For a place that once housed a mortuary, this perennially packed, ultra-outrageous hotspot gives new meaning to the word “lively.”
  • Cuisine


The amusement park of restaurants
    The vibe


    The crowd


    The drinks

    Do the trick

    The food

    Around the world in a day

Our Review

Ruth TobiasContributing Writer

What's this place all about?
For a place that once housed a mortuary, Linger sure gives new meaning to the word “lively.” Courtesy of visionary owner Justin Cucci, the outrageous, junkyard-chic decor sets the tone: Industrial and mid-mod elements mix to streamlined effect in an enormous dining room walled in by windows on one side and an exhibition kitchen on the other. A staircase leads to a groovy lounge with a vintage Vegas vibe and a bar covered with Lite Brite panels. Up at the rooftop bar, an old VW bus serves as a drink station. And everywhere you look, there’s something unexpected to see: skylights and old movie posters here, church fans and billiard balls on display there.

What was the crowd like?
In LoHi, brunch counts as a sport. If you can make it through the door—literally, it can take a few minutes just to pop through the bottleneck of the crowd at the entrance to reach the host stand—you’ll find yourself in a sea of humans whooping it up as though they were being scored on their level of enthusiasm. They’re drinking deep and digging in and making themselves heard—locals and tourists, young and old, fashion plates and athleisure buffs, omnivores and vegans alike.

Walk us through the drinks menu.
The list of brunch cocktails is short and to the point: six in all, including bottomless mimosas. But the regular beverage selection works by day, too, encompassing such easy-breezy stuff as gin-and-tonics with plum bitters and shiso leaf, hibiscus-infused tequila spritzes, rosés by the glass, and even a low-gluten beer or two. There are always a couple of alternative-milk smoothies as well.

Tell us everything about the food.
The kitchen’s well-known for its skill in walking the line between global inspiration and comfort. Latin, Asian, and Middle Eastern flavors weave their way through dishes that nonetheless feel brunchy. Where you’d typically order crêpes, here you’ll find dosai stuffed with scrambled eggs, potatoes, avocado, apricots, and more. Where you’d usually get French toast with berries and syrup, here it’ll come with coconut sauce, crystallized ginger, and deep-fried bananas. Bao and tacos, ramen and donut holes: They all coexist in harmony here. And for picky eaters, the bacon-cheddar sliders, slathered in curried sour cream and accompanied by waffle-cut sweet-potato fries and chipotle ketchup, are certainly no afterthought.

Thoughts on the service?
If this is a circus, the bartenders and servers are the animal tamers and jugglers. Informal but well-informed, efficient but not robotic, they’re intent on both entertaining and, let’s face it, gently controlling the crowd—as much as possible, that is. And they generally succeed.

What else should we know?
Agoraphobes beware: Linger is the city’s hub of hubbub, and the only way out of the party is through it. Everybody else has come to join in—while grazing their way across a menu that’s got something from just about everywhere.

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