Curt Sims has been in the business of bringing people together for nearly 40 years.

For the first half of his career, he owned multiple nightclubs. But as the years progressed, Sims said he was ready to put working until 4 a.m. behind him. In 2001, he opened his first location of Lime in Denver and waited a few years to make sure the new business was on solid ground before selling his clubs.

Fast forward to now and Sims, along with his business partner, Tiffany Lawson, is bringing his creation to Summit County. Sims is opening Lime at River Run Village, which will be his third iteration of the business. In addition to his location on the 16th Street Mall in Denver, Sims also has a location in Winter Park Village.

Lime at River Run Village, 100 Dercum Square in Keystone, held a soft opening in February but closed down for mud season. Once reopened in mid-June, Sims said the business will operate from 11 a.m. to at least 10 p.m daily. Sims said he’s still finalizing the details of when the restaurant will close.

“If it’s 10 o’clock and people want to come in, then we’ll stay open, so we’ll have to play that by ear and have a better history of it as time goes on,” Sims said. “If we’re up there, we might as well be open.”

The menu at Lime is typical of that of a Mexican restaurant. When he began designing the menu with the help of his wife, Sims said he wanted to feature many of his favorite dishes.

“I pretty much designed the menu around what I ate at home, just good Mexican food, and expanded it out,” Sims said.

On the menu are entrees like habanero shrimp tacos, green chile cheese nachos, a grilled chicken and spinach quesadilla, sweet corn tamales, fajitas and combination plates. The menu even features a small selection of burgers and wraps. Menu items range from $3.50 to $18.95.

As the restaurant prepares for the summer season, Sims said he is looking forward to being part of the Keystone community and offering a fun atmosphere to residents and visitors.

“Denver is really competitive, or it was before COVID, and you’re always chasing customers, so we like the idea of people coming to you and to other restaurants,” Sims said. “With the entertainment background we have, we’ve also been kind of fun.”

To help him get the location fully up and running, he brought Arthur Sanches with him to Summit County. Sanches previously worked as a line cook at one of Sims’ restaurants in Denver that is now closed. When Sims’ asked him to help with Lime at River Run Village, he said he was excited about the prospect of working in the mountains.

“When the boss told me about this project, I was excited because I like working in the mountains so I see more people. The people here are friendly,” Sanches said.

When the location opens, Sanches said he’ll work at the Keystone location for three or four months before moving back to Denver to work at that Lime location.

Sanches said he’s worked with the company for about three years. His favorite thing on the menu is the carne asada tacos, made with diced onion, cilantro and served with tomatillo sauce on the side.

Sims says he hopes the food and atmosphere continue to bring in customers as the restaurant makes itself a permanent resident in Keystone.

“I’ve always loved the area, so hopefully we just bring a good restaurant,” Sims said. “There’s a lot of good restaurants in there, but they’ve been around for a while, so hopefully we can just be part of that community.”