Hospitality and Entertainment - June ‘23

Welcome to our monthly survey of places to eat, places to stay, things to do, and the economics behind it all. Let's get right to it:

Café Lush celebrates 12 years of living on the edge (in a good way)

Settling down to one of the indoor tables at closing time recently, Tom Docherty explained the two simple reasons why Café Lush came to be in the first place: He and wife/co-owner Sandy Gregory were, quite simply, "too poor to retire, too old to work for someone else."

That was 12 years ago. Over that time - which Gregory said seems to have gone by in a "zoom zoom" flash - the couple has built up a beloved neighborhood joint in what has turned out to be a fortuitous location at Seventh and Tijeras, an area once dominated by Italian merchants. Straddling the Downtown core and the Downtown neighborhoods, the corner somehow manages to feel like a residential neighborhood and an urban center at the same time - neatly avoiding the troubles of one and the commercial isolation of the other. They nearly called the place "Café Edge." (Also rejected, for being too long: "Café Luscious.")

But it was more than a location that kept Café Lush afloat in such a challenging industry. The couple hung out their shingle with about as much experience as hospitality lifers can have. Gregory is a longtime bartender, including stints at the Ranchers Club - the restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near the Big-I - and Mykonos, the Greek restaurant near Academy and Eubank. Docherty, a chef, is an alumnus of Old Town's High Noon and the DoubleTree hotel in the Downtown core. He now cooks a menu that leans toward organic, with plenty of vegetarian options as well.

The specialization goes deeper still, and it is another key to the success: Some 40 percent of their customers are gluten-free. 

"They're very loyal," Gregory said.

Café Lush's fan base came in particularly handy during COVID. The restaurant never closed and "we were putting tables down the block," Gregory said. "People haven't come back completely," she added, but "it's getting there."

Tomorrow is the official birthday celebration, which will feature mini cupcakes - made with Guinness and Bailey's-flavored frosting on top - but there's plenty else to look forward to in the next 12 years and beyond. The departure of First Financial Credit Union and its hungry staffers from Tijeras and Sixth a few years back (4/13/21) was certainly a hit, but a reopened Hotel Blue should be a big help, and they're looking forward to the Ex Novo Brewery at Seventh and Central as well.

Docherty and Gregory, in other words, are going to keep at it and then some. They don't have any kids, but they've arranged their will so that the restaurant will eventually go to their manager, Rebecca Arnold.

"It's going to keep going," Gregory said.