Soda Club, a New York City restaurant known for its fresh pasta, natural wine and cocktails, is bringing its neighborhood-bar approach to Denver’s RiNo district, pairing Sicilian-inspired dishes with a 200-plus-bottle wine list and a moody, jewel-toned dining room.
The restaurant, which opened earlier this fall at The Ramble Hotel, is the latest venture from James Beard Award-nominated restaurateur Ravi Derossi, a co-founder and current owner of Death & Co. The Colorado native opened the original Soda Club in New York City’s East Village in 2021 with partner and wine director Drew Brady. The restaurant has earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation every year since its debut.
“Soda Club Denver is a love letter to my home state of Colorado,” Derossi says. “Drew and I stayed true to our vision of a relaxed, convivial neighborhood gathering space where guests can enjoy shared bottles and an approachable but adventurous menu, while creating something that feels specific to Denver and the RiNo neighborhood.”
Located at 1260 25th Street in the space formerly occupied by Super Mega Bien, Soda Club Denver centers its menu on fresh pasta, Roman-style pinsa and shareable plates. Executive chef Amira Gharib, who is of Egyptian descent, draws on Sicilian cuisine, which reflects centuries of cultural exchange across the Mediterranean and North Africa.
The kosher-certified menu includes signature pasta dishes and seasonal offerings, along with salads, snacks and desserts. Diners can also order a five-course pasta tasting for the table, paired with a bottle of wine to share.
Among the menu highlights are lumache with vodka sauce, harissa, charred cipollini onions and lemon tomatoes; casarecce with borlotti ragù, smoked paprika and kale; and gigli with truffle crema, fried leeks and lemon zest. The carbonara pinsa combines the restaurant’s airy, long-fermented crust with fresh apple, smoked mushroom and fried artichokes. House-baked focaccia with urfa pepper and bagna cauda butter and tiramisu with marsala sabayon round out the offerings.
The menu was developed with input from Jon Robbins, former chef-owner of Bistro Barbès, who serves as chef de cuisine at Soda Club.
“We kept many of the Soda Club classics that our guests love in New York City while tailoring the menu entirely to Denver’s energy, seasons and landscape,” Gharib says. She adds that the restaurant pairs neighborhood hospitality with fine-dining techniques and inventive takes on familiar dishes.
Brady’s wine program features more than 200 bottles from small, independent producers in established and emerging wine regions around the world. Brady, who was named a Future 40 Tastemaker by Wine Enthusiast, has included selections that may be less familiar to Denver diners, including Colorado wines from the North Fork Valley.
One featured bottle is Desert Flowers 2023, a blend of Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris from Colorado’s Aquila Cellars. Another is Ayunta Nerello Mascalese Bianco Etna Sicily 2024, a mineral-driven white wine made from the Sicilian region’s signature red grape.
“Our wine program is built around discovery,” Brady says. “The list moves between energetic natural wines and beautifully aged bottles, with texture as the through-line—wines that can function almost like another sauce on the table.”
The cocktail menu follows a similar approach, with grappa-focused interpretations of classics such as the Negroni and Manhattan, along with spritzes and a house vermouth blend served with orange foam.
The restaurant’s design reinforces its intimate, after-dark atmosphere. The 70-seat interior features a mural of a moon, raven and rose by New York City-based European artists Sasha Vulakh and Anastasia Pronyayeva. The artists also hand-painted emerald tiles around the open kitchen and purple columns with metallic marbling. Tiffany-style stained-glass lamps, marble tables, live trees and velvet banquettes in pink and deep green complete the space. An enclosed sidewalk patio provides seating for another 30 guests.
Soda Club serves dinner nightly, from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The team also plans to introduce monthly pasta-making classes, a popular feature of the original New York restaurant, as well as a pasta omakase experience at the chef’s counter in the coming months.
