Tucked into back rooms or hidden under unassuming storefronts, a few Denver restaurateurs are carving out intimate chef’s counter concepts within existing restaurants. With room for just a handful of guests, typically no more than 10 or 12, dining experiences can feel like secret invitations to some of the city’s most exciting culinary excursions.

Unlike restaurants like Beckon or Bruto, which were built entirely around the tasting menu model — where guests eat whatever they are given, rather than picking from a menu — these chef’s counters are more like passion projects, where chefs can let their creativity run wild.

At spots like The Counter inside Odell’s Bagel, The Chef’s Counter at Hop Alley, and Sushi by Scratch in the basement of NADC Burger, business owners are using off-hours or underutilized space to showcase techniques and dishes they might not otherwise offer.

Even legendary sushi chef Toshi Kizaki recently launched one such counter inside of Denchu, a building that he and his brother own on South Pearl Street. Dubbed Kizaki, the venture is described as a solo omakase restaurant where the chef pays tribute to traditional edomae-style sushi through an approximately 20-course menu.

These tasting ventures aren’t just creative outlets, they’re smart business.

The Chef’s Counter at Hop Alley, 3500 Larimer St. in Denver, was born almost by accident after owner Tommy Lee took over an additional 1,200 square feet to expand his acclaimed modern Chinese joint. It has an entirely separate menu from the rest of the space.

“Originally, the goal was just to add more seating. But we’d also been getting a lot of requests for smaller private parties…so I decided to add a kitchen in the new space,” Lee explained. “Then I started thinking, ‘If we’re not using the space for private parties all the time, how else could we use it?’ That eventually led to the idea of building a chef’s counter.”

According to Lee, chef’s counters are viable from a business standpoint if you can find the right audience for it.

“When you know exactly how many guests you’re serving and exactly what food you’re preparing, it’s much easier to control costs. But of course, you also need guests to be spending $250 to $300 for it to work,” he explained. Hop Alley’s chef’s counter only has six seats and runs Thursday through Saturday, with two seatings per night, so Lee must find those customers.

At The Counter at Odell’s, which launched March 28 inside Odell’s Bagel, 3200 Irving St., financial sustainability means being laser-focused on food waste and ingredient management.

Operating only on the weekends, The Counter transforms the casual bagel shop into an intimate 10-seat kaiseki-style dinner venue, offering a traditional Japanese tasting experience highlighting hyper-seasonal ingredients.

“Margins are too slim to be turning out any ingredients,” said owner and chef Miles Odell. “There’s a Japanese word that really sticks with me, ‘mottainai’ — which means ‘to waste nothing.’ Let’s say we’re peeling an onion, and we have onion skins. Instead of throwing them in the bin, we could make a stock or dry them out and make a powder out of them, turning them into something delicious.”

Even larger hospitality groups are embracing the model. Sushi by Scratch, which operates 12 locations nationwide, has made sub-restaurants part of its core business strategy. For instance, its location in Dallas is housed on the eighth floor of a hotel, and in places like Miami and Healdsburg, they are housed within other restaurants.

“They do tend to be speakeasy vibes, you need to know where we are to find us, and that is definitely intentional,” said Gavin Humes, CEO of Sushi by Scratch.

In Denver, the luxury omakase concept lives in the basement of NADC Burger, a fast-casual burger spot opened by the same team.

“When we were approached about the Larimer Square space, they really wanted us for sushi. They showed us the basement and we loved it. It’s an amazing space with so much character,” Humes said. “But it didn’t make sense to take just the basement and leave the street-level storefront empty, so we decided to bring in NADC Burger to help offset some of the rent and generate additional revenue.”

Sushi preparation requires minimal infrastructure, which also makes it ideal for unconventional spaces, he added. “You could never put a hood in the downstairs space at Larimer Square, it would be logistically complicated, wildly expensive and maybe not even possible. Doing something like sushi is really the only way to activate that space.”

Beyond the business perks, tasting concepts also allow chefs to flex their creativity in ways they wouldn’t do on their normal menus.

The Counter, for instance, allows Odell to show off the skills he learned working in top kitchens in Kyoto, including the three-Michelin-starred Gion Sasaki. “I don’t really want to be locked behind a door and just cooking. I want to be interacting with the customer. I think the real reason I became a chef is to make guests happy and see their reactions when they’re eating the food.”

His counter’s focus leans toward sushi, in addition to a broader array of Japanese-inspired dishes — grilled, steamed, fermented and otherwise — using local Colorado ingredients when possible.

For Lee, at Hop Alley, knowing that his kitchen was stacked with talented chefs from places like Frasca and The French Laundry, he saw an opportunity. “This gives the team a chance to have their own small business within the bigger picture,” he explained. “They have almost unlimited freedom to bring in whatever product they want, cook however they want and serve it their way.

“For a chef, that kind of creative control is a dream,” he added.

Instead of attracting regulars, though, Hop Alley’s kitchen-within-a-kitchen has been more of a success with out-of-town diners or people specifically seeking chef’s counter tasting menus, many finding the experience through websites like Michelin or Tock.

Similarly, at The Counter, Odell has seen a surge of interest from unfamiliar names.

“It’s a lot of people that we don’t know on our regular site,” Odell said, adding that Denver diners are increasingly seeking out full experiences.

“I think guests are looking for something where they get to interact with the chef, watch them cook, and really be part of it,” he said. “Instead of just a meal where you eat, pay the check and leave.”