IN DEVELOPMENT · LOCATION, HOURS AND OPENING DATE NOT YET ANNOUNCED

Turkish hearth · 9th Avenue, Capitol Hill · in development

9th Avenue Kitchenan OCAK — Oven · Coffee · Anatolian · Kitchen

The Turkish hearth, reimagined for Denver.

Ocak is the Turkish word for hearth — the fire at the centre of the home, where food is made, family gathers and every guest is welcome. 9th Avenue Kitchen is our first: a stone oven, good coffee, Anatolian food, a small pantry of things we love, and a room you can stay in.

See the menu & prices What OCAK means

A copper-clad stone oven with the word OCAK worked into the metal, set above a band of blue and white tile, beside a commercial cooking line

Our oven — copper-clad, tiled, and already carrying our name. The final address is not yet confirmed.

What OCAK means

A word with a fire in it.

In Anatolia the ocak was never just a stove. It was where the bread rose before dawn, where the pot stayed warm for whoever came late, where neighbours sat down without being asked twice. To say a family had a strong ocak was to say their door was open and their table was full.

We took the word because it describes the place we want to make — and then we noticed it also spells out exactly what we do. So every OCAK carries the same four promises, and 9th Avenue Kitchen is the first one.

OOvenA stone oven at the heart of the room. Pide, lahmacun, simit and pizza baked to order on the hot floor.
CCoffeeTurkish coffee the traditional way, çay in the tulip glass, and a proper espresso bar for Denver mornings.
AAnatolianRecipes from across Türkiye — the bakery, the soup pot, the mezze table — cooked the way they are at home.
KKitchenCounter service, no fuss, no rush. Order at the till, find a seat, stay as long as you like.

A little Anatolian table knowledge

Things worth knowing before you order.

Pide

Boat-shaped flatbread from the Black Sea coast, folded at the edges and baked on the stone floor. Cut into strips and eaten by hand. Not a pizza — older, and lighter.

Lahmacun

Paper-thin, spread with spiced minced meat and herbs, baked in under two minutes. Squeeze lemon, add parsley, roll it up. The original fast food.

Simit

The ring bread of İstanbul’s streets — dipped in grape molasses, rolled in sesame, baked crisp. Best warm, with white cheese and çay.

Çay

Black tea brewed strong in a stacked pot and served in a tulip glass so you can see the colour. In Türkiye a second glass is assumed.

Türk kahvesi

Finely ground coffee simmered slowly, served in a small cup with the grounds settled at the bottom, always with a glass of water and something sweet.

Künefe

Shredded pastry around soft cheese, baked golden and soaked in syrup, finished with pistachio. Made to order and eaten hot — worth the wait.

Kıymalı pide with salad, from our kitchenFROM OUR OVEN

Kıymalı pide

From the stone oven, all day.
Simit rings fresh from our ovenFROM OUR OVEN

Simit

Warm every morning.
Turkish coffee with pastries, from our kitchenFROM OUR OVEN

Turkish coffee

Worth sitting down for.

Photos marked from our oven are ours. A few menu items still use openly licensed reference photos — credits.

In motion

Dough, fire, box, door.

Seven seconds of what the oven does all day. Hands in flour, sauce, cheese, the fire, the cut — and a box handed across the counter. That last part is the whole idea: food made in front of you and carried home warm.

Concept film — a preview of the mood, not footage of our own kitchen yet. The pizza is real and on the menu; the pide, lahmacun and simit are the heart of it.

See what comes out of the oven

From our kitchen

Baked here. Photographed here.

A few things that have already come out of the OCAK oven while we get ready.

Bakery display case filled with simit, poğaça and pastries Kıymalı pide on a wooden board with a side salad Pepperoni pizza fresh from the stone oven Two künefe on plates Turkish coffee served on a wooden board with pastries Tray of poğaça and sprinkle-topped pastries Sucuk and egg pide on a board Tray of sesame simit

A first look

The opening menu, as it stands today.

Planned opening menu and prices. Items and prices may move a little before we open.

Morning

Until 11:30
  • Simit$3.50
  • Simit plate$9.50Cheese, olives, tomato, cucumber
  • Bakery case$3.50Poğaça · Açma
  • Börek$6.50
  • Turkish çay$2.00
  • Espresso & filter coffee$3.50–5.00
  • Chocolate chip cookies$3.25Baked fresh daily

From the oven

All day
  • Lahmacun$8.50
  • Sucuklu pide$15.00
  • Kıymalı pide$13.50
  • Peynirli pide$13.50
  • Neighbourhood pizza$14.00

Soup, salad & sweet

All day
  • Mercimek çorbası$6.50Red lentil soup
  • Çoban salatası$8.50Shepherd's salad
  • Baklava$6.00
  • Turkish coffee$4.00

Planned opening prices, USD, before tax. They may change before we open. Ingredient and dietary information is still being set with the kitchen, and nothing here is available to order yet.

☕Morning people

Simit and çay from early, espresso for the road, cookies for later.

🍞Lunch in 15 minutes

Pide, lahmacun and soup straight from the stone floor — fast, hot, filling.

👨‍👩‍👧Families & groups

A breakfast basket for two, a Margherita for the kids, baklava to share.

🌿Vegetarian-friendly

Cheese and spinach pides, lentil soup, salads, mezze — plenty without meat.

🚫🍺Alcohol-free by design

Çay, Turkish coffee, ayran, limonata. A place that is easy for everyone.

🫙Pantry & patio

Vanilla, coffee and Turkish pantry by the door; a wind-sheltered patio outside so summer lasts longer.

The people behind the hearth

Three people, one oven, and a neighbourhood we want to feed.

Portrait of Kadir Balcı Kadir BalcıDenver · owner & operator

Kadir is the owner-operator of 9th Avenue Kitchen — the one whose name is on the door and whose standards are in the kitchen. Turkish by birth, Denver by choice, he is building the room the way he would want to eat in it: honest food, fair prices, and a welcome that does not depend on how much you spend.

Portrait of Max Yaşaroğlu Max YaşaroğluDenver · partner & your host

Max is the one you will meet at the counter. He has spent years bringing Turkish products and people to America, and 9th Avenue Kitchen is the place he has wanted to open for a long time — a room where Denver can eat the way his family does.

Portrait of Serdal Şahin Serdal Şahinİstanbul · founder, TSARA Group

Serdal builds bridges between Türkiye and the world — vanilla from Madagascar, coffee, trade, design. OCAK is his idea of what those bridges are for: a hearth people can actually sit down at. He is the reason the pantry shelf exists.

The kitchen team — the people who actually bake — will be introduced here as we get closer to opening.

Community

A hearth is only warm when there are people around it.

In Türkiye nobody eats alone if they can help it. We want 9th Avenue Kitchen to be the kind of place where the table next to you becomes part of your evening — students with laptops in the morning, families at the weekend, neighbours who just come in for çay and stay for the conversation.

We are also planning things that a hearth is for: shared breakfast mornings, holiday and iftar tables that are open to everyone, and a shelf and a wall for local makers.

Neighbours

If you live or work around 9th Avenue, you are who we are building this for. Come and tell us what you would like to see.

Local makers & suppliers

Denver bakers, roasters, growers, artists — we would rather work with you than around you.

Schools, mosques, churches, clubs

Groups looking for a warm room and good food for a gathering — talk to us once we open.

Türkiye in Colorado

If you grew up with an ocak, this is yours too. Bring your family. Correct our recipes.

How to reach us. Public contact details will be published here once the site is confirmed. Until then, this page is a promise, not an invitation to book.

The pantry corner

Take a little of the hearth home.

A small shelf by the door with the things we cook with and believe in — sourced through TSARA Group’s own trade network, so what you buy here is what we use here.

Madagascar vanilla

Bourbon vanilla beans and paste from the growers TSARA works with directly. The same vanilla that goes into our sütlaç.

Coffee & Turkish coffee

Our house roast by the bag, plus finely ground Turkish coffee and a proper cezve, so the ritual travels.

Turkish pantry

Pomegranate molasses, pul biber, sumac, olive oil, lokum, baklava boxes — the small things that make a Turkish kitchen taste right.

Garden & patio

Denver gardens too: coco-peat grow blocks and the glass windbreak planters you will see on our patio. Ask us about larger orders.

Planned for opening. The pantry range and prices are still being finalised and depend on import and licensing steps. Trade and wholesale enquiries — vanilla, coco peat, patio systems, sourcing from Türkiye — go to TSARA Group, not the café.

Outside

A patio that works in Denver weather.

Denver has the sun for outdoor eating most of the year and the wind to spoil it. We are planning a sheltered patio with glass windbreak screens and planters, so a simit and çay outside is a real option, not a summer-only one.

Reference photo of the glass windbreak system in use elsewhere — not our site. Patio plans depend on the final building and city approval.

Glass windbreak screens with built-in planters and bamboo along the edge of an outdoor seating terrace

Plan your visit

Not open yet — but the oven is already warm.

WhereCapitol Hill, DenverProposed site near E 9th Ave & Corona St. The exact building is not yet confirmed — the street address will be published once the lease is settled.
WhenTo be announcedOpening date and trading hours will follow the site.
OrderingNot openOnline ordering and any booking will only appear here once the kitchen is genuinely ready.
What kind of place is this?

A counter-service Turkish bakery and kitchen built around a stone oven. Order at the till, sit down, and eat well without a long lunch.

Where will it be?

Capitol Hill, Denver — the proposed site is near East 9th Avenue and Corona Street. That is where the name comes from. The exact building is still being confirmed, and we would rather say "near" than give you an address we have to take back.

Is the menu final?

No. The list above is where the kitchen has got to so far. Expect it to change before we open.

Can you cater for dietary requirements?

Ingredient and allergen information is still being worked out. We are not making any dietary or allergen claim until it has been checked properly.

Will there be outdoor seating?

That is the plan — a sheltered patio with glass windbreak screens, so it is usable well beyond summer. It depends on the final building and city approval, so we are not promising it yet.

What does OCAK mean, and why is the shop called 9th Avenue Kitchen?

OCAK is the idea; 9th Avenue Kitchen is the place. In Turkish, ocak is the hearth — the fire at the centre of the home — and it also spells out what every OCAK does: Oven · Coffee · Anatolian · Kitchen. This one lives on 9th Avenue, so that is its name.

Who is behind OCAK?

9th Avenue Kitchen is the first OCAK, developed with TSARA Group — an international group with roots in Türkiye that also sources the vanilla, coffee and pantry goods on our shelf. The kitchen, the recipes and the welcome are local.