When chef Theo Adley talks about chicken, his eyes start to sparkle. “The food is universal. It’s a universally delicious thing. It’s the most consumed protein on the planet. It’s humble, but it can also be elegant,” he said, noting that he’s dreamed of opening a rotisserie-centered restaurant since his first taste of the freshly-sliced fowl he got from Boston Market as a kid.
The idea remained on the back burner, though, as Adley explored other culinary ambitions. During his career, he’s worked at The Flagstaff House in Boulder, The Little Nell in Aspen, and acted as chef at two of the most lauded — and missed — of Denver restaurants, The Squeaky Bean and The Populist. In July 2022, he opened Marigold, a destination restaurant in Lyons where his creativity could run wild. “I have a lane in which I really do well culinarily. My forte is in European cooking,” he continued.
In February 2026, Adley plans to return to Denver to open a new restaurant, Heretik, at 1441 26th St., in the former home of Koko Ni. The place will be a celebration of the food of northeastern Spain and Southern France, with a raw bar and a gorgeous Rotisol Rotisserie that greets hungry diners as they walk through the door.
“I want people to come in and see a case full of glistening birds,” he said.
The cornerstone of the joint will be what Adley has described as his “death row meal,” cou-nou heritage chicken, with a heaping plate of fries and a house sauce. The chickens, which Adley says are one of his favorite breeds, are sourced from a co-op that features birds from Tennessee and North Carolina. Even so, Heretik will not be as rotisserie-specific as some of the city’s more bird-focused spots like Chook and the now-shuttered Brider. The sprawling raw bar will be treated with equal love and attention. “We’re gonna bring in all domestic shellfish. Oysters, sea urchins, the whole works,” said Adley.
The rest of the menu will include seven or eight regionally inspired plates like a Spanish-style tortilla with spider crab, scallops with bearnaise and seaweed and monkfish au poivre with grape leaf.
At Marigold, Adley and his team are constantly putting out new dishes — he said the menu is reprinted basically every day. There are usually 10 to 12 items, with only a few staples, that guests can enjoy in the small, cozy space. “We have one foot always planted in French technique, and the other in Spanish and Italian,” he added. But he plans to keep the menu at Heretik a bit more consistent than Marigold’s, focusing less on seasonality and more on creativity and even a sense of mischief.
“We’re not afraid of cooking traditional food, but we take plenty of creative liberties,” he explained.
The idea for Heretik had been running parallel in his mind with Marigold for years, but Adley had been waiting for the right spot. So when fellow chef Johnny Curiel, of Alma Fonda Fina fame, came to him offering a space, Adley sprang into action. Curiel had been using the former Koko Ni as a commissary kitchen for his three Denver restaurants. Luck favors the prepared.
Even though Curiel is leaving just this month, Adley is confident he can get Heretik up and running quickly. “I can close my eyes, I can see the room, I can hear the music. We don’t have to waffle about. I know exactly what I want the restaurant to be,” he said. “The restaurant has heart, soul, vision and a mission. It has a level of spirituality to it,” he said.
Adley has stressed that though he opened Marigold to be off the beaten path, it was never an attempt to distance himself from the Denver market. “I love cooking in Denver. I always have. It’s a great city for guests,” he said. “I can’t wait to be able to come back to Denver and be amongst some old friends and old diners,” he continued.
The restaurant will be a partnership with Johnny Hoang, who himself has previously opened numerous Denver concepts, including Soy Pinoy, Graves Good Burger and Koko Ni. But Heretik will not fall under Hoang’s multi-state FAM Hospitality Group.
And while the cuisine will still employ a great deal of finesse, Heretik will be intentionally more casual than its Lyons counterpart. “It’s gonna be a touch more rock and roll than Marigold,” Adley said. “These restaurants have real emotional substance for me. That’s the only way you can achieve greatness.”