Arugula Departs Boulder’s Dining Scene After Nine Years

RESTAURANT BUBBLE NEWS: Chef-proprietor Alex Schuler announced he will be shutting down his nine-year-old Italian eatery Arugula at 2785 Iris Avenue in Boulder. When the restaurant’s lease expires in July 2018, Schuler will opt out of renewing and instead focus on a second, Lafayette, location for his breakfast restaurant Tangerine. The chef said increasing rent as well as Boulder’s increasingly competitive food and beverage landscape contributed to the closure. [Westword]

SCORCHED SPIRITS NEWS: The 16th Street Mall lost another watering hole this week, when Burnt Barrel Colorado Spirits & Sports signed off with a farewell sign on the door dated December 18; it was open for less than a year. The restaurant and bar replaced the Tilted Kilt location which shuttered in February. [Denver Business Journal]

COLLABORATION BREW NEWS: Wit’s End Brewing Co. has turned off its taps and closed its doors at West 2nd Avenue, becoming roommates this month with Strange Craft Beer Co. — the two breweries now share a head brewer and tasting room. The pair has since tapped a bittersweet Belgian-style pale ale collaboration called Moving Day, an imperial session Belgian pale ale, to commemorate the collaboration.

MARKET ON THE MOVE NEWS: Tony’s Market, the Denver-based gourmet butcher and grocery store, will close its Golden Triangle location December 31, and move south by spring. First opened in June 2009, in what was considered an urban food desert, Tony’s will get back to its roots with the move, reopening a smaller, meat-focused store at Happy Canyon Wine & Market at 4960 East Hampden Boulevard. [Denver Post]