Most of Denver’s older heads have something resembling a memory of RockBar. For those unfamiliar with the institution, it was the stickiest of sticky bars, a place where folks went to unwind while hopefully avoiding contact with the surfaces. When it shuttered in 2012, mourners paid tribute with predawn Jameson shots. RockBar left big shoes to fill, and when no one rose to the occasion, the debauch epicenter steadily slipped into seedy disarray.
What Abigail Plantier found when she came to inspect the place in 2019 startled her. Having grown up in Denver, she had been to RockBar, so to find the space a mess of exposed wire and extensive demo left her shook. At the time, she was hoping to do a one-night-only pop-up revival of the old haunt, but after looking at what was left of the interior, she put those dreams on hold.
In March of this year, Plantier, alongside prime owner Brian Toerber and dining honcho Steven Waters, launched The All Inn Hotel at the very same place that had seemed so bleak just a few years prior. The 54-room hotel revamps the building to its original 1959 glamour, while Waters’ Mediterranean-ish restaurant FiNo anchors the place with lively eats and sophisticated cocktails.
Long before anybody was thinking about The All Inn, Toerber purchased the property in 2016, originally planning to convert the space into multi-family units. He got the sense, through sustained community engagement, that residents desired something different. RockBar’s shadow loomed large, and it became clear to the developer that he would have to establish a project that celebrated and cemented the venue’s iconic notoriety.
It took a while for things to get off the ground. Before Toerber decided to reach back out to Plantier in 2022, he had flirted with a few ideas and even started working with another design team. But in 2023, Plantier and Toerber decided to move forward. From there, Plantier called Waters, whom she had first worked with at a pre-COVID French Punk pop-up, a two-day party that is still whispered about by those lucky enough to attend. Today, the three share ownership of the All Inn, with Toerber controlling the majority share.
All three partners say that the collaboration has been natural and organic. “We all bring different skill sets to the partnership. As the prime owner, managing member and lead sponsor, I assembled the team, defined the roles, responsibilities and expectations, then got out of their way and let Plantier and Waters do what they do best, which is creating beautiful hospitality spaces that people love and want to spend their valuable time visiting,” said Toerber.
Plantier is no stranger to bringing high-concept visions to life. Through Maximalist, her hospitality design studio, Plantier has already cemented herself as one of the city’s most sought-after designers. She’s helmed dozens of projects nationwide. Sorry Gorgeous, Kumoya and Bar Dough are just a few of the local interiors she and her team have executed.
With All Inn, Plantier looked to the property’s more luxurious origins for inspiration, though she didn’t ignore RockBar’s almost mythological grittiness when doing the design. “Let’s not just make it pretty, let’s make it rooted in a concept,” she said. As an advocate of adaptive reuse, she was undaunted by the building’s ragged bones. “The before photos were pretty rough,” she laughed.
With the All Inn, Plantier has created a nearly cinematic pastiche, one that incorporates each chapter of the place’s incongruous history into bizarre harmony. While the outward features evoke the mid-century opulence of the original Fountain Inn, the All Inn still captures RockBar’s essence. A frenetic elegance permeates each floor, from each of the thoughtfully ornamented rooms, down to the always bustling dining area. “It’s meant to be transporting,” said Plantier.
For Plantier and Toerber, tapping Waters to handle dining was a no-brainer. Through his Take Care Brands Hospitality, Waters handles hospitality management in New York, Denver and Lisbon. He’s also responsible for Run for the Roses, which has remained one of the Mile High’s most-loved cocktail bars since it opened in 2019.
The menu draws influences from Italy, coastal France, Spain, Greece, North Africa and Turkey, with many dishes mashing together elements from several regions at once. “We’re not trying to be traditional in any way. It’s about pulling things we love from all those regions,” said Waters. Sheamus Feeley, one of the original founders of Pony Up, was brought on to consult. “Sheamus is an old friend. Plus, he’s wildly talented and wildly creative,” said Waters.
FiNo’s menu is a succinct, 20-plate affair almost entirely made of dishes built to share. The olives, several toasts and a variety of dips are all good feast fodder. Don’t leave without getting the medi nachos, a big plate of kettle chips covered in prosciutto, garlic toum, herbed tonnato and plentiful reggiano. Even with bold flavors, it’s surprisingly safe first-date fare. Everything combines to be somehow milder than the sum of its parts. The stuffed chicken wings with Calabrian butter and blue cheese are also a must. Get as many orders as there are people at the table.
Whether or not Waters channels any of RockBar’s character in either the food or drink menus, he still recognizes its cultural significance. “It was kinda an anomaly. It was fun and nostalgic and for lack of a better word, kinda shitty,” he smiled. There’s not a bad cocktail on FiNo’s menu, but drinks like the Mascarpone Ramos, with Condesa prickly pear gin, Sardinian myrtle liqueur, citrus and mascarpone foam, and the pistachio mai tai, with Bacardi Ocho, pistachio, rjum agricole, coconut rum and Centum Herbis, border on cheeky.
Waters also oversees All is Well, an all-day cafe separate from FiNo.
Fino is located inside the All Inn Hotel at 3015 East Colfax Avenue, Denver. It is open every day from 5 – 11 p.m.
All is Well is open every day from 8 a.m. – 12 a.m.
Photos courtesy of Casey Wilson.
