Denver has no shortage of places to eat, but Sean Huggard wants to give you somewhere to stay. There’s a difference, and the founder and president of Shucking Good Hospitality has built a career understanding exactly what it is. His newest venture, Ash and Agave, might be the most convincing argument he’s made yet.
Tucked into Cherry Creek Mall in the space that housed California Pizza Kitchen for what felt like an entire Denver childhood, Ash and Agave pulls its soul from the Mexican Riviera, and the glow-up is significant. The space feels resort-adjacent in the best possible way, the kind of room that makes you reconsider your 10 p.m. bedtime. Sean is quick to explain the thinking. “It’s food we love, it’s a lifestyle we connect with, and it gave us room to build something that feels a little more transportive,” he says. “Denver’s ready for that. People are going out less often, but when they do, they want it to be worth it.”
Worth it barely covers it. The menu reads like a coastal fever dream: wood-fired meats, a raw bar, tacos, and shareable plates that are built around contrast, the way a good argument is built around tension. “You’ve got smoke, acidity, and freshness all working against and with each other,” Sean explains, “and that balance is what makes everything feel connected.” At the center of it all is the wood-fired grill, quietly doing the heavy lifting on nearly everything that hits the table. It’s the kind of detail you feel before you can name it.
The agave program operates on the same philosophy, which arrives as an invitation rather than a lecture. The curated flights, three pours of ¾ oz each, are built to take guests on a journey through tequila’s surprisingly wide range. “We wanted to create the opportunity for people to realize tequila has a lot more diversity than they may have expected,” Sean says. The guiding principle is simple: start clean, build toward bold, and let it unfold naturally.
Then there’s the room itself, which does something most restaurants don’t bother trying. It shifts. The music evolves throughout the night, the energy loosens, the lighting earns its keep, and the whole place slowly tilts. “You come in early, and it feels one way,” Sean says. “Stay a couple hours, and it feels completely different. That’s intentional.”
His definition of a successful night is disarmingly simple. “I want people to feel like they stayed longer than they planned to and didn’t even notice it.” In a city full of restaurants competing for your attention, Ash and Agave is competing for something harder to get: your whole evening. Based on everything Sean has built here, it’s going to be a tough one to leave early.
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