El Olvido is a Mexican but “not Mexican” restaurant

In a town full of Mexican restaurants that serve enchiladas, tacos and green chile-smothered burritos, Jorge Pingarron was certain about one thing: He wanted to open something different.

So after decades of working in other Denver restaurants, he picked up the former Hades Bar & Grill space on South Broadway that he and his son, George, could turn into El Olvido. They started out with the idea of creating something new out of old family recipes. And as Pingarron worked on the concept, he began describing El Olvido as a “Mexican but not Mexican” restaurant, trying to define his niche.

For this week’s review, I stopped by El Olvido to figure out exactly what he meant by that, eating my way through Pingarron family dishes and drinking my way through several micheladas in the process.

Find out what “Mexican but not Mexican” means — and how the food was — when the review is posted here tomorrow.

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