Black Eye/ White Lies was celebrated for it’s unique approach and design aesthetic upon launch. It received features in local and national publications, such as Bon Appetit and was selected for numerous awards including Colorado’s Best Restaurant Design from Colorado Homes and Lifestyles Magazine. The award was selected based on how the restaurant design spatially and aesthetically suits service and function, as well as customer comfort and enjoyment.
“Everything down to smallest detail is inspired by the Poets Row apartments that are right up the street: photos of authors line the walls, and all of the cocktails on the menu are named after pieces of literary works of those artists,” says Waters. “We also expanded upon the style of Poets Row—art deco lines, colors and textures—without doing a full-on art deco theme.”
“You can come in during the day and continue to notice new things. But then you visit at night and get a completely new feel, from the bar shelves that rotate to expose the liquor (which are turned the other direction during the day), to the lighting and music changes. The whole vibe develops—we like to call it our alter-ego of the coffee shop. It plays into that hedonistic lifestyle of poets and writers, and their notoriously dark personalities that come along with that creativity.”