Mar Bella Wine Bar to be replaced with a cantina pop-up in Cherry Creek

Scoring a reservation at most of Johnny and Kasie Curiel’s restaurants is a challenge. The Michelin-starred Alma Fonda Fina is booked out months in advance. Mezcaleria Alma isn’t much accessible. And reservations for the new tasting menu experience Milpero, which only offers 16 seats a night, open up on the first day of the month and sell out within minutes. 

The outlier among the Fonda Fina Hospitality group concepts was Mar Bella Wine Bar, originally Mar Bella Boqueria, the “Spanish neo-bistro and wine bar” inside the Clayton Hotel & Members Club in Cherry Creek. Not only was it the only concept in the group not directly tied to Curiel’s native Mexico, with a Spanish flair instead, but it was (perhaps as a result) the only one that didn’t fully take off. 

And now it’s the first of the Curiel empire to shut down — sort of. Starting July 8, Mar Bella will give way to a new pop-up experience called Tequileria Alteño, an extension of sorts to the Michelin-recommended Alteño located just next door.

“We haven’t decided the future for Mar Bella Wine Bar,” says chef Johnny Curiel. “We’re excited to bring something new to the space with our first pop up. Summer is such a perfect time to bring cantina energy to the neighborhood.”

The just-announced pop-up puts aside the Spanish wine and tapas menu of Mar Bella (which, like its name, underwent frequent changes since opening as it sought to solidify an elusive identity), and replaces it with a concept billed as an homage to Mexico’s cantina culture. 

“People are curious about Mexican wine just as they are about Mexican food,” says Curiel. “For me, everything is about creating spaces that invite conversation. With wine, with food, with everything. Our goal with Tequilería Alteño is to encourage more exploration around agave spirits with a focus on tequila and the tequilería traditions that I love.”

The shareable small-plate format will remain, but with a focus less on Caesar salads and steak frites and more on Curiel’s passion for masa, sourced through Fonda Fina’s partnership with the Masa Seed Foundation’s ancestral Mexican corn harvest project southeast of Boulder, and nixtamalized in-house for service. 

In that respect, Tequileria Alteño will be an easier point of entry to Curiel’s masa education project than the far more exclusive (and expensive) Milpero. The beverage program, meanwhile, will retain elements of Mar Bella’s wine program, but put a far greater emphasis on over 80 types of Mexican agave and other spirits, including tequila, mezcal and lesser-known regional expressions. 

“There is always more to explore and share when it comes to the traditions of Mexico,” says Curiel. “We have actually taken our team on several trips to my hometown of Guadalajara, specifically to experience cantina culture. With Tequilería Alteño, we get to share the celebration, history, and tradition in a new way. That’s always my hope. That we can continue to share the things I love about Mexican culture and food in Denver. Our Mexican culinary community is really special. We’re proud to be part of it.”

So far, Alteño seems to be the Curiels’ most portable brand. In addition to the Cherry Creek location (now locations?), the Fonda Fina team is adding Alteño locations in Austin and Charleston.

Tequileria Alteño is now the second pop-up to check into the Clayton Hotel from a Michelin-starred chef. Earlier this month, the Id Est team that brought us Colorado’s first restaurant to earn two Michelin stars — The Wolf’s Tailor — announced a three-month residency on the hotel’s sixth-floor rooftop called Sheep, also beginning July 8. 

While both pop-ups come from Michelin-starred teams and are located in the same hotel, there’s plenty of air between them (both figuratively and literally). Sheep is a four-course tasting menu, and has a firm end date of Oct. 4. Tequileria Alteño is an a la carte small plates concept, with a greater focus on drinks and an undefined end date. 

But more notably, Tequileria Alteño’s open timeframe is designed to give the Curiels time to evaluate the concept and the space, and determine whether Tequileria Alteño will revert to a more permanent concept, or pivot yet again in new directions. 

“We haven’t made any final decisions,” Curiel notes.