David Kowalski wanted to open on May 11. That date would have been exactly 1,000 days after he and his wife Monica opened their first Lebowski's Taproom on Centennial Boulevard. Monica told The Gazette they weren't ready in time, and their food delivery never arrived. So Lebowski's Taproom East had a soft opening two weeks later, on May 25, 2026, at 9633 Prominent Point near Powers Boulevard and Briargate Parkway.
If you live in Cordera, you have probably driven past that building more times than you can count. You may also have lost track of what it was called. Over roughly six years it has had five names, and each one asked neighbors to learn the place again. The newest tenant arrived with a name people already knew, and it owns most of the building it operates in.
Five names on one building
A KRDO report from July 2025 traced the building's run of tenants under restaurateur Mitch Yellen. Lebowski's is the latest in line:
- Till Kitchen, the restaurant at the address before 2020.
- North Side Social, an entertainment space with pickleball, an arcade and food.
- The Pinery North, a private event venue.
- The Homestead Collective, a food hall that opened in May 2025.
- Lebowski's Taproom East, soft-opened May 25, 2026.
The Homestead Collective was the most ambitious of the five. Yellen's Altitude Hospitality Group planned it as a cluster of house concepts: Roost Coffee, Dad's Donuts, a Mercantile market, Campfire Pizza, Till, and Garden of the Gods Gourmet. Early plans even floated a winter skating rink outdoors, plus volleyball and pickleball courts for summer.
About two months after it opened, three of those concepts closed. On July 28, 2025, the Collective announced that Garden of the Gods Cafe, Till Kitchen and Campfire Pizza were closing effective immediately. In a statement quoted by KRDO, the Collective said:
"The simple truth is, we didn't see the community support we needed to sustain these restaurants."
KRDO also reported a strong response on social media from people who felt the food hall hadn't done enough to get the word out. One customer told the station the name changes threw him off. "I thought it was just a building being used by somebody, and we couldn't even go in," he said.
Taken together, the statement and the customer's comment describe the same gap. Each new name at 9633 Prominent Point introduced the building to northeast Colorado Springs all over again.
What changed in the deal
The Lebowski's chapter breaks that pattern in two ways.
The operator owns its space. Monica Kowalski told The Gazette that she and David bought about 75% of the building. Yellen kept the north end, where Dad's Donuts and the coffee shop used to be. In an earlier Gazette piece, David described the 18,500-square-foot building's past, Till Kitchen included, as an incubator concept run by an ownership group he now belongs to. Lebowski's East is the owners' own restaurant, in a building they mostly own.
The name came with a following. The original Lebowski's opened in 2023 at West Fillmore Street and Centennial Boulevard. FOX21 described it as a Big Lebowski-themed restaurant and bar known for trivia, bingo, live entertainment, and its house coffee liqueur. Its Lebowski Burger, a Colorado-sourced beef patty with creamy peanut butter and spicy jalapeño jam, made a Forbes roundup of the best burgers in the country, according to The Gazette. So anyone who has eaten on the west side already knows what to expect when they walk in on Prominent Point.
Monica told FOX21 in April that "it became clear that there is a need for our concept on the east side of Colorado Springs." Before opening, she also told The Gazette she was already getting calls from event coordinators and meet-up groups looking for a place to gather. The east location has almost double the seating of the original.
What's actually there this fall
The Gazette got a look inside just before the soft opening. Near the entrance, a mural shows the Front Range and Garden of the Gods, with Jeff Bridges as "The Dude" lounging in an Adirondack chair. The dining room has bright blue booths, orange metal-legged tables, an open square bar, and walls full of memorabilia from the film.
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Address | 9633 Prominent Point, Colorado Springs 80924 |
| Hours | Mon–Fri 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sat–Sun 11 a.m.–10 p.m. |
| Hours in June 2026 | 11 a.m.–6 p.m. daily |
| November 2026 events | Bingo at 7 p.m. every Monday: Nov. 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 |
| Kitchen | Large open kitchen with a wood-burning pizza oven |
| Planned menu additions, as of June | Pizza; green chile cheese curds |
In June, the east side closed at 6 p.m. every day, per The Gazette. Lebowski's own site now lists 10 p.m. closing seven days a week. That makes it a dinner and weeknight spot as well as a lunch stop, and a Monday bingo night only works if you stay open past dinner.
On the menu, Monica said the east side would start with the same menu as the original and add more later, with pizza from the wood-burning oven at the top of the list. The Gazette also tried the green chile cheese curds, soft cheese in a crisp crust with a New Mexico chile kick, and suggested pairing them with a White Russian made with the house Kool-Luah liqueur. Both were described as upcoming in June, so ask your server before you order. Before the opening, the owners also said they planned game nights, live music, comedy and seasonal cooking demonstrations, matching what the original location offers. The November calendar lists bingo every Monday.
The north end is still Yellen's
The roughly quarter of the building the Kowalskis didn't buy has had its own turnover. When three Collective concepts closed in July 2025, Dad's Donuts and Red Leaf Organic Coffee stayed open. At the time, Yellen told KRDO he expected both, along with the private event space, to stay until at least spring 2026.
On Dec. 30, 2025, KKTV reported that Dad's Donuts planned to close its Interquest and Briargate locations in the new year. In March, The Gazette reported that the downtown shop on Moreno Street had also closed. That followed the closure of the two northern shops, and Dad's said it was committed to finding a new location. By June, the Gazette was calling the north end "the former Dad's Donuts and the coffee shop."
In April, David Kowalski told The Gazette that while Lebowski's would take most of the south side, a "coffee shop and bakery concept" would move into the north end by late summer. If it opens, the building would have a morning tenant and an evening tenant under one roof. That's a smaller version of what the Collective was trying to do.
The backyard is another open question. In July 2025, KRDO reported that the outdoor seating and pickleball courts were still open after the restaurant closures. When the weather turns this fall, you'll find out for yourself what they look like under the new owners.
For now, the south side of 9633 Prominent Point carries one name, open until 10 every night, run by the people who own it.
A busy, familiar spot down the road is good news for the whole area. At Behr and Behr Team, we follow these changes along the Powers and Briargate corridor because they affect daily life for Cordera homeowners. If you're curious how new businesses nearby might shape what your home is worth, Request a Free Home Valuation and we'll walk you through it.
