Description
Ping-pong has arrived in Denver. And if what’s happening at Ace, the latest restaurant by the team behind Vesta Dipping Grill and Steuben’s, is any indication, the game has the power to transform a night on the town. Although owners Josh and Jen Wolkon can’t take credit for making the squat paddles cool, they certainly lobbed the craze into Denver’s prime time, repurposing a cavernous, 9,000-square-foot garage next to Steuben’s into a hangout extraordinaire. Even without the eleven ping-pong tables (including some on the patio), the space would feel like a party: lights low, music pumping, the decor full of fun touches like shipping containers, airplane parts and a curvy bar with scorpion bowls, alcoholic shaved ices and fab barman Randy Layman. Waits for a ping-pong table approach two hours on weekends; fortunately, there’s plenty to do in the interim. Eat, for example. Because as much as Ace is a ping-pong hall and bar, it also has a kitchen intent on keeping up with the spot’s flashier components. Food skews Asian – but it’s reinterpreted Asian, with none of the dishes we’ve all come to know (if not love) at Americanized Asian joints. Instead, go for crispy beef in honey-ginger sauce, ginger-soy steamed sea bass, red-curry beef, and steamed bao, stuffed with goodies like chicken thighs or braised short ribs.
