Park Hill’s Honey Hill Café offers a large variety of coffee drinks as well as fresh pastries. Tabitha Hallock helps a customer.

Asal Danesh worked as a Munich-based Lufthansa flight attendant for eight years before deciding it was time to grow some roots. So she gave up her nomadic lifestyle and planted her feet in Denver, where much of her family has resided since the 1970s. Along with her business partner and brother Donnie, she opened Honey Hill Café in Park Hill in May 2019.

Natural light and spacious tables offer a space for conversation and working remotely.

When the neighboring business became available, she and Donnie jumped at the opportunity to expand their café’s space, which now has seating for 45 inside and 75 total when including the large patio that looks perfect for lazy summer evenings. “It’s a community space,” says Danesh, “an extension of your living room or dining room, and pretty much 50-70% of the people here on a daily basis are from the neighborhood; we know all of them by name, and we kind of know each other’s stories. And that was the idea behind this space.”

Asal Danesh thinks of her café as “an extension of your living room or dining room.”

Located at 23rd and Dexter, across the street from longtime Park Hill favorites Spinelli’s Market and The Cherry Tomato, Honey Hill’s menu includes breakfast burritos, quinoa bowls, paninis, sandwiches, salads, a variety of toasts and daily specials along with coffees and teas.

In anticipation of the café’s new liquor license, Danesh is designing an evening menu that will include light appetizers and some specialties from Germany’s Rhineland, where she grew up. She plans to offer Rhineland wines among others, and add mimosas to the existing brunch menu.

“My hope is that we’re going to host some low-key, intimate live music here,” she says. Danesh’s vision includes not only live music but also event rentals for those seeking to host a small private gathering in this neighborhood spot. Honey Hill Café is located at 4628 E 23rd Ave. in Denver. For more information about upcoming events and/or reserving the space, call (720) 242-6048 or go to www.honeyhillcafe.com; Instagram is @honeyhilldenver.

Front Porch photos by Christie Gosch