Wait Till You Try FIRE – it’s fire. An art hotel.

It’s that time of year again– Denver Restaurant week. Chefs come together to create unique, tasty menus that aren’t always on the everyday one and support local businesses, especially during this time. I was looking on the list of restaurants that participated, and I saw FIRE! I’ve wanted to go here for a very long time, so it was an easy choice.

FIRE Restaurant & Lounge is inside ART, a hotel in Denver. The outside valet area is art. As soon as you walk indoors, art, the elevator has art- it’s everywhere!

In order to get to the actual Restaurant/Lounge, you take the elevator upstairs. First, when walking in the bar, it’s in front of an incredible art sculpture called LIGHT KNOTS, 2015. By, Larry Bell.

Making a reservation is suggested as the wait can be long if you are a walk-in. The waitress offered us window seating for an option and without hesitation said, YES! She sat us at the full-length window seating of an oceanview. Though I did not understand what she meant, later on, found out there was an art piece outside on a building across the street that literally says “OCEAN VIEW”. I thought based on the windows we could just see all of the city… I take things too literally sometimes.

Chef Jon Keeleys’ menu that he prepared looked delectable, so we ordered just that and a few other items we wanted to try.

Opening: Yakitori Grilled Squid – fried potato salad, soppressata, squid ink sesame stick.

Following: Poussin Chicken – honey braised fennel, king trumpet mushrooms, broccoli robe, sherry gastrique.

Finishing: Upside Down Citrus Cake – satsuma orange curd, blackberry, pistachio ice cream.

I actually do not eat chicken, so I ordered: Hanger steak – shishito peppers, avocado, greens, kettle chips.

Everything was divine from start to finish. Packed with flavor and artistically balanced (pun intended). What a great start to Denver Restaurant Week 2022!