Nestled in the corner of Ay Papi, the new Puerto Rican-inspired rum bar from the folks behind Bar Dough, Mister Oso, A5 Steakhouse and Ash’Kara, is a painting with layers of color evoking the Caribbean sunset. A stark black image and a boy and his dad nestled in a hammock overlays the blocks of bright paint, each looking ineffably serene.
The painting was based on a childhood photo of The Culinary Creative Group’s co-founder and CEO Juan Padro and pays tribute to his late father. “We build bars for community, we build bars for neighborhoods and we build bars for ourselves,” says Nicole Lebedevitch, one of Denver’s true cocktail maestras who was recently appointed as Beverage Director for the whole group.
Lebedevitch and Padro have known each other since 2008, when Padro would visit Lebedevitch at Eastern Standard, the Boston-based cocktail bar where she cut her teeth. She started there in 2005 and watched the cocktail menu grow from a six-drink list to over 80 different high-touch, high-volume drinks, with not a single ingredient listed. The Aviation – fasten your seatbelts.
Her skills grew alongside. She went from being taught the intricacies of pouring a Grey Goose and soda to producing some of the city’s most forward-thinking drinks during the eight years she spent at either there or its downstairs sister bar The Hawthorne. From there, she did some stints at a couple night clubs and sports bars. “It was to go be around the people and the energy.”
Lebedevitch has had serious talent from the jump. She grew up in Bethany, Connecticut, and relocated to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music. “I ended up tending bar, as we all do, to pay my rent,” she says.” As her focus shifted more in favor of spirits, she never lost sight of the performance. “Bartending is a show. You get to watch people enjoy the thing you made. The only other people who do that are musicians.”
Somewhere around 2017, Padro began badgering Lebedevitch with a series of more-serious-than-not texts asking her to finally move out to Colorado and open a spot. She was busy rocketing her talents at Yvonne’s, a nightclub, bar and supper club in the heart of the Puritan City’s raucous downtown. “It was everything. And it was wild!” she says. In 2019, she finally relented.
After heading west, she spent about a year bouncing around at a few of The Culinary Creative’s restaurants. Then came Forget Me Not.
In March of 2021, Lebedevitch transformed a petite former flower shop in Cherry Creek into one of the city’s most bustling and well-loved hubs for sophisticated drinks and a seemingly endless bacchanal of dancing, snacking and racy chatter. ”I believe craft cocktails can be made at volume,” she continues. In the few short years that it’s been open, Forget Me Not has been an anchor for a clear change in neighborhood culture, its vivacity dusting off a bit of the district’s former stuffiness.
Over the last Fourth of July Weekend, Lebedevitch and a crack team followed with Ay Papi a block over. There’s a massive patio out front, and the freshly-minted skylight — which takes up much of the ceiling — keeps the interior equally bright. “Look up, look down, look all around,” seems to be the joint’s unofficial motto.
There’s a touch of Miami chic and a lot of the same Lebedevitch energy that radiates from Forget Me Not. “It’s an extension of who I am. We wanna make it a party,” She says. “Spaces make music. They feel a certain way. Ay Papi’s not a Puerto Rican bar, it’s not a Latin bar but it draws its inspiration from both of those places,” she says. “We know we’re in Cherry Creek.”
While the menu is full of mojitos, pina coladas, rotating frozens and other drinks that are occasionally scoffed at by more “serious bartenders,” Ay Papi is another keen example of Lebedevitch’s belief that craft cocktails can be made at volume set into exquisite action. “Embrace simplicity. And build a story around that,” she continues. There’s also an excellent food menu and while it’s ostensibly bar snacks, the list features five filling sandwiches, most of which deviate from the classic Cubano. Do not leave without getting the olives.
As Beverage Director, it would appear she has her work cut out for her. “I hope we can echo the programs we have here and at Forget Me Not across the other concepts. There are wine lists I can’t wait to grow”
She is currently working on opening Forget Me Not Ball Arena, a club-level rendition that will be open to all ticket holders.
Ay Papi is located at 248 Detroit St., Denver. It is open Sunday – Wednesday from 3 p.m. – 12 a.m., and Thursday – Sunday from 3 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Lebedevitch says that if the party is cookin’, the bar will stay open later.
All photography courtesy of The Culinary Creative Group.