Bistro to offer Mediterranean cuisine in downtown Longmont

LONGMONT — A couple who opened a bistro and art gallery in Evergreen eight years ago plans to bring Mediterranean cuisine to a leased space in downtown Longmont in July.

Larry and Sandy Shore will open Red Cedar Bistro at 516 Main St., offering scratch-made fare.

Renovations are transforming the space into a restaurant facing Main and a potential retail or office space on the alley side, thanks to grants from the Longmont Downtown Development Authority.

““We were concerned about such a big building footprint. Our downtown businesses didn’t usually take up 7,000 to 9,000 square feet,” said Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the LDDA.

McKee said the business will receive retail-conversion grants worth $22,500, including $15,000 from the LDDA and $7,500 from the Longmont Economic Development Partnership, along with a $17,785 facade-renovation grant from the LDDA. The Shores and their contractors will complete the work and then be reimbursed up to the grants’ limits, McKee said.

The space had housed Flavor of India before that restaurant — which was named the Longmont Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year in February — moved two blocks south on Main Street. It also briefly had been home to a taco eatery.

According to the Red Cedar website, the interior will feature “colors of antique copper, bronze, dark natural wood and teal … highlighted by local art tastefully arranged throughout the restaurant.”

The website describes the menu as a blend of Spanish, French, Italian, Greek and Moroccan cuisine, including lamb Bolognese, fresh branzino, fresh salads, grilled meats and seafood, flatbread pizza, handmade pastas, chicken parmesan sandwiches and a full bar.

Larry Shore gained culinary experience in Connecticut and Arizona before consulting at Four Friends Kitchen in Denver and then opening Cedar 65 in Evergreen in 2016. Sandy Shore, who will curate artwork displayed inside the restaurant, has had her own work shown in venues including the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland and the Louisville Art Association.