Downtown Castle Rock Restaurant Week runs through Sunday, Oct. 11. More than 20 independent restaurants are each serving a special item that isn't on their regular menu. Read the roster closely and a pattern shows up. Almost every name on it, along with the one that dropped off this year, traces back to a building. Somebody bought one, kept one going, converted one or built one from scratch.
That puts property ahead of appetite as the force behind downtown's food scene this fall. The same holds for the next big restaurant cluster, which is going up across I-25.
The Pizzeria That Lost Its Lease
Stumpy's Pizza is the clearest example. It had been a Castle Rock original for more than 25 years, and it served its last day at 138 S. Wilcox Street on Wednesday, Aug. 26. The business didn't close for lack of customers. Rivers Church had been working to buy 136, 138 and 140 S. Wilcox, the strip next to the Philip & Jerry Miller Library, as a permanent downtown home. The church says it closed on the building on May 20, 2026. As the new landlord, it extended the pizzeria's lease through the end of August. CBS Colorado reported before the sale closed that the church needed about $4.5 million and had raised roughly 70 percent of it.
Stumpy's wasn't the only tenant affected. CBS Colorado also reported that CrossFit Loop had to leave, while Castle Rock Dance Academy and other tenants at 140 S. Wilcox could stay. In late June, the pizzeria's team posted a message asking neighbors to come in, as reported by DougCo Social:
"We don't have an exact final day. So please come in and support us in our final weeks. We are still looking for a new location but sadly we have not found one yet."
A customer later asked on Facebook whether Stumpy's would reopen. Manager Gretchen Norton said they were trying and that it would "just take a few months." No new address had been announced as of the latest local report. So the familiar name is missing from this year's Restaurant Week list, and a return is still unconfirmed.
The Old Church on Perry Street Brings Four Entries
A few blocks away, an old building is doing the opposite. Ecclesia Market at 221 Perry St. occupies what its owners describe as an 1800s Methodist Episcopal church building. The food hall opened in late March 2019. Its six founding partners included Floyd and Michaela Bacon of Maddie's Biergarten, and the idea came out of a group trip to New Orleans. Local coverage at the time noted that the conversion kept church pews and treated the building's history with respect. The Douglas County News-Press quoted Dave Schutte calling the hall a "gathering place."
Ecclesia has kept going as its food stalls changed hands. In 2019 the hall housed Farmgirl Foods, Romo's Street Tacos, Lante Brau-Casa, the Sinners & Saints cocktail lounge and the bookstore Sudden Fiction. The lounge and the bookstore are still there. The three food vendors have since been replaced. Gluttony & Graze, which also operated at 221 Perry, is now listed as permanently closed. Today the hall houses:
- Arayes Grill, serving grilled stuffed pitas with meat, falafel, vegetarian and vegan fillings, plus salads and dips
- BAGL, serving fresh bagels, breakfast sandwiches and chopped deli sandwiches
- The Compas, serving Mexican street tacos, burritos and loaded nachos
- Sinners & Saints, the craft cocktail lounge, which also serves food from the other Ecclesia kitchens
- Apres Coffee, Wild + Blume for flowers and workshops, and Sudden Fiction Books, an independent bookstore
Arayes, BAGL, The Compas and Sinners & Saints are all on this year's Restaurant Week list. That makes one 19th-century building the largest single source of entries on the roster. The October calendar also runs Wednesday bingo, Tuesday Make & Mingle, Friday live music and Saturday DJs, so a Restaurant Week visit can easily turn into a full evening.
Reading the Roster by Address
Sorting the list by when each restaurant arrived shows how many eras of downtown building are represented on a single page.
| Restaurant | Address | How long it has been there |
|---|---|---|
| B&B Cafe | 324 Wilcox St. | The café name was registered in 1946. Its history describes a building from about 1918, listed in older coverage as 322 Wilcox, that has housed a café since the 1930s. |
| Angie's Restaurant | 201 4th St. | The McCaffrey family has served the area for more than 50 years. |
| Castle Cafe | 403 Wilcox St. | A 2024 town directory called it a 24-year downtown fixture. |
| Ecclesia Market stalls | 221 Perry St. | The hall has been open since 2019 in an 1800s church building. |
| Wide Awake Eatery | 115 Wilcox St., Suite 120 | Opened June 1, 2025, inside Riverwalk. |
| Homegrown Tap & Dough | 221 Wilcox St. | Opened Dec. 26, 2025. |
The two newest names reach downtown in different ways. Homegrown Tap & Dough is Gastamo Group's sixth Homegrown location, with an "elevated ranch" interior and a vintage arcade, according to WhatNow. Wide Awake Eatery comes from Leah and Todd Hills, who also own the Wide Open Saloon in Sedalia. The rest of the list includes Scileppi's at the Old Stone Church, Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Co., Union Bistro, Block & Bottle, Courtyard Social, Mashawi Damascus Cuisine and The Office Co. Bar & Kitchen, among others.
One downtown newcomer isn't participating this year. Izumi Sushi opened at 115 Third St. on May 11, 2026. Owner Manna Pan built the concept around authentic Japanese sushi. Izumi is a good stop for the same week, even without a Restaurant Week special.
The Riverwalk Developer Is Building Across I-25
Wide Awake Eatery's address leads to the biggest property story behind the list. Riverwalk is the pair of five- and six-story buildings on Wilcox Street that opened in 2019. Confluence Companies built them for $64 million, with 230 apartments and 16,200 square feet of retail. Confluence says it has put more than $180 million into downtown Castle Rock and that roughly 70 businesses have relocated downtown since Riverwalk broke ground.
Confluence's next six restaurants won't be downtown. The developer bought the old Acme Brick Co. site west of I-25, off Prairie Hawk Drive, for $7 million after the plant shut down in 2019. It is putting roughly $400 million into a 31-acre district called The Brickyard. Six restaurants are already under contract there: Voodoo Brewing Company, Sushi Row, White Pie, John Saunders, Where Food Comes From and Journeyman's Bar. A roughly 125-room Hotel Castle Rock is also planned. The centerpiece is the Castle Rock Sports Center, a 145,000-square-foot indoor facility costing about $75 million. The Town broke ground on Oct. 28, 2025, and opening is targeted for summer 2027.
The August local report gave no opening dates for the restaurants, and the full buildout is expected to run in phases through about 2030. The plans also include a bike and pedestrian path under I-25. The Town's planned Industrial Tributary Trail would eventually connect The Brickyard, the Sports Center and Philip S. Miller Park to downtown on foot or by bike. If that trail gets built, downtown and The Brickyard could work as one walkable dining area rather than two places you drive between.
The Rest of the Downtown Fall Calendar
Restaurant Week is the first of several downtown events between now and Thanksgiving:
- Through Sunday, Oct. 11: Restaurant Week specials across downtown. Each restaurant posts its featured item on the Downtown Castle Rock social channels.
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: The Fall Festival featuring Creepy Crawlies Around the Rock at Festival Park, 300 Second St., with harvest vendors, pumpkin decorating and crafts.
- Friday, Oct. 30, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Fangtastic Festival, a free daytime trick-or-treat event at Festival Park produced by the Downtown Merchants Association.
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 2 to 6 p.m.: Castle Rock Starlighting around Historic Wilcox Square and Festival Park. The ceremony starts at 5 p.m., the star lights at about 5:30 p.m., and fireworks follow.
All four events are within a short walk of the Restaurant Week list. B&B Cafe and Castle Cafe are on Wilcox, close to the Starlighting crowds, and Ecclesia sits a block over on Perry. For more on daily life around town, see our guide to everyday life in Castle Rock and the Castle Rock neighborhood page.
A building sale on Wilcox or a new district across I-25 can change what's on your block. It can also change how buyers see your home. If you'd like to know how downtown's changes and The Brickyard factor into your Castle Rock home's value, request a free home valuation or consultation with Lane Lyon.
