King of Wings will open a second location, with more beer and a tequila bar

Eddie Renshaw gets hungry talking about his own food — which is a good sign since he’s been grilling chicken wings nonstop at home and at work for seven years. But fans of King of Wings, the food truck-turned-restaurant that Renshaw owns with Evan Pierce, are even hungrier: They’ve been doing without since December when a fire shut the eatery down.

They won’t have to wait too much longer. Not only does King of Wings plan to reopen its original location at 7741 W. 44th Ave. in Wheat Ridge by the end of the year, but it is also launching a second King of Wings in early 2023 in Golden that will be 50% larger.

“It’s been almost a year of not being open. We can’t wait to get back at it,” Renshaw said. “All the love and support from the community has been amazing. That is what keeps us going.”

King of Wings Tap & Tequila will take over the 2,800-square-foot space that was occupied by Colorado Plus Cidery & Pub at 1100 Arapahoe in Golden. Its new space will include all of King of Wings’ signature sauce and grilled (not fried) wings, a tequila bar, margaritas and a tap wall featuring 29 local beers —  about twice the number at the original location.

“We are pretty entrenched in the local scene,” Pierce added, pointing out that King of Wings built a large customer base in the west Denver suburbs over its years as a brewery-hopping food truck. “It’s a great location, too, across the street from the Golden Hotel near the creek.”

The brick-and-mortar operations are important to both Renshaw and Pierce, who sold their food truck when they opened the Wheat Ridge restaurants. So, even after the fire, they decided to stick it out. “It’s a bigger ball game, but it’s a lot more fun,” Renshaw said.

King of Wings has kept people’s attention over the last nine months by hosting pop-up events from other food concepts on 44th Avenue, including Little Arthur’s Hoagie’s, which made and sold sandwiches on-site, and Snipe Burger, which makes burgers on Sundays. Renshaw and Piece have also kept their staff working part-time during the shutdown.

Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox.