Caroline Glover and Nelson Harvey held their baby shower last December inside Sky Bar, an unusual space on the third floor of the Stanley Marketplace, the upscale mall where they own Annette, a restaurant that has become a destination for people in metro Denver.
Now, one nine-month-old baby later, Glover, a 2022 James Beard Award-winning chef, and Harvey, her husband, will welcome the latest addition to their family, a cocktail and oyster bar called Traveling Mercies, into that same spot where they celebrated last year.
“This space is special to us,” Glover said.
Sky Bar, which opened in May 2022 and had been designed to feel like an old airport lounge, closed its doors this summer, and Glover and Harvey decided it made sense to take it over.
“Second spaces can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re driving across town, but this aligns really well with what we’re already doing in the Stanley,” Glover said.
“This can be a standalone spot for a unique dining experience, but it’s also complementary with Annette, as far as being a place for drinks while waiting for your table or after-dinner drinks,” Harvey added.
Glover and Harvey opened Annette, which serves scratch-to-table and wood-fired fare, within Stanley Marketplace, at 2501 Dallas St., in 2017. The restaurant made national headlines earlier this year when Glover complained that the Michelin Guide would be skipping over Aurora and other cities in its debut reviews and recommendations in Colorado.
“We’ve always talked about venturing into Denver proper, but at the same time, this felt like a really good opportunity for us, and we have really enjoyed working with the city of Aurora, and that does play a big factor,” Glover said.
Traveling Mercies, which is slated to open in December, will have a concise menu with comfort food like tuna melts and wedge salads. Glover and Harvey, who met in New York, also want to share their love for coastal cuisine. The 28-seat restaurant will feature a raw bar shucking out oysters from both coasts, plus shrimp cocktails and tinned fish.
Guests can pair their oysters and seafood with some coastally-influenced white or bubbly wine, martinis, rum-focused cocktails, and bitter aperitivos.
“Since we live in a land-locked state, when we can go out and travel, our favorite way to enjoy a new city is finding a cocktail and raw bar for a drink and a snack,” Glover said.
The couple has familial nods throughout the restaurant. Traveling Mercies, which means “wishing you a safe journey,” is Glover’s mom’s usual salutation when she heads off on a trip. The logo is handwritten by Harvey’s stepfather. And Glover has hung some of her grandfather’s abstract artwork on the walls.
Guests must take an elevator, located near Sweet Cow within Stanley Marketplace, up to the third floor to enter Traveling Mercies, which has an expansive, West-facing view of the mountains.
“I’ll be running up and down a lot more, but that’s the beauty of being so close,” Glover said.
