To misquote WC Fields, rumors of the demise of CityGrille are greatly exaggerated.

The iconic East Colfax Avenue restaurant and bar, which has been home to state Capitol regulars for more than 20 years, has been sold, but its former co-owner, Helen Patterson, says not to worry.

New owner Bruce Durden of next-door Capitol Pizza intends to keep the restaurant and menu as is. He’s closing the pizza place and will run it out of CityGrille, adding pizza to the menu along with the restaurant’s award-winning burgers and green chili .

Patterson told Colorado Politics that she and co-owner and sister Nancy Brady will keep an interest in the restaurant but made the decision to sell in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and other factors, such as the increase in minimum wage pay.

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “We had to get out … we couldn’t sustain it any more. But we’re happy Bruce is taking it over. It’s good that it will return,” and he will keep some of the same staff.

While some are expected to move on after the restaurant closed for the pandemic, Durden said he’s hoping to hang onto the kitchen staff. “We want to carry on as before,” he said Tuesday.

CityGrille opened in 1998, owned by Dick Salturelli, who also ran the Cherry Cricket. For years, according to the blog roadtips, if the Cherry Cricket wasn’t earning “Best Burger” in Denver, CityGrille got the nod.

In 2011, Salturelli sold CityGrille to Patterson and her sister, Nancy Brady. The two owned the neighboring Fork & Spoon, which they sold a year later.

The sisters were there almost from the start, beginning as waitstaff.

The news that Racines, another longtime Capitol hangout, would close in January 2021 left Capitol politicians, lobbyists, activists and reporters wondering what would become of CityGrille, which is less than a block from the state Capitol.

While Racines has been a long-time go-to for breakfasts and meetings, CityGrille’s across-the-street location made it an easy choice for quick lunches and the more-or-less weekly Tuesday night cocktail hour and Wednesday night lobbyists night frequented by politicos, lobbyists and reporters.

That led to the occasional wrangling over the round table in the restaurant’s main room, Patterson said.

Laying claim to that table more than a few times: lobbyist John Kunkle, whose photo occasionally graces the table, complete with a mustache that someone drew on it.

Kunkle and former state Rep. Ed Vigil of Alamosa, who spent many evenings there, both have drinks named after them. Kunkle’s is the “Dirty K-uncle,” which is a White Russian. Vigil has two: The “Ed Vigil” made with Monopolowa vodka and lemonade, and a “Vigil Light,” which is made with lemonade and club soda.