Syrup served its last Cherry Creek brunch on Sunday, August 16, at 300 Josephine St. The owners let the lease expire instead of renewing it. Late founder Tim Doherty opened that location in 2010, and it grew into five restaurants, as The Denver Post reported in July. Its four other Syrup locations are still open, in downtown Denver, City Park, Capitol Hill and Edgewater. No new tenant for the Josephine space has been reported.
The morning spots announced since then are smaller, and two of them are built around walk-up coffee windows. They sit in a tight pocket along East Third Avenue and the Milwaukee and Detroit blocks. Most won't open until 2027, so this winter is the gap between the old setup and the new one.
A Sixteen-Year Brunch Room Leaves a Specific Hole
Syrup was a sit-down weekend brunch spot that people planned their Saturday around, and it ran for almost 16 years. Westword also put the closure at August 16, after nearly 16 years in the neighborhood. The restaurant had 17 employees, and the company offered them spots at its other locations.
That matters for anyone looking for a substitute. Cherry Creek North has plenty of ways to get a morning coffee. It has fewer places where you can sit for a long breakfast with eggs, pancakes and a refill. The operators moving in are mostly betting on the coffee side.
The Coffee Window Is the New Front Door
Look at how the newest morning spots are built.
Every Little Thing took over the eatery space inside Town Pump Provisions at 2816 E. Third Ave. The Denver Post reported in April that the business, formerly known as The Green Collective, would run the 720-square-foot space with the same breakfast, lunch and dinner menu as its Wash Park location. The small build-out added smoothie equipment and "a coffee window where people can order from the patio." In that same story, owner Allison Rifkin said Town Pump's founder wanted to focus on the bodega side of the business, so Town Pump Provisions keeps running its shop while Every Little Thing runs the kitchen. Every Little Thing now appears in the Cherry Creek North breakfast directory.
Two Hands is the larger version of the same idea. The Australian café chain is opening at 221 N. Milwaukee St., on the ground floor of BMC Investments' The Oasis apartment building. Founder and CEO Henry Roberts told The Denver Post the biggest change from his Tennyson Street location will be an outside-facing coffee window facing the project's small courtyard. Only one other Two Hands has one, in Austin, Texas.
The rest of the Two Hands plan reads like a full replacement for weekend brunch. Roberts said the Cherry Creek location will serve largely the same core menu as Tennyson, with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the brand is known for its brunch. On Tennyson, he said, the Piri Piri Chicken, the peach scramble and a cold-smoked salmon appetizer sell especially well. The 3,400-square-foot space will have a fireplace and a 900-square-foot patio, and Roberts signed a 10-year lease. BMC's Matt Joblon called the food "outstanding" and said the restaurant will be an affordable option in the neighborhood.
Taken together, the coffee window brings in the weekday walk-up crowd and the dining room handles the slower weekend meal. Every Little Thing has the window. Two Hands has both, but it won't open until spring 2027.
What's Open on a Cherry Creek Morning This Winter
Until the Oasis tenants open, these are the confirmed options. The brunch rows come from Eater Denver's Cherry Creek guide, last updated in November 2025, so check hours before you head out.
| Spot | Address | Morning format | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every Little Thing | 2816 E. Third Ave. | Breakfast menu, smoothies, patio coffee window | Denver Post, April 2026; BID directory |
| The Pasty Republic | 2615 E. 3rd Ave. | Egg-stuffed breakfast pasties and savory hand pies | Cherry Creek North BID; Eater |
| Olive & Finch | 3390 E. 1st Ave. | Bakery-café, open daily 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Olive & Finch; Eater |
| Aviano Coffee | 244 Detroit St. and 215 Saint Paul St. | Coffee, two district locations | Cherry Creek North BID |
| ink! Coffee | Cherry Creek Shopping Center, lower level near RH Denver | Coffee and tea café | Simon mall directory |
| Quality Italian | 241 Columbine St. | Weekend brunch | Eater, Nov. 2025 |
| La Merise | 2700 E. 3rd Ave. | Brunch | Eater, Nov. 2025 |
| Toro | 150 Clayton Lane, Suite B | Brunch | Eater, Nov. 2025 |
For the full sit-down meal Syrup used to provide, the strongest current choice is Olive & Finch. Its Cherry Creek location page lists breakfast and lunch service and daily hours starting at 7 a.m., and Eater describes it as a bakery-café serving hashes, tartines, pastries and coffee. For a slower weekend meal, the brunch services at Quality Italian, La Merise and Toro are the closest match.
The Pasty Republic on 3rd Avenue is the take-it-with-you option. Its breakfast pasties are filled with egg and sealed in pastry, which suits a cold morning walk. Aviano is the anchor on the coffee side, and its two addresses, on Detroit and on Saint Paul at 2nd Avenue, sit right where the new openings are gathering.
Why the New Openings Are Gathering Around Milwaukee and Detroit
Mapping the announced openings shows how tight the cluster is. Two Hands and PopUp Bagels are both in The Oasis. Butterdrop Bakeshop is going in next to Aviano on Detroit. Every Little Thing is already open on Third Avenue. It adds up to a short morning loop of coffee, bagels, pastry and brunch, all within easy walking distance of each other.
The Oasis is driving much of this. It topped out at 299 Milwaukee and 3rd Avenue in March 2026, and in April the builder projected substantial completion in early 2027, according to CCD Magazine. That date controls when the ground-floor cafés can open, so nothing in the building should be expected this holiday season.
PopUp Bagels leased space in The Oasis, according to developer BMC Investments, and the Cherry Creek shop will be one of the chain's first two in Colorado. The other is in Boulder's Moxy Hotel, which BMC also developed and owns, as BusinessDen reported in September. The chain is known for its "grip, rip and dip" style. The Denver Post described warm bagels served whole and unsliced, meant to be torn apart and dipped in spreads. No opening date has been announced.
Butterdrop Bakeshop is the most personal of the three. Owner Diana Flores, a Honduras native who has been baking in Denver for a decade, plans to open her first brick-and-mortar shop at 250 Detroit St. next year. "I feel like a lot of pastry shops are too pretentious and flashy," Flores told BusinessDen. "We want to keep tradition and make you feel like you're eating something your mom or grandma made." With a bakery right next to an established coffee shop, that stretch of Detroit Street becomes an easy coffee-and-pastry stop.
The Morning Calendar From Here to Spring
Here's what is scheduled and what is still only announced:
- Late October 2026. A city closure summary from July 2026 listed a long-term site closure at 299 Milwaukee St. and nearby stretches of 3rd Avenue through October 31, 2026, tied to the Oasis construction.
- November 19 to December 24, 2026. The Cherry Creek Holiday Market runs on Fillmore Plaza between 1st and 2nd Avenues, which gives a winter morning walk somewhere to go.
- Early 2027. The Oasis is projected to reach substantial completion.
- Spring 2027. Two Hands opens at 221 N. Milwaukee St. with its coffee window, fireplace and patio.
- 2027. Butterdrop Bakeshop is slated to open at 250 Detroit St.
- Date not announced. PopUp Bagels opens in The Oasis.
For the next several months, a good Cherry Creek morning means coffee at Aviano or the Every Little Thing window, a pasty to go from 3rd Avenue, or a table at Olive & Finch on 1st Avenue. The 300 Josephine storefront is still empty, and the Milwaukee Street cafés open in spring at the earliest.
If you'd like to know what the openings at The Oasis and on Detroit Street mean for your corner of Cherry Creek, Chriss Bond follows these blocks closely and is happy to talk it through. Contact Me.
