Gregg Lemkau/Courtesy photo
Popular Glenwood Springs restaurant Slope & Hatch, known for its gourmet hot dogs, has opened a second branch in Eagle.
Slope & Hatch also serves tacos and snacks, has a full bar and a dedicated kids’ menu. Owner Gregg Lemkau described the restaurant’s cuisine as “global food in tortillas.”
“We want it to be fun, we don’t want it to be too serious,” Lemkau said. “The vibe should always be relaxed and ‘please come in and hang out for as long as you want to.’”
“Everybody is welcome. We want people to feel like they can come here and hang out no matter who they are or what they feel or what their ideas are,” Lemkau said.
Slope & Hatch’s story
Lemkau hails from the Chicago area but moved to Glenwood Springs nine years ago. While he spent the first 27 years of his working life practicing immigration and real estate law, he also harbored an equal passion for the food industry. “When I went to law school, it was sort of a flip of the coin. It was either culinary arts school or law school,” he said.
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In Glenwood Springs, Lemkau quickly got into the restaurant business, starting with Rocky Mountain Pizza. “It was nothing (like) what I wanted. I always envisioned myself having a slice shop with no seats in it and this had 30 seats in it, and it scared me,” Lemkau said. “But … I really, really wanted to do food.”
A few years later, while looking for another location for Rocky Mountain Pizza, “somebody told me that Slope was for sale, (and) I knew I had to have it,” Lemkau said.
Lemkau did not create Slope & Hatch, but had been an impressed patron himself when he first moved to Colorado. “It was a restaurant that was in existence probably seven years before I bought it. And the reason I bought it is because when I moved to Colorado nine years ago, it was the first place I went, and it was super, super special,” he said.
“It just felt like ‘Colorado mountain town,’ and the vibe was always what I wanted it to be and what we were looking for,” Lemkau said.
Lemkau said he tweaked a few things about the restaurant when he took over the one in Glenwood, while maintaining the atmosphere he initially embraced.
“It’s not just a place for people to come hang out at a bar and have tacos and drink. It’s a place for families to be able to gear up for their kids’ soccer or lacrosse or whatever games that they’re going to, and it’s a place for people to come relax after a day on the slopes or a day on the trails, mountain biking,” Lemkau said.
Opening the Eagle Slope & Hatch
Many Eagle residents have been anxiously awaiting the opening of Slope & Hatch, which has been pushed back more than once.
“It took us way too long to open it,” Lemkau said.
Lemkau struck a deal with the owners of the multi-use building on Broadway Street that now houses Slope & Hatch about a year-and-a-half ago.
At the time, the restaurant’s home was a gray shell unit — a space with a completed exterior but an unfinished interior. The process of converting the space into a full-fledged restaurant took longer than anticipated.
“We would have work done for a day or two and then it would sit empty for sometimes 10 days, just because I couldn’t get my guys there,” Lemkau said. “I understood that. I’m pretty mellow and I like to go with the flow, and I just feel like whatever happens is supposed to happen, and it’s a sign that I’m opening when I’m supposed to open.”
That long-awaited opening finally came earlier this month, and business has been “super good,” since then, Lemkau said. “It’s almost carrying my other restaurants.”
One of Lemkau’s tactics from his other restaurants that he has also embraced in Eagle is hiring young locals — mostly high schoolers — in addition to the restaurant’s career cooks, chefs and front of house staff.
“It’s a place for people to get started,” he said. “You can help some wonderful people who have a great work ethic, and also you can make a change in people’s lives when they’re young.”
“I’ve seen people change over three or four years in my restaurant, and I’m hoping that will happen in Eagle, too,” Lemkau said.
What makes Eagle’s Slope & Hatch special?
The Eagle branch of Slope & Hatch has already distinguished itself as a community gathering place, with its own unique culture.
In Eagle, “people come and stay. They hang out longer,” Lemkau said.
“I like it that they don’t just stay for 30 minutes, they stay for an hour-and-a-half, or two hours, and that means to me that it probably feels good to them, and I made this space comfortable and welcoming,” Lemkau said.
The close-knit community in Eagle has already become apparent to Lemkau. Eagle “feels smaller and more tightly knit than Glenwood and has been a totally different experience than having restaurants in Glenwood Springs,” he said. “Even though it’s so close-by, and really the places are similar, but I love the fact that everybody has touched, either through another person or several people, somebody else, and they all seem to know each other.”
Lemkau sees a future of growth for Broadway Street. “I think Eagle could look different in two years …five,” he said. “I think a place like Slope & Hatch could bring more attention to Eagle.”
Slope & Hatch in Eagle is open seven days per week, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week and until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
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