"We're going to use our community as the north star of where we go next," Spice Trade Brewery & Kitchen's new CEO, Teregis, told Westword in March, as the brewpub at 8775 East Orchard Road came back from a year as something else.
That turnaround took weeks. Across the city, Greenwood Village City Council approved a new restaurant at The Landmark in September, on a lot that had sat empty for 20 years. The contractor expects construction to take roughly 15 months.
Both stories happened in the same city in the same year, and they show how Greenwood Village's dining map really changes. The quick decisions come out of strip-center suites along Orchard Road, Arapahoe Road and DTC Boulevard. That's where an operator can scrap a concept, split a business in two, or open a format nobody else nearby offers, all within one season. The big-ticket projects around The Landmark and Fiddler's Green run on a much slower clock. Going by 2026, the places you can eat at this fall are almost all on the fast track.
Orchard Road, Two Doors Apart
Spice Trade's past year shows how quickly a storefront concept can turn over. Westword's reporting lays it out in order:
- In January 2025 the Orchard Road space switched to a Yak & Yeti concept, which split the regulars who had gotten to know the staff since 2020.
- Owner Dol Bhattarai reached out to Teregis, who had helped open Oakwell Beer Spa's Highlands Ranch location, to come in as a partner.
- On March 10, 2026, Spice Trade announced on Instagram that Teregis would take over as CEO, effective immediately, and that the brewery would go back to its original concept.
- The restaurant opened again while it phased in menu items, aiming for a full relaunch on April 17.
Westword's account makes clear the comeback was a rebuild. Some kitchen equipment had been removed or moved during the Yak & Yeti period, and Teregis was putting it back while also retraining staff. The old menu, which rotated through a different global cuisine every few months, isn't returning in that form. In its place is a tight core menu. The adult tater tots and teriyaki Brussels sprouts came back first, then chicken sandwiches and burgers. The tandoori oven left over from the Yak & Yeti period is still in the kitchen, and it now turns out charcoal-grilled chicken wings.
The beer program didn't change. Head brewer Andrew Chafin still runs it. The brewery got its start at the Yak & Yeti in Olde Town Arvada, was Westword's Best New Brewpub in 2021, and has made beers ranging from a GABF medal-winning chai milk stout to a Thai tripel brewed with lime leaf and lemongrass. As of this month, Spice Trade's website lists its food and beer menus, online ordering and reservations.
A few doors west, at 8745 East Orchard Road, Mama Kim went the other way. The space ran as a spa and restaurant hybrid. In September the restaurant side closed and the spa stayed open, Westword reported, noting that the concept had done well overseas. The paper also included the closure in its September roll call.
Put those two addresses side by side and you get two businesses on one stretch of road, both rethinking their concepts within months. Spice Trade brought back its beer and a shorter menu, and Mama Kim kept its spa and dropped the dining room. In a leased suite, neither move called for a new building, a site plan or a vote from city council.
Arapahoe Road Filled Gaps That Don't Need a New Building
The same storefront flexibility explains the openings on Arapahoe Road this year. Neither one is a traditional sit-down restaurant, and each one fits a specific format into an existing suite.
Moxie Social opened at 9686 East Arapahoe Road in June, according to Westword's June roll call. It held a grand-opening weekend on June 13 and 14. The business calls itself a botanical café and "third space" built around shareable charcuterie boards, with names like the Orchard, Savory Garden and Social Table, plus alcohol-free mocktails. It also offers takeout, delivery and space for gatherings. In a part of town where most evening spots serve beer or cocktails, a dry café built for lingering is a different kind of option.
A short drive west on the same road, Yummy Hot Pot made Westword's list of July openings at 8181 East Arapahoe Road. WhatNow Denver first reported the plan in October 2025 as the third metro-area location for Yummy Hot Pot and Dumpling. That report put it in Unit C, with all-you-can-eat hot pot and a menu of meats, seafood, vegetables, soups, noodles and dumplings. The gap of about nine months between that report and the July opening is a quick timeline next to anything happening at The Landmark.
DTC Boulevard got a chain addition the same way. Chicken Salad Chick opened at 5322 DTC Boulevard and showed up in Westword's March openings list. The company's February announcement had set a grand opening for March 4, about two weeks after the release came out.
Lot 7 at The Landmark Runs on a Different Clock
The Brinkerhoff, a restaurant that opened in Castle Rock last year, is planning a second location at 5390 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, BusinessDen reported on July 28. The city's planning and zoning commission had unanimously recommended approval of the site development plan the week before.
City council approved the site plan and a development agreement unanimously at its mid-September meeting, according to a meeting record posted on Citizen Portal. Here's what the applicant and city staff described:
- Size: a 9,800-square-foot restaurant, a permitted use under The Landmark's master development plan
- Seating: about 150 seats plus 20 at the bar
- Materials: handcrafted limestone, reclaimed brick and Corten steel details
- Patio: covered, with folding glass walls
- Power: a solar canopy meant to supply about 15 percent of the restaurant's electricity
- Parking: 39 on-site spaces, more in the nearby garage, and a valet drop-off zone
The applicant noted that Lot 7 has sat empty for 20 years. Before vertical construction can begin, the contractor described taking out about six feet of fill that had been dumped on the lot, then estimated about 15 months of construction. Counting from a September 2026 approval, that would put an opening around the end of 2027, and only if work starts right away and stays on schedule. No opening date has been announced.
Over at Fiddler's Green Circle, the slower clock is easier still to see. Granite Properties has plans for a 12-story, 325,000-square-foot office building at 6430 South Fiddlers Green Circle. In May 2026 Greenwood Village extended the project's entitlements by three years, The Denver Post reported, and the developer said it still needed a major tenant before construction could start. The tower is office space, not dining. Even with its approvals extended, it has no construction start until a tenant signs.
Lot 7 has the advantage of a restaurant operator already attached to it. Even so, its path from vacant lot to first dinner service adds up to more than 21 years, counting two decades empty and a 15-month build. Spice Trade went from one concept to another and back in about 14 months, without its address changing.
What That Means for Dinner This Fall
Through the rest of 2026 and well into 2027, every place on this list you can actually sit down in occupies an existing suite. The Brinkerhoff is the only new building in the mix, and it hasn't been built yet.
For a brewpub dinner, Spice Trade at 8775 East Orchard Road has its charcoal-grilled wings out of the tandoori oven and Andrew Chafin's beer lineup. For a group that wants to share boards without alcohol, Moxie Social at 9686 East Arapahoe Road was built for that. For all-you-can-eat hot pot, Yummy Hot Pot is at 8181 East Arapahoe Road. Chicken Salad Chick covers a quick lunch on DTC Boulevard at 5322. The spa at 8745 East Orchard Road is still open, though the Mama Kim restaurant there is not.
Once site fencing goes up around the empty lot at 5390 Greenwood Plaza Boulevard, the Brinkerhoff build begins, and the contractor's estimate puts the first table about 15 months after that.
Over the decades, our family has watched the corridor between Orchard Road and The Landmark fill in one storefront and one long-empty lot at a time. A new restaurant on a 20-year-empty parcel and a run of new tenants on Arapahoe Road both change what nearby homes offer day to day. If you'd like to know how that shows up in your home's value, the Billy Van Heusen Team can walk you through it. Get Your Free Home Valuation and we'll go over the numbers together.
