Welcome to #TBT, or Throwback Thursdays, where we revisit some of the Denver metro area’s tried and true restaurants that have become institutions. Over time, these places have weathered the shifts in our city’s restaurant landscape. For example, Columbine Steak House & Lounge, an institution that’s been favored by locals for decades. 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.
It’s a balmy spring evening in Denver, and sunlight is streaming through the windows overlooking the bar at Columbine Steak House and Lounge, bright enough to make you wince. The bartender, Lisa, apologizes as she whips up a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for another customer (vanilla vodka, pineapple juice, grenadine) about the warped blinds that won’t close. But the jukebox beneath them still works, playing an upbeat country tune, and so does the ATM machine on the far wall, which is key, because this joint is proudly cash-only, as it has been since it opened in 1961.
Granted, the lounge itself didn’t exist in 1961. Back then, owner Anthony Apergis leased this half of Columbine’s two-room space to Triangle Billiards, which sold pool tables, while he served up hand-cut steaks at the counter in the adjoining half for $1.25 a pop. Today, they’ll run you closer to $30. But you’ll order them at the same counter and eat them at the same marble tables his very first customers did.
Unless, that is, you prefer to unwind over an alcoholic beverage, in which case you’ll grab a barstool or a booth in said lounge, which finally opened in 1968. Lisa wasn’t in the picture yet, but close enough—she’s been working here for 29 years, one of many employees whom “we consider family,” in the words of Anthony’s daughter, Irene Apergis, who now operates Columbine with her brother, Socrates. Which brings us to the origin story of this classic “working man’s restaurant,” as Socrates calls it.
A Bit of History
One of eight children—two boys, six girls—in the Apergis family, Anthony grew up in Greece before his uncle, also named Socrates, and aunt Liberty brought him from the old country to Denver to live with them in 1951. Like so many immigrants before and after him, he got straight to work. He was a dishwasher and a cab driver; he briefly held a job at The Brown Palace.
“And then he ended up opening a restaurant with a partner downtown,” recalled Irene. “I’m pretty sure it was called Swift’s, but don’t write that down, because I’m not sure.” (Sorry, Irene—I did write it down, as Denver has indeed been home over the decades to several Greek-owned restaurants called Swift’s.) “It was a breakfast and lunch place, but one day before his lease was over, [the landlord] said, ‘You need to go.’ He was really mad about that. So he said, ‘You know what? I’m never gonna do this again—I’m gonna have my own place.” That was just as well, she added, because “my father hated to wake up in the mornings. He hated breakfast, he hated eggs.”
Upon locating available property at the intersection of Federal Boulevard and 3rd Avenue, Anthony took out a loan and built the steakhouse in 1960, opening it the following year. He wouldn’t be the only family member to get into the hospitality business: His brother, Gerasimos “Mike” Apergis, eventually followed him here to operate not one but two now gone-but-not-forgotten diners, The Breakfast King and Rosemary Cafe. “All Greeks have restaurants,” said Irene matter-of-factly.
Anthony died in 2000, but his spirit imbues Columbine in the form of a portrait hung on the wall behind the bar. “When my dad passed away—I’m gonna cry—the regulars got together and made that portrait in honor of him and gave it to us as a gift,” said Irene. “My dad was a very, very, very good man. Everybody loved him. A lot of those customers that did that have passed away too. It’s very sad, but it’s nice to have that.”
An Enduring, Not to Mention Affordable, Legacy
Anthony’s legacy also lives on in the form of a menu that’s as straightforward, not to mention affordable, as could be. Five different steaks—sirloin, New York strip, filet mignon, a T-bone, and a porterhouse—come with salad, Texas toast, and a choice of baked potato or fries. They’re supplemented by a pork chop, a few sandwiches, and a couple of fried seafood platters. For dessert, there’s rice pudding based on Aunt Liberty’s recipe. That’s it and that’s all. But that’s more than enough, as far as Irene is concerned.
“We cut the steaks every day, the salad is freshly cut every day, and we make our own blue cheese dressing from scratch,” she noted. “And our potatoes are genuine potatoes; they’re not frozen French fries. So it’s quality food, and it’s a good amount—it’s a good value. That’s what the secret [to our longevity] is. People don’t want us to change, because they like the nostalgia.”
A Cast of Characters
No wonder “we have all sorts of customers coming in from all walks of life,” as Irene asserted. “We’ve got people who come in ties, people coming in with paint on them, auto mechanics, bikers with tattoos—everyone.”
That includes the occasional celebrity, “from [TV weatherman] Mike Nelson to [rapper] Baby Bash,” according to Irene, as well as Roland “Fatty” Taylor, who played for the Nuggets in the 1970s.
“He had a restaurant down the street, and whenever he’d run out of alcohol, he’d come and ask me to borrow some, and he always paid me back,” Socrates remembered. “So he used to bring in a lot of basketball players. I sat with George Gervin, Iceman, and Artis Gilmore, who were legends, Hall of Famers. Michael Jordan came in and ate, that was probably about ’87. I didn’t even bother the guy for his autograph.”
Denver native Duane “Dog” Chapman was another habitué. “Early on, my dad sponsored him in boxing, and he’d come in with his wife all the time. Once every three weeks they’d eat steaks in the same booth,” explained Socrates. “And about a year later, he got his show, Dog the Bounty Hunter.”
Of course, the cast of characters has also included some problem children: Socrates recalled a number of incidents in the bar when “people would get in an argument, go outside to fight, beat up each other, go in the bathroom, get the blood off their faces, then have a beer and be friends again.”
Uninvited Guests Crash the Party
Then there are the uninvited guests. “In 2023 and 2024, we were broken into three times,” Irene noted. “The first time, they broke in from the back door; a few months later, they did it again. After that, I put a special lock on the door so they wouldn’t be able to use a crowbar to get in. The last time, they actually ran a truck through the wall. And each time, all they stole were steaks.”
Because the truck damaged the gas and water lines, Irene had to close the restaurant for a while. “I put a big sign on the window saying, ‘We’re closed indefinitely.’ And that stirred up things. I was in the restaurant trying to figure out how I was gonna fix everything, and PBS walks in and says, ‘We heard you guys are closing.’ It kinda went viral: Channel 4 came in, I had an interview with Channel 7, USA Today wrote an article. People freaked out because they thought we were gonna close for good.”
The truth is that, a couple of years prior, they almost did.
“Before COVID, we were ready to close,” Irene admitted. “Because we were open every day from 10 a.m. to 12 at night, and the only time we had off was Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Greek Easter. We were really tired—we were ready to say, ‘You know what, no more.’ But COVID was kind of like a silver lining for us, because we were closed for three months, so we had a good rest. [Now] we close every Sunday, and we close every night at 9 p.m. That’s been a big relief for us. And so we’re still here.”
For that, Denverites can be thankful. Socrates could think of one grateful party in particular: A couple of years ago, “This older couple came in, and the gentleman told me, ‘I asked my wife to marry me here in 1962. So we thought we’d come back after 60 years.’ I bought them a porterhouse steak and salad and drinks, and I have a picture of them. It’s so cute. There’s just a lot of history here.”
Visit Columbine Steak House and Lounge Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Cash only. 300 Federal Blvd., Denver, columbinesteakhouseandlounge.com
