Photo by: Carly Reynolds
Jordan’s Bistro & Pub, located at 2363 E. Evans Ave. and in the same corner complex as University Lofts, fills a local niche of a sophisticated, energetic restaurant and hangout.
On March 15, two days prior to St. Patrick’s Day, the restaurant opened to customers. With no exterior sign, the pub is difficult to locate, but once inside, the dark wood, warm leather and long bar is hard to forget. The visual appeal convinces customers to stay while the food keeps them coming back.
The restaurant is owned and run by four men: two Irish, one Australian, and one American who met while working at Darcy’s Bistro & Pub at the Denver Tech Center. The restaurant is named after Willy Jordan, a ’68 DU business graduate, who, according to co-owner Rob Dawe, was the driving force in bringing the bistro to the Denver campus.
Jordan’s offers a wide selection of appetizers and entrees, with an average dinner for two costing around $25 plus the cost of drinks.
According to Dawe, Jordan’s is “not really authentic Irish,” but the bistro delivers four traditional dishes, such as fish and chips and Shepherd’s pie, which, according to customers, is already a favorite.
For those who prefer more American dishes, Jordan’s provides an array of wood-fired pizzas, salads and sandwiches.
“Guys never get to choose where to eat, so the menu is very women-friendly,” Dawe said.
Jordan’s house specialty pizza, “the Jordan,” is made with a crispy crust, tomato sauce, Italian sausage, green peppers, cheese and mushrooms and costs $8.99. The chicken chopped salad is a combination of marinated and grilled chicken, tomato, dates, avocado, feta cheese, and roasted red and yellow peppers priced at $9.99. The grilled half-pound Angus burger is served on a toasted Kaiser roll and costs $8.99.
Lunch for two costs about $20, while weekend brunch for two runs $18. Dessert includes a choice of bread pudding, cheesecake, chocolate mousse cake or brownie sundae, all $7 apiece.
Until roughly 9 p.m., the crowd is mainly professors, graduate students and locals, but at night, students take over. Lunch hour is fairly open, but Thursdays and Fridays are filling up, so reservations are helpful but not necessary. For reservations, call 303-733-3936.
According to Dawe, Jordan’s will be introducing a series of daily specials including open mike night, drink specials and live music starting the second week of April.
Monday through Sunday, Jordan’s opens at 11 a.m. for breakfast and stops serving entrées at 10 p.m. The pub stays open late and continues serving their happy hour menu until 12 p.m.
Dawe said the pub is “excited to be in the neighborhood,” and wants people to know about their “good happy hours,” featuring $3 domestic drafts. In Dawe’s opinion, the best part of working at Jordan’s are the people he meets and how they “are usually in a good mood by the time they get here [Jordan’s].”
