SPARROW

Birds of a feather flock together

By SHARON ALMIRALL
Photography KIMBERLY DAWN

Sparrow is a restaurant where you can dine with a group or sit alone at a stool looking into the chef’s kitchen. Either way, you’ll be content, as the environment, the music and the staff all give you the feeling you belong here. Just as the sparrow likes the company of humans, so does the restaurant. It’s a place where you know the owners and staff want you to enjoy yourself.

Its name is as sparse and simple as its space. That’s where the similarity to the sparrow, a little bird known for its simplicity, ends. For Sparrow, a restaurant with a casual atmosphere and welcoming ways, offers a sophisticated menu of offerings that fairly burst with creativity. If you like to eat like a bird, the menu boasts intricate flavors that won’t destroy the weeks of hard work you’ve put in at the gym. If you’re going to Sparrow with a companion who has a manly appetite, he’ll be pleased to know he can have meat if that’s what he needs. And a scotch, too.

Now, sparrows are city birds, often viewed while you sit at your breakfast table looking into your piece of the world, otherwise known as your backyard. Sparrows, as in real birds, are very friendly creatures and favor being with people. In fact, my deskbound encyclopedia says the sparrow is the only bird that doesn’t occur except where humans also exist.

At this Sparrow, birds of a feather truly flock together as two sisters who grew up with Sparrow as their family name are co-owners, along with their husbands, of the restaurant. As we dined, a couple with two young children sat at an adjoining table. The music playing in the background was just right — loud enough to cover background noise and the conversation from other tables, but not so loud you couldn’t hear the words coming from the companion at your table. This family-friendly environment is just the way the Sparrow sisters like it. They grew up on the East Coast and decided to open their restaurant in Denver so that their Sparrow offspring could grow up knowing each other and playing together.

“It’s a dream come true for us,” says Jen Botsford, one of the Sparrow sisters. “It was always an adult dream of ours to live in the same city and work together.” It works for their mates as well. Josh, husband of Jen, loves the Denver climate and feels the weather is perfect for the kind of light Mediterranean cuisine he likes to prepare. Mark Scruggs, the spouse of the other Sparrow, Nancy, grew up in Denver and is a tennis pro who is able to assist the restaurant with the “connections” end of the operation.

Josh is located in the chef’s kitchen, where he is assisted by a staff of competent line cooks and a sous chef. “There are two reasons this open kitchen works,” he says. “One is that I can see out, see how the customers are doing, and two is that customers can see in and see our nice, clean kitchen.” The kitchen is inviting with its white-clad staff, stacks of white plates, copper serving dishes and efficient operation.

Trained in the school of hard knocks, Josh says he was a “knock-about” who tried his hand in decorating and construction. Then he met his life partner, who suggested he do what he’d always wanted to do — cook. Josh would have two experiences where he had a chance to work with well-known chefs, Barbara Lynch and Marco Canora. Lynch had received a James Beard award in 2001- 02, and Canora is the owner of New York restaurants that are doing very well.

“I worked long hours six days a week. It was brutal but very good all-round experience on how all the things come together,” he says. Josh did not attend culinary school but learned “there’s a lot to do with getting the pace, the timing.”

Sparrow has been located across from Governor’s Park for three years, a location that Josh calls beautiful and just the right size. Sometime this summer, the foursome will open a Sparrow South in the new Landmark Development in Greenwood Village. There will also be a gourmet market at the location, which they’ll operate.

Birds get their mention in some of the fare’s names, as in the Blue Bird Cobbler and the Coffee Crow, both on the dessert list. Other than that, the menu offers an array of dishes including appetizers, pastas and entrees. There is a selection of lighter fare, such as tapas, wraps, cheeses and two kinds of burgers.

Our evening began with an appetizer called tuna tuna, and it consisted of unusual companions — pomegranate, soy, ginger and crispy wontons. The pomegranate lent its color to this lovely dish. Bread was served with butter and a spread made of crushed black olives, garlic, olive oil and red peppers — all of it crushed and ready for spreading.

Two kinds of appetizing salads arrived, and both were outstanding — lovely to look at and promising to treat us to a meal that was not for the birds. The mixed greens with flocci croutons, fresh herbs and champagne vinaigrette woke up the taste buds. Autumn leaves — a work of baby beets and greens with nuts, shallots and Maytag blue cheese — was so incredibly interesting that we both had to eat it together.

For entrees, I ordered pasta crafted from butternut squash, pine nuts and Parmesan. It was called Butternut Squash tortelli. The sage brown butter allowed this pasta to melt in my mouth. I shared a few bites with my companion, though reluctantly, because I really wanted to eat it all myself. So much for eating like a bird! We also sampled the black bass served with asparagus. Tiny potatoes full of flavor accompanied the lightened blackened bass. A topping of sprouts mixed with crab and horseradish added a zing to this entrée that seemed to say spring is coming.

The special of the evening was paella. Paella is a bonanza of flavors, combining shellfish, shrimp, pork, veal, chicken, rice and vegetables, all of it flavored with saffron. Josh prefers to cook Mediterranean recipes that he has learned while traveling around France, Italy and Spain. He said the paella was not particularly tricky, but he twisted it up a little for the special.

“Specials have a stigma, because they are often the leftovers put together,” he explains. “Our specials are truly special, and we offer them only on the weekend.” Fresh fish arrives on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Josh and his sous chef discuss what would be fun to prepare for the weekend and how the dishes will be compatible with the weather that’s anticipated. He goes on to say, “In Boston, dishes were typically made of heavy creams. Here, we do light food.”

To top off the evening of tastes, we ordered Brioche Pain Perdu, a dessert of blueberries, chartreuse and basil ice cream. It was truly a special finish to an evening.

Sparrow is located at 410 E. Seventh Ave. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. for lunch. Dinner is available Tuesday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. and on weekends, from 5 to 11 p.m. The bar stays open later. There is patio dining overlooking Governor’s Park, and there is a back garden patio. Live jazz is played Sundays from 6 until 9 p.m.



SPARROW
410 E. Seventh Ave
(303) 831-1003