No sooner had Pat Perry announced that starting February 20, both she and her restaurant, Highland’s Garden Cafe, at 3927 West 32nd Avenue, would be taking a sabbatical after eighteen long years than we heard about a new garden springing up. Specifically, The Garden, which Aleece Raw and her family are opening in the Victorian house at 3435 Albion Street that had housed Kate’s at 35th Avenue since 1982. Raw had interned there while she was attending natural-chef school, and when she heard that Kate’s was for sale, she decided to buy it. “It was less expensive to buy this property than my house in Wash Park,” she explains, “and I could live upstairs. So I called my mom and sister, and they got big eyes, too, so we just decided to go for it.”

They also decided to focus on healthy food, as well as a wine and beer list from local providers including Infinite Monkey Theorem, which donates 1 percent of its proceeds to the University of Colorado cancer center. “Although we pride ourselves on an accessible menu that caters to those who are raw, vegan and/or gluten-free, we will feature some menu items that include local, pastured meat and dairy products as well,” Raw says. “Thanks to folks like Grant Family Farms, Cottonwood Creek Farms, Windsor Dairy, Haystack Mountain Dairy, Golden Organics and LoCo Foods for making that possible!”

The Garden will host its grand opening on February 4. Initially, plans call for it to be open just Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. for brunch — and it will also be available for special events. But neighbors are already encouraging Raw to extend those hours.

As for Highland’s Garden, it’s slated to reopen on June 1 — though it will have more flexible hours when it does, with Perry taking a more seasonal approach to scheduling, as well as her menu.

Celebrating Cunningham: The death of chef Noel Cunningham, the founder of Strings, shook the Denver dining scene at the end of 2011. On Thursday, February 2, the restaurant community — and anyone else who was a fan of Cunningham, which means just about the entire town — will gather for “Strings of Hope,” a free public celebration of his life from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. That will be followed by a VIP reception from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in the Seawell Ballroom; tickets to that event are $150 per person, with sponsorship packages available.

The proceeds from the evening will go to the Cunningham Foundation, to ensure that all of Noel Cunningham’s good works continue. For more information, go to www. Cunninghamfoundation.org.

These stories originally appeared on the Cafe Society blog; for daily updates, go to cafesocietyblog.com.com.