Her father was an “old-school” entrepreneur who’d built a loyal following in Aurora for his barbecue and fried catfish, and brought her into the family business of soul food.
So when Angelo and Deja Washington‘s new restaurant, Catfish King, opened on 5454 E. Colfax Ave. this month, Deja was resolute that nothing — not the city’s construction of a new bus line, not the roads dug into deep trenches, not even a figurative mountain — would keep their regulars from showing up through the doors for a meal.
They’re not the only business moving into the strip in a year when the encroachment of construction has dwindled customer traffic and squeezed out several restaurants.
The owners of Okinawa Japanese Cuisine opened Ma’s Kitchen Dim Sum & Noodles just off Colfax on 1514 York St. this month after taking the space over from Tacos Tequila Whiskey. A bar on 3401 E. Colfax Ave. formerly known as Middleman is under new ownership and has a new name, The Lowbeam.
Two other restaurants are in the works: Japon, a Japanese food concept at 3550 E. Colfax Ave., and Hong Kong Station, a popular Chinese restaurant in Centennial opening its third location at 2205 E. Colfax Ave. Signs for both say they are “coming soon.”
And the La Vista Motel, located across the street from Catfish King, at 5500 E. Colfax Ave., will also soon take customers’ orders at its cafe and bar, El Piñon.
“This is the best time just because the city is coming up on just so many renovations,” said Deja, 25, the general manager at Catfish King. “We’re finally becoming hip.”
It’ll take at least two years to see all those renovations realized. Construction of the BRT line is over a quarter of the way through, according to progress updates shared by the city of Denver online. It’ll only intensify in the coming months as it inches toward where Catfish King resides.
The Washingtons were already hard at work bringing their vision to fruition when the first orange traffic barrels showed up in front of their business.
Angelo knew what it took to open a restaurant, having started more than 10 bar, club and food concepts between here and his home state of Oklahoma, Deja said. Determined to expand his food truck The Hungry Wolf from Aurora into a space where people could sit down and eat, they settled upon the site of a shuttered Popeyes chicken franchise.
“I know to some it may be a hesitance … to want to have a business right on Colfax in the midst of construction,” Deja said.
“And the fact that this is Colfax,” she laughed. “People born here … we have stories and fairy tales that go on down this strip.”
One scary tale was that of the late-night bandits who stole the restaurant’s copper wiring, she said. That was just a hiccup toward their eventual opening.
It took a year and a half and the help of friends and members of the community to transform the Popeyes into Catfish King, Deja said. The restaurant now has a spunky logo and a front patio. The chairs inside the diner rock slightly, inviting the customer to ease in and relax.
Business was steady just after the lunch rush on a recent weekday. Angelo stepped from behind the kitchen to chat with customers, his black cooking gloves still on. Servers, Deja among them, brought out trays of fried catfish sandwiches, red and baked beans and peach cobbler. Luther Vandross’s “A House is Not a Home” cast a warm spell over the room.
“They followed my dad and I around for years,” Deja said of their customers. “It’s really nice that wherever we go, they’ll find us.”
