The restaurateur is looking to open his new spot in Congress Park this spring. (Photo courtesy of Dawson)
Kent Dawson is planting roots in Congress Park with a new restaurant.
The 51-year-old is opening Briar Patch at 1222 Madison St. It’ll serve beer exclusively from Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, the Jefferson Park brewpub he’s run with his brother for nearly a decade.
“This will be similar but different,” Dawson said. “It won’t be a brewery, it will be a restaurant … Ultimately the goal is for it to be a neighborhood gathering place where there’s a bit of something for everybody.”
Briar Patch is replacing Crepes ‘n Crepes, which closed at 1222 Madison last summer after about a year-and-a-half.
Like Briar Common, which has been at 2298 Clay St. since 2016, Briar Patch will be open for lunch and dinner. The menus will have about a “25 percent overlap,” Dawson said. Popular items like buffalo cauliflower and poke salad will be available, along with pub staples like burgers and fries.
Dawson hopes to open the 2,400-square-foot restaurant in April.
Kent Dawson, right, with his brother, Greg.
No brewing will take place at Briar Patch. But the new eatery will be a boon to brewing operations at Briar Common, which produces an average of about 500 barrels a year but has the ability to do twice that.
“Our beer sales make up about 20 percent of our sales. We don’t do any outside accounts … we strictly sell in our restaurant space,” he said.
Dawson is going at it alone in Congress Park. He co-owns Briar Common with his brother Greg, who is less interested in the restaurant side of things, he said.
When they first opened Brian Common, Dawson said, they were a little too adventurous on the food, and not enough with their beer. Early menu items included grilled octopus and beef tartare.
“We had a bit of a rough start just figuring out who we were and what people wanted … it took us until about 18 months or so to get to the beers that people wanted to be drinking,” he said.
And despite what the “purists” think, he brews many of his beers with fruit in them.
“Purists think that’s sacrilegious, but it’s what people want to drink, so we make it,” he said.
The business is faring well, Dawson said, but things have slowed recently. A post-Covid boom in sales has tapered off. Revenue last year was down 12 percent compared to 2023.
“We’re dealing with the tipped minimum wage going up again,” Dawson said. “Rent isn’t getting any cheaper. I’d be lying if it wasn’t challenging. But we remain lean and profitable.”
Even though Briar Patch will technically be independent of Briar Common, Dawson said both should benefit from the similar branding and the increased scale.
“There will be some savings from having two places whether it comes in the form of volume discounts with vendors, sharing staffing and those kind of things. It’s not a big space … it’s really well designed to run efficiently, and I think what we’ll be doing will be fairly unique compared to other options in the neighborhood,” he added.
His new landlord in Congress Park, Denver-based City Street Investors, agrees.
“It’s very much a neighborhood, casual restaurant pub. I think Congress Park is gonna love it,” said Pat McHenry, who co-owns City Street.
McHenry fielded about half a dozen serious inquiries for the space in the latter half of the year, but Dawson stood out above the rest, especially given the fact that he was a local operator. She didn’t want national tenants.
City Street isn’t completely done with Crepes ‘n Crepes. The firm sued the restaurant last week, saying the business and owners Ellina Veratti and Alexandra Anderson owe $132,000 in rent and other charges, including commission for the broker who secured the replacement tenant. The creperie had signed a five-year lease. A lawyer representing the restaurant didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The restaurateur is looking to open his new spot in Congress Park this spring. (Photo courtesy of Dawson)
Kent Dawson is planting roots in Congress Park with a new restaurant.
The 51-year-old is opening Briar Patch at 1222 Madison St. It’ll serve beer exclusively from Briar Common Brewery + Eatery, the Jefferson Park brewpub he’s run with his brother for nearly a decade.
“This will be similar but different,” Dawson said. “It won’t be a brewery, it will be a restaurant … Ultimately the goal is for it to be a neighborhood gathering place where there’s a bit of something for everybody.”
Briar Patch is replacing Crepes ‘n Crepes, which closed at 1222 Madison last summer after about a year-and-a-half.
Like Briar Common, which has been at 2298 Clay St. since 2016, Briar Patch will be open for lunch and dinner. The menus will have about a “25 percent overlap,” Dawson said. Popular items like buffalo cauliflower and poke salad will be available, along with pub staples like burgers and fries.
Dawson hopes to open the 2,400-square-foot restaurant in April.
Kent Dawson, right, with his brother, Greg.
No brewing will take place at Briar Patch. But the new eatery will be a boon to brewing operations at Briar Common, which produces an average of about 500 barrels a year but has the ability to do twice that.
“Our beer sales make up about 20 percent of our sales. We don’t do any outside accounts … we strictly sell in our restaurant space,” he said.
Dawson is going at it alone in Congress Park. He co-owns Briar Common with his brother Greg, who is less interested in the restaurant side of things, he said.
When they first opened Brian Common, Dawson said, they were a little too adventurous on the food, and not enough with their beer. Early menu items included grilled octopus and beef tartare.
“We had a bit of a rough start just figuring out who we were and what people wanted … it took us until about 18 months or so to get to the beers that people wanted to be drinking,” he said.
And despite what the “purists” think, he brews many of his beers with fruit in them.
“Purists think that’s sacrilegious, but it’s what people want to drink, so we make it,” he said.
The business is faring well, Dawson said, but things have slowed recently. A post-Covid boom in sales has tapered off. Revenue last year was down 12 percent compared to 2023.
“We’re dealing with the tipped minimum wage going up again,” Dawson said. “Rent isn’t getting any cheaper. I’d be lying if it wasn’t challenging. But we remain lean and profitable.”
Even though Briar Patch will technically be independent of Briar Common, Dawson said both should benefit from the similar branding and the increased scale.
“There will be some savings from having two places whether it comes in the form of volume discounts with vendors, sharing staffing and those kind of things. It’s not a big space … it’s really well designed to run efficiently, and I think what we’ll be doing will be fairly unique compared to other options in the neighborhood,” he added.
His new landlord in Congress Park, Denver-based City Street Investors, agrees.
“It’s very much a neighborhood, casual restaurant pub. I think Congress Park is gonna love it,” said Pat McHenry, who co-owns City Street.
McHenry fielded about half a dozen serious inquiries for the space in the latter half of the year, but Dawson stood out above the rest, especially given the fact that he was a local operator. She didn’t want national tenants.
City Street isn’t completely done with Crepes ‘n Crepes. The firm sued the restaurant last week, saying the business and owners Ellina Veratti and Alexandra Anderson owe $132,000 in rent and other charges, including commission for the broker who secured the replacement tenant. The creperie had signed a five-year lease. A lawyer representing the restaurant didn’t respond to a request for comment.
