In our new series #TBT, or Throwback Thursdays, we’ll revisit some of the Denver metro area’s tried and true restaurants that have become institutions. These places have weathered the shifts in our city’s restaurant landscape. As flashy newcomers enter and exit, these restaurants, bars, and cafes remain, though sometimes get overlooked by the fickle short-term attention span of a social media-driven obsession with the new and the now.
However, these spots have shined for over 20 years, and they are our past, our present, and with a little luck, our future. First up, we dived into Bastien’s in Denver’s City Park neighborhood, which has served up its famous sugar steak since 1958.
The Beginning of a Legend
When it comes to restaurants with longevity we have institutions, icons, and throwbacks. But there’s only one Bastien’s, which for nearly seven decades has stood as a beacon of old-school service and style along East Colfax.
Bastien’s is not only a restaurant, but also acts as a time capsule of a long-passed and much-missed era, where the setting is just as big a draw as the steaks it serves. Originally founded by William Bastien in 1958, it’s now owned and operated by his grandchildren, Jeannine Bastien, Mary Virgil, and Colette Bowdish and her husband David. Not only that, but fourth-generation family members manage the day-to-day both on the floor and in the kitchen. Ryan Bastien, for instance, serves as the restaurant’s head chef.
And despite evolving very little over the years, Bastiens manages to remain both current and nostalgic at the same time. There’s been an uptick in diners craving this nostalgia, so don’t be surprised if Bastien’s pops up on social media often.
Googie Goodness
What newer restaurants today try to emulate for retro-cool status, Bastien’s originated. The building housing Bastein’s erected in 1958, reportedly designed Mr. Bastien. Before the eatery, the spot hosted the Moon Drive-In, which got torn down. Mr. Bastien originally planned to open another drive-in. This explains the building’s classic mid-century California coffee shop features like a sunken bar and big-top peaked roofline, all staples of what’s known as Googie style architecture.
Pivoting to a steakhouse in the space made for a unique environment that’s part accident, part genius. In fact, in 2009 Bastien’s earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Today’s result is a muted, relaxed authenticity that more modern concepts chase but never quite catch.
“We’re the real thing,” said co-owner Colette Bowdish. “We really were around during the Rat Pack, and this building really was based on those sorts of ideas. It’s not ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we built a building that looked like that?’ We were there for it all. We’re the original!”
Today, walking under the tall red neon sign and into the building feels like entering an early 1960s fever dream. You’ll find black leather booths, matching black tablecloths, and Christmas lights hanging from the rafters. The walls and ceiling feature paneled wood, like a petrified big circus tent. Rat Pack imagery is everywhere from Sammy and Dean to Ol’ Blue Eyes to Marilyn Monroe.
Bastien’s style became the restaurant’s trademark, which the owners wouldn’t change for anything, even if they could.
The Sugar Steak and Beyond
While the large menu is varied and extensive, when you think of Bastien’s your first thought is going to be steak. More specifically, the Sugar Steak. After all, it’s right there on the sign out front.
Invented by Bowdish’s husband David some 30 years ago, and passed down to nephew Ryan, the Sugar Steak recipe remains a closely guarded secret. However, we heard it’s a relatively simple execution. To make the iconic dish, the steaks get covered in a dusting of sugar and other spices, then carmelized on the grill to form a crust.
The result is not so much sweet, but more an enhanced savory with a pleasing crunch. The texture comes thanks to the emulsified fat of the steak, which feels sort of like the crunchy bark you’d get on a long-smoked pork shoulder. It’s also not a specific dish, but rather an option that you can add to nearly any cut of steak on the menu, except the filet, as it lacks the fat required.
That means you can have a sugar ribeye, a sugar New York strip, sugar wagyu, and even a sugar burger. Or, you can choose from over a dozen other rubs or toppings. The list of acronyments include coffee rub with avocado chimichurri, the David with shrimp and cajun hollandaise, and the “black and tan,” which is mushrooms with demiglace and toasted gorgonzola.
This choose-your-own adventure model solved what had become an unwieldy menu over the years as the kitchen kept inventing new steak dishes to offer. After you pick a topping, choose from soup or salad, and add on your preferred potato, be that baked, mashed, or fried. Fortunately, the servers happily walk you through the menu, making recommendations that show pride in what’s offered.
Drinks include the standard martini fare shaken tableside, but also unique takes such as the Bigger and Better, a cross between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan featuring 4 Rose Bourbon, black walnut bitters, and ameretto.
“We try to make people feel like they’re part of the family, not just a customer,” added Bowdish. “We like them to have fun when they come to our restaurant. If they’re having fun, we’re having fun.”
The Secrets To Success
But in today’s day and age, even the retro pull of the unique building and creative menu hooks aren’t enough to guarantee long-term success. The restaurant almost went under in the 80s, saved only by an infusion of family cash. And even now, nearly 70 years into its historic run, Bastien’s struggles with the same headwinds that have claimed multiple restaurants in recent months.
The most notable at the moment is the ongoing Colfax street construction project, which Bowdish called “idiocy.” While the restaurant has a massive advantage by having its own on-site parking, the perk gets weakened because entering the space from the east is sporadically interrupted by work restrictions.
Add to that increasing costs for food, labor, and fees, and Bastien’s feels the pinch along with the rest of Denver’s restaurant community. However the company has held steady thanks to two very powerful forces, restraint and real estate.
“I’d say the most important lesson that I learned from my grandfather, that I still live by today, is don’t spend money you don’t have,” said Bowdish. “That’s how we run the restaurant. You don’t need that fancy latest little gadget. If you don’t have extra money, you don’t need it.”
Also helping keep that spending in check is ownership of the land. Bastien’s hasn’t had to pay landlords for decades, which means no fluctuating rent. no fickle property managers changing the rules, and not living in fear of lease renewals. When it comes to the building, the restaurant owners only deal with ebbs and flow of property taxes and insurance premiums that, while not insignificant, are blows far easier to absorb with the footing of ownership.
One more factor we observed, though Bowdish doesn’t address it directly, is an underlying feeling of pride. When a business has been in the same family for generations, like Bastien’s, it’s more than just dollars and cents, it’s legacy for everyone involved, customers and staff alike.
“I’ve spent more time here than I’ve spent any place else in my life,” concluded Bowdish. “So you know we will continue as long as we can.”
Visit Bastien’s 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. The restaurant is closed on Mondays. 3503 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, bastiensrestaurant.com
