Bar Fausto, located at 3126 Larimer Street, will reveal itself to the public on Wednesday starting at 4 p.m. Brainchild of friends and partners Jonathan Power of the Populist and Koan Goedman of Huckleberry Roasters, the new gathering place dubs itself a cocktail and charcuterie bar, but there is much more to it.
The sharp modern space, highly functional in its design, is created and executed by FinArt, local fabricators who are also partners in the business at Bar Fausto. The drink list is ambitious if seemingly simple and the food menu compelling enough to invite guests to keep ordering little things that can easily amount to a meal.
"I like to make a meal out of a bunch of little things. That's how I like to eat," confesses Koan Goedman, one of the owners. It isn't hard to imagine that guests will follow that model and will start with smoked nuts, continue with oysters (a rotating selection that will showcase an East Coast and a West Coast variety daily), and move on to radishes with butter, bruschettas, and Parisian train station-style sandwiches. "We are not trying to reinvent the wheel or to be novel, just trying to be solid" says Jonathan Power who believes strongly in sourcing quality goods from highly specialized producers. That belief is why the selection of charcuterie at Bar Fausto comes mostly established producers like Salumeria Bielese. The small RiNo kitchen will craft items like smoked fish and duck pastrami.
Rob Corbari, longtime bartender at the Populist, is spearheading the cocktail program, which features ten signature drinks that he created in collaboration with some of his staff. The drinks don't have names, just numbers, and Corbari plans on changing these periodically and archiving older drinks in a catalog that would be available to guests who were particularly fond of a drink that is no longer offered. In addition to the 10 signature cocktails, Bar Fausto will offer no less than 30 classic drinks whose ingredients will be printed on menus. There are 13 wines offered by the glass, selected by general manager Matthew Yoss, 4 to 7 rotating beer taps, and some extra beers in cans including classics like Schlitz and Old Milwaukee.
Bar Fausto, whose name pays homage to famed bad-boy cyclist Fausto Coppi, will be open from 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesdays through Sundays.