income schools to clean, repair and paint the buildings.

The program will be financially supported through Sage's Dollars for Dreams fundraising program in all 54 of the company's hotels in 22 states.

Gastro grub.

The former owner of the defunct Brasserie Rouge is back in biz with Argyll, a "gastropub" that will open in the Squealin' Pig space at East Third Avenue and Clayton Street in mid-April.

Argyll, named after a region in Scotland, will be a cross between a pub and a bistro with hand-dipped fish and chips and steak tartare. Owner Robert Thompson said Argyll will be fashioned after The Spotted Pig, a New York City gastropub.

The menu will be created by Joseph Wrede, the executive chef at Joseph's Table in Taos, who was named one of Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs in 2000.

Is it a coincidence that Thompson's ex-wife, Leigh Jones, operates Jonesy's EatBar, another gastropub in Denver? "We stayed friends," Thompson chuckled.

Bye bye, Belmar Center.

The Belmar Center, a building in Lakewood that hosts weddings and meetings, will close May 20. Belmar marketing director Stephanie Jackson said the building is closing because of the soft economy.

Eavesdropping

on two women talking about buying clothes: "I'm shopping at Macy's on Sunday."

"I'm shopping in my closet."