Emmerson Closes Suddenly, Marking Latest Pearl Street Departure

BOULDER, CO -- Emmerson, the popular and critically acclaimed Pearl Street restaurant, is Boulder's latest downtown closure after its departure last week. The self-styled "neo-bisto" arrived at its East Pearl location in 2017 and quickly drew accolades from local and national critics. As recently as October, Emmerson was named on a Zagat list of the hottest restaurants in 15 American cities, and last year, Eater Denver named the restaurant's desserts as the most interesting in the big city — despite the commute.

That wasn't enough to keep the lights on at Emmerson, where a notice spotted on the storefront Jan. 21 cited a $156,000 deficit in back rent and other expenses.

“With a footprint like that and the fact that all of the foot traffic in Boulder has moved to the west end of Pearl Street, there simply was not enough volume to support a restaurant of this size,” Owner Ben Kaplan told the Denver Eater last week.

Although Emmerson's 1600 Pearl St. location was flanked by successful local favorites like Pizzeria Locale, Frasca, Cured and Mateo, it also lies about a block from the recently-vacated sites of The Cup and Ted's Montana Grill. Both longtime East Pearl tenants closed at the end of December, citing costs that outstripped revenues and reduced foot traffic.

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