Eats & Beats: BurnDown

At 476 S Broadway stands a piece of history. The 80-year-old building located there is the home of BurnDown, a restaurant and venue that's taken its storied past and built around it. On The Morning Set's "Eats & Beats", co-founder Alex Vickers explained its backstory:

"(It) had a fire in the late seventies that burned up through the middle of the building. Rather than fixing it completely, they just essentially made that the atrium of the building itself. So, they sort of built around the hole that the fire had created, and that atrium is still there to this day. It spans three levels and then we have a fourth-floor rooftop deck, (with) bars on each of the three floors - There's a lot going on. It's a beast for sure! It's (name is) a homage to the fire that did burn up the building and we left as much of (its) sort of 'singed elements,' if you will, in place. While we were doing the build out, we did a lot of the work ourselves, all the wood we ripped up from the third floor and we plastered it all around the atrium. You'll see wood all around the building and that's from the building itself. We had a lot of time to kill during Covid, so we were like, all right, let's just do this!"

With their stage on the second floor along the artium, guests dining on the 1st floor or lounging on the 2nd or 3rd can enjoy live music on Friday and Saturday nights from any level. Not only is the atmosphere open at BurnDown, the bands or DJs presented are too as they welcome several different genres:

"It's still something that we kind work through month to month because we want make it a space that's inviting for everyone. We don't want to get kind of pigeonholed as just a jam spot, just a funk spot, just roots, country, whatever. We want to have a little bit of something for everyone and it's worked out really well. We just make sure there's a few covers in there so we can keep folks engaged because it's free music, so when you're not paying a ticket price to get in, you're not necessarily always there for the music. It's just a nice plus, right? So, we have to make sure that there's some recognizable tracks in there as well and that's big for us. This summer, we'll do our sunset series on our rooftop. So, every Thursday we'll have live music up there. So open air, and as the sun's going down over the front range, you've got this band playing up there - It's amazing."

Alex brought in an array of dishes to try from their menu including a chips & dip flight stacked with guacamole, salsa and Pico de Gallo, the Crunchy Asian Salad with their highly coveted creamy, wasabi dressing, and their Turkey Sandwich, a classic take on a club, but its garlic aioli and rosemary, garlic, and parmesan bread gives it a pop. Check out our full conversation and tasting below!