Bachelor fans, pack your bags: We're all going to Denver. Ben Higgins, who won literally everyone's heart on Kaitlyn Bristowe's season of The Bachelorette before teeing up his own search for love on the 20th season of The Bachelor, is opening his first restaurant.
Higgins told Delish he signed on the dotted line last week after helping create the concept with four partners. Ash-Kara, an Israeli restaurant, is under renovation in the Highlands, a few miles north of downtown Denver, and will serve fresh hummus, wood-fired pita bread, and rotisserie meats.
Food might seem like an odd venture for a former reality star, but Ben — who also co-founded Generous Coffee — has the support to back him up: Two investors that helped develop the already-set menu are Israeli, and a third, Juan Padro, has opened up several notable restaurants in Denver, including Tap & Burger and Bar Dough. Plus, opening a restaurant is something Ben's been dreaming of since he was a little kid.
"There's a little restaurant in Leesburg, Indiana, it’s in a double-wide trailer, and it was our nicest restaurant," he says. "The owner, Stacy, he always had a bottle of wine, a cigar, and his books, he had his financials right in front of you."
Stacy often had friends come into the restaurant, and would pause his work to drink a glass of wine and chat. "From that point forward I said, I want to be that guy. I want to be in a place that people want to come to. I want to be in a place where I’m not pulled in a thousand other locations, where people come to congregate and meet." Years later, that dream is becoming a reality.
If all goes as planned, Ash-Kara will open in the first week of September, Ben says. It'll be a place you want to hang out at, possible Bachelor sightings aside: "It's gonna be a nice restaurant, but it's going to be one that’s also relaxed, with wild Israeli music and a cocktail bar." See you there!
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