Fuel & Iron food hall finally opens in Pueblo, with a huge community focus

Food & Drink Editor

Diavolo's blissful hot chicken sandwich (Photo by Matthew Schniper)

‘We’ve had so many hurdles. It's been a long three years. This is going to feel really special for us."

That's Zach Cytryn, director of brokerage for Fuel & Iron Food Hall (400 S. Union Ave., Pueblo, fuelandironfoodhall.com), speaking to me recently about F&I's April 28 grand opening. He and project co-founder Nathan Stern, who's also director of development, originally toured the historic Holmes Hardware Building — vacant for half a century — back in October 2019. They went under contract in March 2020, just as the pandemic was about to put a temporary stop to dine-in restaurant service. The sale went through in May 2021, and as I reported around that time, they’d originally projected to be open by July 2022.

"Every step took longer," says Stern, noting their original investors/partners pulled out because of the pandemic, and their initial lender also declined to finance the effort. "We could have given up," adds Cytryn, "but we went forward… Our belief in Pueblo never wavered… We’re huge believers in the food hall model, and supporting local businesses as an incubator....

"We feel Pueblo is underappreciated," he says. "People in Denver have asked me ‘Why Pueblo?’ ... Well, this food hall has way more impact in Pueblo. In Denver it would just be another project. I think this has much more benefit being here."

Fuel & Iron's central bar serves all vendors. (Photo by Matthew Schniper)

F&I's finally a reality ($16 million later), with a lot of ancillary programming that's popped up throughout the process. (Which includes a Denver spinoff that's a tribute to Pueblo.) In addition to the food hall, the brokers have created a separate commissary kitchen in east Pueblo, named Fuel Kitchen, to support area consumer packaged goods businesses, food trucks, caterers and seasonal vendors. They’ll be creating Fuel Farm over the coming months on 2½ acres directly south of the food hall, to include an aquaponic greenhouse plus growing area, event and arts spaces and an eventual farmers market.

Over the next couple years, they’re developing three apprenticeship programs to "address food system workforce solutions." Those will be aimed at creating "a pathway to earning a living wage within each industry." One apprenticeship will be culinary-focused; the second aimed at food systems and leadership; and the third geared to food manufacturing.

Lastly, if that's not enough community focus — "we didn't maximize the revenue potential; we’re mission-driven," say the guys — the team has opened affordable workforce housing units above the food hall (20 of 28 already occupied, with 24 more planned for an adjacent half-acre). F&I also earned a grant to build an employer-sponsored child care center nearby to serve F&I employees’ children and more from the wider community.

Now to the food hall — what you’ve been waiting for, this being a food and drink column after all. Cytryn says he toured around 50 others across 10 states, often talking with owners and "taking ideas I liked from each." He says he was always confident about filling the vendor spots, and that they found them in different

ways — some were established brands, others were fledgling ideas inside the heads of local culinarians.

Here's the opening lineup: Diavolo Pueblo Hot Chicken, Mosh Ramen, Santa Fonda, Steel Crescent Kitchen, The Hungry Buffalo, and Solar Roast Coffee & Ice Cream.

At a media preview a couple weeks ago, I met some of the proprietors and received limited samplings. Visit sidedishschnip.substack.com for significantly expanded notes, but here's a brief breakdown:

F&I's Cytryn (left) and Stern (Photo by Matthew Schniper)

Solar Roast Coffee & Ice Cream: In the 15 years since I first reported on them, Solar Roast has grown to six total coffee shops between the Springs, Pueblo and a newer Pueblo West location. Two of those also function as ice cream shops, including this F&I location — Solar Roast bought historic Nick's Dairy Creme during the pandemic in 2020 and incorporated its brand into theirs, with some change-ups to modernize the product, says owner Mike Hartkop. This new stall in the food hall wasn't up and running yet during our tour, so it's on our list for a followup visit. But we know the coffee's good — and hey, ice cream, it can't be bad in Solar Roast's hands.

Diavolo Pueblo Hot Chicken: The seasoned chefs behind Bingo Burger, Mary Oreskovitch and Richard Warner, are behind this concept. The couple has hacked their own unique interpretation of Nashville hot chicken with something they’re calling a Colorado-style hot chicken sandwich. From bite one, I was blown away. They spent a year perfecting the breading alone. They use boneless, skin-on chicken thighs from Red Bird Farms. There's a panoply of 15 different dried chiles in the seasoning, including New Mexican red and green, habanero, guajillo and a Pueblo chile variant (two times hotter than the one you’re familiar with) named the Mirasol Giadone Pueblo Hot Chile. They offer different heat levels, and I can confirm the hottest level (named "Hot as Hell") made my scalp sweat. The sandwich is crunchy, fiery, earthy bliss.

Mosh Ramen: This is a near total departure from traditional Japanese ramen methods. Owner/chef Chris Doose, who has a lengthy industry background, tells me that when he pitched this concept, he didn't actually know how to make ramen yet. So he learned on the fly and "made lots of bad bowls" before gaining his footing. He's deconstructed and rebuilt the base of ramen broth, removing the kombu, dashi and seafood elements to find umami via other ingredients like apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and coconut aminos. All his ramens can be made vegan, and two gluten-free. Otherwise, the base includes chicken broth from whole carcasses and lots of vegetables, including leeks and garlic. We enjoy our sampling of a "slightly spicy miso" ramen with sliced pork, a pat of butter, toasted corn, marinated egg and kimchi; a pork dumpling; and a chicken banh mi with raspberry-black pepper sauce, carrot, daikon, cilantro and a custom mayo and Mosh sauce.

The Hungry Buffalo: This outfit started as a food truck. It's operated by Charles and Sue McKay, who have years of industry experience. They created their menu around bison steak cuts and bison burgers — Charles tells me he buys meat from High Plains Bison, located outside Denver. Here, they’ve added new items like a green chile bison empanada from house-made dough, which we delight in sampling. We also try some mini-skewers, a filet and a sirloin cut, one with a bright chimichurri sauce and another with a zesty Asian ginger-sesame presentation. Over rice with some grilled vegetables, the meats have a nice backyard barbecue feel to them — it's good steak.

Steel Crescent Kitchen: This tribute to New Orleans comes via Ed Tracey and his wife Dorothy. They point out the lack of existing Cajun/Creole in Pueblo, so niche found. Ed tells me he's been in kitchens since 1984 and has cooked across five continents (including Antarctica). Having grown up in Pueblo, he moved back in 2008. "I wanted to be authentic to New Orleans but use Pueblo products where possible," he says. So he's snuck Pueblo chiles into dishes like his olive salad. He ships up Gambino rolls (NOLA-style French bread) for their spotlight sandwiches, and he says they buy high-end cold cuts. We aren't able to sample anything during our visit, but I talk to Ed about his po’boys, muffuletta and more, including a plan for specials later.

Santa Fonda: Tagline — "Inspired by the basket-steamed tacos sold by vendors in Mexico City, Santa Fonda serves handmade tacos and side dishes made with locally sourced ingredients." There's potential for this to be the most exciting/surprising F&I vendor, because the man behind it is Mexico City native/Denver chef Jose Avila, "who was a 2022 semifinalist for his Sunday-only El Borrego Negro series," explains Westword, and a 2023 semifinalist for "his RiNo eatery, La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal." Just to pause on that, it means Pueblo's landed a chef of this caliber before the Springs. It's validating, and a feather in the cap for Fuel & Iron. We can't wait to return for samplings.

Food & Drink Editor

Matthew Schniper is the former Food & Drink editor and critic at the Indy. He began freelancing with the Indy in mid-2004 and joined full-time in early 2006, contributing arts, food, environmental and feature writing. In 2023, the Indy began syndicating his weekly newsletter, Side Dish with Schniper (sidedishschnip.substack.com), where readers can find expanded food and drink news and reviews.

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