After searching for a standalone location for his playful eatery for five months, chef Bo Porytko and his team at Misfit Snack Bar have decided to return to their former space inside the Middleman, the cocktail bar, at 3401 E. Colfax Ave., that hosted Misfit for the previous five years.
Porytko, who was nominated for James Beard awards in 2023 and 2024, said last May that the concepts were meant to be separate and that Misfit could benefit from a larger kitchen.
But on Wednesday, he announced on Instagram that Misfit is returning. “After some soul searching (and lots of actual searching) looking for a new location, we decided we missed you all too much and thought it was high time to return home to the space we love in the Middleman kitchen,” he wrote in the post which features a video of him getting smacked in the face by one of the burgers that helped make Misfit’s name. “Come visit us and we promise you’ll fall right back in love.”
Porytko told The Denver Post that rents in other parts of Denver, like South Broadway and in the River North Art District, are simply too high, and while he’d been hoping to land a specific space nearby on East Colfax, it didn’t work out in the end. Part of the reasoning for that was because the impending construction of a bus rapid transit line along the street. That project is expected to take at least two years to complete from one end to the other.
Porytko first gained attention in Denver for his whole-animal restaurant Rebel, which was open from 2015 to 2021. He then moved on to Misfit, which had served an ever-rotating lineup of fun finger food, creative snacks and chef-centric bar fare, including fried bologna sandwiches, elote ramen, kimchi croquettes and currywurst Scotch eggs.
In January 2023, he opened a second restaurant a few doors down, at 3333 E. Colfax Ave., called Molotov Kitschen + Cocktails, to focus on Eastern European-inspired cuisine. Porytko was nominated for another James Beard award this year for his work there.
The first menu at the restored Misfit — which is available now — will be sort of a greatest hits list, Porytko said. After that, he will begin adding to dishes again.
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