After a years-long run turning heads at vegan restaurant Somebody People, Denver chef Justin Freeman is returning to his own creative enterprise.
Monarch, his “pizzeria-meets-bistro,” will move into the Urban Cowboy boutique hotel at 1665 Grant St., replacing Little Johnny B’s, whose owners have decided to focus on their full-kitchen iteration, Johnny Bechamel’s, the free-wheeling Italian restaurant they opened last December at 81 S. Pennsylvania St.
Urban Cowboy, a 16-room boutique hotel in Capitol Hill’s historic George Schleier Mansion, at 1665 Grant St. (Ben Fitchett)
Freeman and co-founder Danny Matthews will assume full-time command of the wood-fired oven in the hotel bar on Saturday, May 9, after first hosting a series of pop-ups inside the space (the first is April 13).
“I’ve been there a bunch when it was Roberta’s and Little Johnny’s, and I always just thought the place was super cute,” Freeman said. Roberta’s was a Brooklyn-based pizza restaurant that ran the space before Little Johnny B’s.
Little Johnny B’s stay at Urban Cowboy was always seen as temporary in the lead-up to Johnny Bechamel’s opening, said Devon Klug, a spokesperson for restaurant owner Mamas & Papas Hospitality Group, which also owns Dio Mio and Redeemer Pizza. Their exit was an opportunity for Freeman, who has been looking for a permanent space since 2023.
“Little Johnny B’s totally came in and saved us when Roberta’s left,” said Nicole Valdez, Urban Cowboy’s general manager, adding she is excited by Monarch’s “new, fresh program.”
Freeman will remain executive chef at Somebody People, 1165 S. Broadway #104, Denver. Owners Sam and Tricia Maher were aware of his property search since they started working together, he said.
“It’s all something that he’s worked for and that we encouraged him to do,” Tricia Maher said.
He just onboarded a new sous chef, Nicole Zell, and will continue to help plan the restaurant’s menu and source its ingredients.
His mind’s eye is now on Monarch, though. Soon he and Matthews will be there cooking every day, he said, baking sourdough pizzas and pastries. He expects to make plates of seasonal veggies and rotating salads, too.
“We want no printed menus. It will all be handwritten,” Freeman said. “Maybe one or two mainstay items, but other than that, really letting people and nature tell us what’s good.”
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Dining and Cooking