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I’m standing on the sidewalk outside of Sushi Hai in West Highland, wondering if I should walk in the front entrance and ask the host how to get into their basement. Then I see a side door tucked into an alcove between the sushi restaurant and the adjacent Chipotle. I swing open the door and head down the stairs, unsure of what I’ll find at the bottom.
No, I’m not planning to pilfer a case of takeout containers. My destination is Origami Den, a new underground eatery created by social media influencer Candies Liu as a way to bring her wildest culinary fantasies—where caviar rides atop crispy chicken karaage and filet mignon mingles with uni—to life.
Liu is there at the bottom of the stairs greeting guests at her Saturday-only project, which seated its first customers last November.
“My parents owned restaurants. I never had a baby sitter; I was always just at the restaurants. It’s my greatest passion,” Liu says. “But I was looking for a space I could take over—I never wanted to start something from scratch because I saw my parents there at the restaurant every day of the week.”
Liu’s search for Origami Den’s home last year led her to Sushi Hai, where owner Tien Le gave her a tour of the basement space, which is big enough for a full bar and dining room and currently hosts comedy nights in a separate space. She was instantly sold. The low ceiling is just right for displaying the collection of 1,000 origami cranes she was already in the process of folding, and two side spaces are a good size for turning into private tatami rooms with low tables capable of holding six to 10 guests seated on mats and surrounded by throw pillows. Exposed brick and dim lighting add to the speakeasy vibe.
Dishes are mostly prepped in the Sushi Hai kitchen above, and Liu relies on the restaurant’s network of seafood suppliers for fresh fish.
“I worked really hard to make the menu completely different than Sushi Hai,” she says. “It was very collaborative. I would bring my ideas for dishes to Tien and she would figure out how to execute it in a commercial kitchen.”
The menu is tight, at only a dozen or so dishes that range from a $12 nigiri duo to a full platter of 12 sashimi for $39, with small plates of various sizes in between. Liu suggests starting with uni butter popcorn, a light treat with just a hint of briny ocean flavor from sea urchin, before diving into the main menu.
A hint of opulence shows up in the Origami Trio: gold-leaf garnished minced toro (tuna belly), ikura (orange-red salmon roe), and uni served on a bed of sushi rice with a side of nori squares for constructing your own wraps. It’s in the Tensei Temaki, too, which pairs filet mignon with uni from Hokkaido, Japan, in a hand roll finished with tobiko and the house’s special sauce. A number of specialty rolls round out the sushi-style offerings, and larger plates offer shareable compositions like a trio of grilled lamb chops served with zucchini and goat cheese tempura rolls (one of just two Sushi Hai dishes that also show up at Origami Den).
For the cocktail menu (which ranges from $16 to $24, or $13 to $15 for mocktails), Liu tested recipes for months before deciding on a tight collection of sweet, savory, and balanced drinks with visual appeal and clever flavor combinations. “It’s a bunch of my favorite things,” she explains. “We want to evoke this feeling of this is just awesome, we just had a really great time.”
The Geisha Lips, for example, combines vanilla vodka, white chocolate liqueur, muddled strawberries, and rose petals in a delicate drink that’s not as sweet as it sounds. Liu finishes each glass with a mist of rose water as she presents it to you. On the savory side, the Dirty Dashi martini uses lightly smoky dashi (like the broth in miso soup) and Ketel One vodka to give James Bond’s favorite drink a little salty appeal. Instead of an olive or lemon twist, the garnish is a piece of pickled gobo (burdock root). Caviar makes its first showing here in the Sake & Pearls, a pour of Kurosawa Junmai Kimoto sake served with a bump of salty sturgeon roe.
Even dessert gets a dab of caviar on vanilla ice cream sprinkled with flaked sea salt and olive oil.
I’m not easily drawn in with style over substance, but I appreciate a combination of lighthearted fun and warm hospitality. The intimacy and secret-menu appeal of Origami Den balances the novelty you might expect from an influencer with good ideas founded on industry experience. In contemplating the ascent up the stairs to street level, I could easily be persuaded to turn around for one more round at the bar.
For now, Origami Den (3600 W. 32nd Ave., Denver) is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturdays by reservation only. Groups of up to 10 people can also reserve a tatami room with no pre-payment or food minimum. Liu says she hopes to expand to Fridays and Sundays soon.
