In the uber-hip Spanish food city of San Sebastian, known for the world’s second-highest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants per square kilometer, most of the day-to-day dining doesn’t offer multi-course lessons in gastronomical heights. Ultreia’s new pinche pintxos menu showcases Ba sque tapas like the chistorra with cider-braised chorizo and dijon for $6. (Jonathan Shikes/The Denver Post) Instead, locals mainly subsist on pintxos — the quicker, punchier Basque equivalent to Spanish tapas — which are downed as part of an everlasting bar crawl. Fine dining made San Sebastian a global pilgrimage site for foodies, but wine and finger food are its heart and soul. Earlier this month, Ultreia, inside Denver’s Union Station, launched a new pinche pintxos happy hour made up entirely of classic renditions of the many dishes that comprise the cuisine. “All of these, to be honest, are very traditional,” said Chef Adam Branz, who helped open the restaurant, at 1701 Wynkoop St., in 2017 and returned as a managing partner in 2024 after taking some time to focus on his other project, Split Lip. The menu is full of $6 items like the bikini, a pressed sandwich with speck (cured pork) mahon (a Spanish cheese) and honey; cana de cabra, which is griddled goat cheese with piquillo pepper; and chorrera, a set of crispy deviled eggs with jamon serrano and oozy mahon cheese. Served seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m., the list provides an even faster and cheaper way to experience the restaurant, which has always focused on the small plates of Spain and Portugal. “We’ve seen an increase in happy hour business because people are going out to happy hour more than dinner,” said John Imbergamo, a Denver restaurant consultant who works with Ultreia; he cited a 2025 National Restaurant Association Restaurant Industry report that says 64% of adults say they’re increasingly likely to replace a traditional meal with snack items during the day. “This is kinda fitting with what we were already doing here,” he continued. While plates at Ultreia were always relatively less expensive, the new menu was designed with affordability as a central theme. “Convincing consumers to adjust their value barometer is not simple at all.” With the start of each afternoon’s happy hour, a table-top Negroni fountain is placed on the counter. The piece acts as the afternoon’s crown jewel and is emblematic of the ethos. “It’s fun. It’s supposed to be a more interactive happy hour,” said Imbergamo. Ultreia’s new Basque tapas menu features multiple $6 happy hour specials, including the cana de cabra, which consists of goat cheese, piquillo pepper and hot honey. (Jonathan Shikes/The Denver Post) “When we were first talking about the concept, it was less about the food and more about the energy,” added Branz. “It just lives on the bar during happy hour. And oddly enough, nobody but me has helped themselves to it,” he laughed. That the elegant display is retired at 6 p.m. each night may be good for keeping the late crowd from dipping their heads directly under the stream. There are a few items on the new list that exist on the regular menu, like gilda, with salted anchovies and pickled peppers; and pan con tomate, a plate of grilled bread, tomato spread, chorizo, manchego, olives and almonds. But most of the dishes are fresh creations. “It’s a little bit on the nose. There’s a lot less riffing,” said Branz, noting that Ultreia’s main menu can be a bit more experimental. The pintxos are meant to be classic and Branz and his team execute them with clear respect for the originators. That’s somewhat different from his well-loved pop-up, Cul-de-Sac, which served things like escargot wontons and duck mumbo, a combination of duck confit, mumbo sauce, french fries and water chestnuts, before closing up shop when its host, Dewey Brewing, closed earlier this year. “The truck had too many issues for us to continue,” he said. “I hope it will be back.” Branz also says he’ll soon be opening Camino by Ultreia, a grab-and-go kiosk in Union Station’s central terminal that will focus on cold and hot-pressed Spanish sandwiches, salads and snacks. Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox. ...read more read less