TAG Restaurant Group owner Troy Guard speaks during a September 2023 BusinessDen event. (Alyson McClaran/Special to BusinessDen)
TAG Burger Bar is coming back.
Troy Guard, prominent restaurateur and owner of Denver-based TAG Restaurant Group, is resurrecting the concept in Central Park.
“It’s kind of cool,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could redo it or not but the demand is there and people talk about it all the time.”
TAG Burger Bar will open at 10155 E. 29th Drive, which was previously ND Street Bar (also known as Kitchen Next Door). It will be neighbors to two of Guard’s other concepts, HashTAG and Los Chingones.
A dish at TAG Burger Bar. (Denver Post file)
“Honestly, we weren’t looking,” Guard said. “The landlord contacted us and we thought it’d be a great location. There’s nothing like that around there, plus I have two other restaurants there so I like the neighborhood.”
After 10 years in business, Guard closed the original TAG Burger Bar in Congress Park when its lease ended in 2021 and the pandemic was still affecting business.
“We love TAG Burger Bar, it was very profitable, but we came up on a 10-year lease and nobody knew what was going to happen,” he said.
The burger bar wasn’t the only pandemic casualty. Guard closed TAG, his first Denver restaurant, for the same reason. At the time, he said the restaurant group had decided to scale back and focus on four concepts: HashTAG, Guard and Grace, Bubu and Los Chingones.
But, two years later, things are heating up again. Guard teased that if everything works out, he might bring back TAG as well.
As for the Burger Bar, he said Denverities can expect similar recipes as the original, and a few new items. Overall, Guard said, it will still have a lot of burgers, boozy milkshakes and weekend brunches. He anticipates opening in the spring.
“It’s going to be hipper and cooler just because that’s a 10-year-old-feeling restaurant,” Guard said. “It’s going to be a lot more livelier than the old space but still have that comforting feel.”
In addition to the burger bar, Guard is opening a wine bar in the Republic Plaza lobby at 370 17th St. in January.
In September, Guard closed the inaugural Bubu location in Larimer Square because of renovations by its new landlord, Asana Partners. That concept has two other locations, in Republic Plaza and Granite Tower at 1099 18th St., and Guard said he’s exploring adding more next year.
TAG Restaurant Group owner Troy Guard speaks during a September 2023 BusinessDen event. (Alyson McClaran/Special to BusinessDen)
TAG Burger Bar is coming back.
Troy Guard, prominent restaurateur and owner of Denver-based TAG Restaurant Group, is resurrecting the concept in Central Park.
“It’s kind of cool,” he said. “I didn’t know if I could redo it or not but the demand is there and people talk about it all the time.”
TAG Burger Bar will open at 10155 E. 29th Drive, which was previously ND Street Bar (also known as Kitchen Next Door). It will be neighbors to two of Guard’s other concepts, HashTAG and Los Chingones.
A dish at TAG Burger Bar. (Denver Post file)
“Honestly, we weren’t looking,” Guard said. “The landlord contacted us and we thought it’d be a great location. There’s nothing like that around there, plus I have two other restaurants there so I like the neighborhood.”
After 10 years in business, Guard closed the original TAG Burger Bar in Congress Park when its lease ended in 2021 and the pandemic was still affecting business.
“We love TAG Burger Bar, it was very profitable, but we came up on a 10-year lease and nobody knew what was going to happen,” he said.
The burger bar wasn’t the only pandemic casualty. Guard closed TAG, his first Denver restaurant, for the same reason. At the time, he said the restaurant group had decided to scale back and focus on four concepts: HashTAG, Guard and Grace, Bubu and Los Chingones.
But, two years later, things are heating up again. Guard teased that if everything works out, he might bring back TAG as well.
As for the Burger Bar, he said Denverities can expect similar recipes as the original, and a few new items. Overall, Guard said, it will still have a lot of burgers, boozy milkshakes and weekend brunches. He anticipates opening in the spring.
“It’s going to be hipper and cooler just because that’s a 10-year-old-feeling restaurant,” Guard said. “It’s going to be a lot more livelier than the old space but still have that comforting feel.”
In addition to the burger bar, Guard is opening a wine bar in the Republic Plaza lobby at 370 17th St. in January.
In September, Guard closed the inaugural Bubu location in Larimer Square because of renovations by its new landlord, Asana Partners. That concept has two other locations, in Republic Plaza and Granite Tower at 1099 18th St., and Guard said he’s exploring adding more next year.
