At Denver listening bars, music -- especially vinyl -

Malinche Audiobar’s narrow ground-floor unit has enough room to fit 35 people. Customers sit along the bar or at a smattering of tables, while chef Jose Avila and his staff pour mezcal and prepare startlingly refined dishes, such as roasted octopus in black miso and chilmole and, for dessert, nixtamalized custard with fresh pear and salmon roe glazed in a mixture of yuzu and piloncillo cane sugar.

But food and liquor weren’t the driving forces behind Malinche, which opened in October at 1541 Platte St. It was music.

Avila researched a type of Japanese bar called a “kissa,” where vinyl pressings of jazz and instrumental records reign supreme and customers dedicate themselves to listening as much as they do to imbibing.

He hired professional sound engineers to install Technics turntable