A gourmet vegan restaurant, Avant Garden Bistro, may be opening in Boulder by late spring or early summer, located in part of the space formerly occupied by The Mediterranean Restaurant on Walnut Street.
”Construction is complete. It’s just a matter of licensing and permitting,” said Greg Topel, CEO of Boulder’s EVG Hospitality, which holds the management contract for the Williams Family Companies, the Boulder owner of the building in which the bistro would be located.
However, despite its bold nameplate on the outside wall and obvious construction indications of an opening to come, final plans are unclear. The restaurant is owned by New York’s Overthrow Hospitality.
Ravi DeRossi, who owns Overthrow Hospitality, told Boulder Reporting Lab in a text message that “we don’t know when it will open or if it will open. There is a world in which it never opens. It is not opening anytime soon if at all.” He declined further comment.
A Boulder Avant Garden Bistro would be the second of this concept to open. The first opened in Los Angeles roughly a year ago to great fanfare and strong reviews. Within months, however, it had shuttered, replaced in the same location by another Overthrow Hospitality concept, Ubuntu, which focuses on vegan dishes from West Africa.
Overthrow Hospitality operates 11 different all-vegan food concepts. It has operated a sister concept, Avant Garden, in New York’s East Village since 2015. Avant Garden Bistro is listed on its website as “coming soon” to Boulder.
Topel said Avant Garden Bistro would occupy the western portion of the former Mediterranean space at 1002 Walnut Street, in an approximately 4,000 square foot area into which the Med had expanded about 12 years ago.
Avant Garden Bistro would use about 10% of The Med’s popular interior courtyard as well, accommodating five outside dining tables. The two patio areas are already physically separated by a see-through cast-iron gate, he said.
Assuming the Med itself reopens at some point, each would be served by individual kitchens and separate entrances on Walnut.
Topel said Avant Garden Bistro would have a “beautiful buildout” with a “gorgeous interior,” although he didn’t share details. If it takes after the New York sister restaurant, however, it will be plush and elegant.
Its menu may be a treat for Boulder vegans as well, if its menu draws from its roots at Avant Garden. The Michelin Guide says that Avant Garden aims to “give vegan food some well-deserved polish. This is excellent food that just happens to be vegan.”
Avant Garden’s menu, listed on its website, shows appetizers centering in the high-teens, while entrees price out in the mid-$20 range.
Entrees include roasted carrots with farro, ramp chimichurri and cucumber tzatziki sauce for $26; and paella with calasparra rice, royal trumpet mushrooms, almonds, red pepper and murguez aioli for $28.
Topel held out hope that The Mediterranean itself might reopen at some point, but noted that for now, “It is a dream. We have preliminary approval for a liquor license but it’s all down the road.”
The Mediterranean has various “building hoops” to overcome with the City of Boulder, financing issues and differing opinions on concept development, he said, remarking that “I am the beauty and the brains, but not the money.”
Overthrow Hospitality does not own The Mediterranean Restaurant space, although Topel’s EVG Hospitality has the management contract for both.
The Mediterranean Restaurant, a staple in downtown Boulder’s dining scene for 27 years, closed in 2020 during the economic chaos caused by Covid-19.
Also shuttered then were prior owners Joe and Peg Romano’s other Walnut Street restaurants, Via Perla and the Brasserie Ten Ten.
The Romanos ultimately sold The Mediterranean and Via Perla, but reopened the Brasserie Ten Ten in 2022.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that EVG Hospitality holds the long-term managing contract for Avant Garden Bistro’s owner, New York’s Overthrow Hospitality. Instead, EVG manages the property on behalf of the Williams Family Companies, the Boulder-based owners of the building where the bistro is located. EVG has no direct involvement in the development of the restaurant project itself.