Travis Masar, left, and Darren Chang are opening Pig and Tiger at 2200 California St. in Denver. (Courtesy Pig and Tiger)
According to zodiac signs, Travis Masar and Darren Chang are more than compatible.
“It’s a really good working relationship in Chinese lore,” Masar said. “He’s the pig, and I’m the tiger.”
That’s one reason the chefs are optimistic that their restaurant Pig and Tiger will become a Five Points staple when it opens this summer.
Though this is the pair’s first full-service restaurant, the Taiwanese concept had a home at the Boulder Avanti food hall from late 2020 through last June. It was replaced by Peko Peko, the Japanese eatery the two also operate.
They signed a 10-year lease at 2200 California St. in Denver in August.
“It’ll be more family-style, just your classic old-school Chinese-style restaurant. Larger portions, everything should be shared,” said Masar, a La Junta native. “And in that direct neighborhood on Welton Street, there’s no real Asian concept. We’re excited to see the fruition of Mercury Cafe 2.0 and see this area build out.”
Pig and Tiger’s menu will feature favorites from the original spot, like lu rou fan, which translates to braised pork rice, along with new items like Taiwanese fried chicken, a street food staple in the East Asian country. Masar said a cutlet “as big as your head” will be fried and drenched in orange hot honey sauce.
For beverages, he and Chang, who met in Los Angeles in 2018, are working on creative cocktail concoctions along with a select list of wines.
They’ll also sell Pig and Tiger branded chili crisp, a Chinese hot sauce. Masar said they’ve been producing the condiment since 2022, selling wholesale on their website and at several retailers in the area for $15. They also have “black label,” a smokier and spicier version of the original, and hot honey flavored options for $16.
Both an on-the-side version and pre-packaged version will be available at the restaurant.
“Obviously, we did Pig and Tiger at Avanti, so we know some of the things we’re doing,” he said. “But we wanted to separate ourselves from what we were doing with a full-service, full-bar experience.”
Both Masar, 38, and Chang, 41, started their cooking careers in Denver. After getting a culinary arts degree from the now-defunct Johnson & Wales Denver, Masar traveled across Asia, nurturing an affinity for the continent’s food scene.
He returned to Denver as a chef for Uncle, a ramen restaurant with locations in the Highlands and West Wash Park, before moving to Philadelphia and becoming a contestant on the Bravo TV cooking show “Top Chef” in 2013.
He started several restaurants there as head chef before moving to Los Angeles, where he met Chang while working at the Chinese joint Ms. Chi. He returned to the Mile High City right before the pandemic.
Chang is the son of Taiwanese immigrants and worked in several Colorado and Los Angeles restaurants, including at the now-closed Brazen under James Beard semifinalist Carrie Baird, Culinary Creative Group’s culinary director.
Some of the recipes on Pig and Tiger’s menu were handed down from his grandmother and mom.
Of the inspiration behind their restaurant, Masar said, “Growing up in the Midwest and really loving Chinese and Taiwanese food and also honoring those recipes Darren grew up on.”
The 3,000-square-foot space will be a rollback in time to “darker and sexier” layouts, Masar said.
Because the space was home to Carbon Café & Bar and Habit Doughnuts, the kitchen is relatively set. But getting new chairs, tables, lights and adding an eight-person private dining room will take up the majority of the build-out bill.
Masar said the pair got a Small Business Administration loan for $350,000, and they’re aiming to keep the cost under that.
“I feel like a lot of modern Asian (restaurants) are bright, clean, a little louder,” Masar said. “The vision is to be like opium room vibes from the 1920s in Chinatown. Tall ceilings, red brick, red accent lighting, real dim and dark. We’ll be using darker woods too.”
Travis Masar, left, and Darren Chang are opening Pig and Tiger at 2200 California St. in Denver. (Courtesy Pig and Tiger)
According to zodiac signs, Travis Masar and Darren Chang are more than compatible.
“It’s a really good working relationship in Chinese lore,” Masar said. “He’s the pig, and I’m the tiger.”
That’s one reason the chefs are optimistic that their restaurant Pig and Tiger will become a Five Points staple when it opens this summer.
Though this is the pair’s first full-service restaurant, the Taiwanese concept had a home at the Boulder Avanti food hall from late 2020 through last June. It was replaced by Peko Peko, the Japanese eatery the two also operate.
They signed a 10-year lease at 2200 California St. in Denver in August.
“It’ll be more family-style, just your classic old-school Chinese-style restaurant. Larger portions, everything should be shared,” said Masar, a La Junta native. “And in that direct neighborhood on Welton Street, there’s no real Asian concept. We’re excited to see the fruition of Mercury Cafe 2.0 and see this area build out.”
Pig and Tiger’s menu will feature favorites from the original spot, like lu rou fan, which translates to braised pork rice, along with new items like Taiwanese fried chicken, a street food staple in the East Asian country. Masar said a cutlet “as big as your head” will be fried and drenched in orange hot honey sauce.
For beverages, he and Chang, who met in Los Angeles in 2018, are working on creative cocktail concoctions along with a select list of wines.
They’ll also sell Pig and Tiger branded chili crisp, a Chinese hot sauce. Masar said they’ve been producing the condiment since 2022, selling wholesale on their website and at several retailers in the area for $15. They also have “black label,” a smokier and spicier version of the original, and hot honey flavored options for $16.
Both an on-the-side version and pre-packaged version will be available at the restaurant.
“Obviously, we did Pig and Tiger at Avanti, so we know some of the things we’re doing,” he said. “But we wanted to separate ourselves from what we were doing with a full-service, full-bar experience.”
Both Masar, 38, and Chang, 41, started their cooking careers in Denver. After getting a culinary arts degree from the now-defunct Johnson & Wales Denver, Masar traveled across Asia, nurturing an affinity for the continent’s food scene.
He returned to Denver as a chef for Uncle, a ramen restaurant with locations in the Highlands and West Wash Park, before moving to Philadelphia and becoming a contestant on the Bravo TV cooking show “Top Chef” in 2013.
He started several restaurants there as head chef before moving to Los Angeles, where he met Chang while working at the Chinese joint Ms. Chi. He returned to the Mile High City right before the pandemic.
Chang is the son of Taiwanese immigrants and worked in several Colorado and Los Angeles restaurants, including at the now-closed Brazen under James Beard semifinalist Carrie Baird, Culinary Creative Group’s culinary director.
Some of the recipes on Pig and Tiger’s menu were handed down from his grandmother and mom.
Of the inspiration behind their restaurant, Masar said, “Growing up in the Midwest and really loving Chinese and Taiwanese food and also honoring those recipes Darren grew up on.”
The 3,000-square-foot space will be a rollback in time to “darker and sexier” layouts, Masar said.
Because the space was home to Carbon Café & Bar and Habit Doughnuts, the kitchen is relatively set. But getting new chairs, tables, lights and adding an eight-person private dining room will take up the majority of the build-out bill.
Masar said the pair got a Small Business Administration loan for $350,000, and they’re aiming to keep the cost under that.
“I feel like a lot of modern Asian (restaurants) are bright, clean, a little louder,” Masar said. “The vision is to be like opium room vibes from the 1920s in Chinatown. Tall ceilings, red brick, red accent lighting, real dim and dark. We’ll be using darker woods too.”
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