Welcome to #TBT, or Throwback Thursdays, where we revisit some of the Denver metro area’s tried and true restaurants that have become institutions. For example, Mickey’s Top Sirloin, which has served Denver for over 60 years. Over time, these places have weathered the shifts in our city’s restaurant landscape. As flashy newcomers enter and exit, these restaurants, bars, and cafes remain, though sometimes get overlooked by the fickle short-term attention span of a social media-driven obsession with the new and the now.
First-time visitors to Mickey’s Top Sirloin could be forgiven for glancing around and assuming that it hasn’t changed a bit since opening its doors in 1962. From the vintage family photos lining the entrance to the down-home decor of the dining room to the sports memorabilia and neon signage in the bar, this place has the lived-in patina of a decades-old neighborhood fixture.
As they dig into the appetizer sampler served free to all newcomers—which includes meatballs in marinara made just as they have been since day one—those guests will surely observe the camaraderie between the servers and their customers and take it as further evidence of the north Denver steakhouse’s immutability. It seems as though the people here, too, have been around forever.
But the truth is that Mickey’s has weathered plenty of change over the years. For one thing, the building it now occupies was constructed as late as 2005. For another, it’s no longer owned by its eponymous founder, Mickey (aka Mike) Broncucia. He sold it and the land it stands on to Trace Welch back in 2016, not long before his death in 2023.
The fact that Mickey’s feels as though it’s suspended in amber, then, is a testament to the French adage, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” Translated to “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” which in a city as fast-moving as Denver, the restaurant serves as a comforting reminder of just that.
A Taste of History
When Mickey was born in the 1930s, his Italian immigrant family was farming this property on the corner of 70th and Broadway, where they also ran a grocery store. It was that two-story building that Mickey took over once his father retired, turning it into a bar. His earliest habitués were more like houseguests in the sense that when they got hungry, his mother, Laura, and aunt Rose would just go upstairs to the kitchen and rustle up some pasta for them, using the same passed-down recipes they used in their own homes.
Soon enough, people were coming to Mickey’s for the food as much as the booze, so he hired an actual chef: José (aka Joe) Martinez, who added his own Mexican dishes to the mix. In fact, said Welch, “Mike used to tell me that Mickey’s was the first place to have a burrito in Denver in the ’60s. He and his buddies went on a hunting trip, and José made burritos for them,” which they liked so much that “Mike added them to the menu when they got back. How true that is, I don’t know, but he swore by it.”
It would be another couple of years before Mickey introduced steaks to the menu—but once he did, he was all in, cutting them daily by hand. Those buddies of his were all in too. Over the years, the restaurant became a stomping ground for politicians (including Governor Bill Owens), Broncos players, and the National Western Stock Show crowd, not to mention the bocce enthusiasts who started tournament leagues on the courts Mickey built out back.
“Even after he sold to me, he still came in and cut steaks, for seven years until he passed,” said Welch, after which “he would have lunch with his buddies. They’d fill up the bar in the center of the building and take turns buying for everybody. Mike knew more people than I’ve ever met, and it was amazing to see him go from table to table and shake hands and tell stories.”
“Everybody loved him; he was a sweetheart,” agreed Kathy Gibson, who came on board as a bartender back in 1996 because Mickey “paid me 50 cents more than anybody else, so that was pretty cool.” Now a manager, she’ll be celebrating her 30th anniversary as an employee in October—and this year she’ll also be celebrating the 21st anniversary of meeting her husband at the steakhouse, where he used to cook.
“He was just sitting at the bar, and I had hockey tickets,” recalled Gibson. “He said, ‘I’ve never been to a hockey game.’ I said, ‘Well, give me 40 bucks, and we’ll go.’ He always says we went to a hockey game and a marriage broke out.”
Memories like that explain why Mickey’s Top Sirloin feels so much older than the building itself actually is: The very air is filled with them.
Mickey’s Morphing Menu
And the menu is likewise filled to this day with the dishes Mickey’s was built on. “We still use Grandma Laura’s recipe for the marinara from the Old Country; we still use her recipe for the Italian sausage sandwich,” noted Welch. “We still make José’s green chili too.”
But as someone who’s “been doing steaks my whole life”—he’s worked for such franchises as Kona Ranch Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse—Welch is proud that the repertoire has also evolved under his watch. The steaks are still hand-cut, but he works with his vendor to age them an extra two to three weeks, so, he said, “they’re more flavorful and tender than what you typically find in most median-range steakhouses.”
He personally developed the new seasoning recipe, and he also helped create the rotating marinades used for daily sirloin specials, including blackberry-maple-bourbon and Coca-Cola. Of course, he gave credit where credit is due for the execution of everything from the burgers made with steak trim to the skillet cookie topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
“Our chef, Jesus Melendez, has done a great job over the last 21 years,” asserted Welch. “He does six specials every single day at lunchtime, and they’re unique and value-priced, and that really has a huge impact. We do about the same amount of lunch sales as we do at dinner. That’s hard to find in this industry, especially in a steakhouse.”
Community Culture
Welch doesn’t just express appreciation for his leadership team, he shows it in the fact that he gives them opportunities to invest in his restaurant group, including Duke’s Steakhouse in Castle Pines.
“There’s so many people in this industry who work so hard for so long and they don’t have anything to show for it,” he pointed out. “Anything I can do to lift them up and be a servant to them helps us go to that next level. You see it in the interaction that you have at the tables and you see it in the food quality—they take pride in giving the very best they can.”
That’s certainly true for Gibson, who in addition to her other duties now organizes Mickey’s annual pig roast and car show, Pig-a-Looza, which took place Sunday, June 28. But if you missed her there, just come in for dinner sometime, and you’ll see her around, especially if you order a Kathy’s Ultimate Margarita in her honor.
“People say I bleed Mickey’s, I’ve been there so long,” said Gibson. “It’s home. It’s family.”
Visit Mickey’s Top Sirloin Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays 11 a.m. to p.m. 6950 Broadway, Denver, mtsusa.co
