Conveyor belt hot pot, a distillery-pub, a cake bakery and other Denver-area restaurant openings

A new kind of pot is coming

If you like your traditional Asian hot pot with sides of refrigerated conveyor belt and a “Star Wars”-singing train, — and who doesn’t? — then mark your calendar for Feb. 1, when Vegas-based Chubby Cattle opens on Broadway. Pick your broth and then pluckily pluck ingredients like quail eggs, lamb and udon noodles from the conveyor belt as it chugs around the dining room. The future is now. 2 Broadway, Denver; chubbycattle.com

At last

Oh, Julep. Thank you for finally putting an end to the BBQ Snail desert that is Denver. And for marrying pork and oysters in sausage form. We needed that, too. To show our appreciation, we will frequent your sassy southern restaurant up Larimer St. when you open Feb. 1. 3258 Larimer St., Denver; juleprino.com

Take a dive

Once upon a time, in a magical place called Wash Park, there lived a dive bar. Kentucky Inn led a pleasant-enough life serving cheap beer and, well, I guess you could call it food. One day, a group of princes decided that the fair Kentucky Inn deserved better when it came to its eats, and so they gave the bar a beautiful facelift and added a full-service kitchen. Like the ending to any good story, the Inn and its patrons lived happily ever after with smoked chicken wings and cheese curds. 890 S. Pearl St., Denver, 303-778-9600; kentuckyinndenver.com

Distill my beating heart

Billed as the city’s first distillery-pub, Denver Distillery opens Friday, Jan. 26 with local spirits, a rotating cocktail menu and New Zealand-style hand pies from Boulder-based Tip Top Savory Pies. Because Kiwi pies and rum go together like Kiwi pies and rum.  244 S. Broadway, Denver, 720-381-3226; denverdistillery.com

You can’t cake it with you

Strengthen your sheet caking game with Ruby Jean Patisserie’s three-layer cakes. And throw in some chocolate coffee cookies and mini cheesecakes, too, because it’s not like things are getting better out there in the real, non-baked good world. The new special-order bakeshop’s treats can be yours via delivery (dependent upon order), farmers’ markets and pop-ups, like the one with Wheat Ridge’s Five Fridges Farm on Feb. 11. 303-815-6812; rubyjeanpatisserie.com

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