Nearly a decade ago, chefs Harrison Porter and Rema Maaliki met while cooking at Mercantile, the Union Station joint started by James Beard-winner Alex Seidel.
“At first I hated him,” Maaliki said of Porter, who worked as a sous chef for several years at the recently reopened restaurant. “But that always blossoms into the best friendships, right?”
Now, the pair are set to open their first solo spot in the recently shuttered Osaka Ramen space in RiNo.
Porter and Maaliki said Bear Leek, which derives from the German translation of “ramp,” will debut sometime this summer at 2611 Walnut St.
“It conveys a bistro style where it’s not too stuffy but it’s still something exciting, refined and not too casual,” said Porter, who was executive chef at Denver French restaurant Brasserie Brixton from 2021 to mid-2024.
The two officially took over Osaka’s 10-year lease only last week, and some details are still being worked out.
But the most important parts of the dining experience, in their minds, are set in stone. Every meal will begin with house-made bread and charred leek-butter in the shape of a teddy bear. And every meal will end with a bruin-molded vanilla cream and passion fruit semifreddo, an Italian ice cream.
The restaurant’s name and bear-shaped items reflect Porter’s playful and unexpected approach to food, he said.
“It’s the smaller things that you do to build a meal along the way, and then having shareable mains,” Porter said. “The idea of eating is about community and getting to know people, so I’ve always been interested in that and building and making a menu that you have to share and interact with.”
Outside of that, the pair left the rest of the menu ambiguous for now. Rather than any specific style, the two said it will be a collection of their culinary experiences.
Maaliki started working for a catering company over a decade ago and then joined Mercantile. After, she ventured off to Melbourne, Australia, and Seattle before returning to her native Denver to work as Porter’s sous chef at Brasserie Brixton.
As chef de cuisine at Bear Leek, she will largely be responsible for creating the menu.
Porter worked at Mercantile and in New York City kitchens before migrating to Melbourne in the early days of the pandemic. The Mile High native returned home in 2021 and has been working as a cook at Alma Fonda Fina, Johnny Curiel’s Michelin-star Mexican restaurant, since September.
“The menu is an execution of experiences and our journeys. … I didn’t get into cooking to be constrained by labels and rules,” Porter said. “It just goes back to that ethos of dining together and having that shared experience.”
The pair will likely keep the layout of Osaka Ramen, with one section for more of a “date night” feel and another that’s more of an open kitchen and bar concept.
RiNo’s street art is also an added, grungy bonus, Maaliki said, as is the walkability.
Both have no plans to significantly change the 2,800-square-foot former Osaka Ramen space. The underground feel — patrons walk down a set of stairs to the windowless spot as soon as they enter — reminds Porter of more tucked-away places in Melbourne and Brooklyn.
“It’s an easy way where you’re literally being transported somewhere else,” Porter said of the basement space. “It’s tucked away, it’s hidden, and you don’t know exactly what you’re walking into.”