“This is the fucking coolest town in America,” Dave Query, 54, told me over black coffee at his downtown Boulder happening Mexican restaurant Centro Mexican Kitchen on a recent afternoon.
Query, a long-time Boulder restaurateur who brought quality seafood to the Front Range when he opened Jax Fish House in Boulder in 1994, does his part to lower the temperature on Boulder’s cool. Those who know him get a little smile on their face and shake their head slightly and affectionately say, “Dave’s crazy.”
He’s bringing hot chicken and cold beer to downtown Boulder when The Post Brewing Company, the brewery he owns under the restaurant and beverage brand Big Red F, opens in just a few weeks at the former Shine Brewing Co. location, 2027 13th Street.
“What’s up, brotha?” Query greets a Centro employee passing by. These interactions punctuate our conversation, providing a window into the man and why his restaurants enjoy success. The Big Red F owns a suite of successful area restaurants including Zolo Grill, The West End Tavern, Lola Coastal Mexican, Jax Fish House (Boulder, Denver and Kansas City locations) and The Post.
Query and his team pioneered the chicken-and-beer concept in Lafayette at The Post’s flagship shop, which opened in January 2014, and tested it at additional locations, opening a wing-and-brew outlet in Longmont in 2015 and an outpost in Denver’s Rosedale neighborhood earlier this year. Now the down-home Southern food’s ready to come to Boulder — with a goal to open by Halloween.
The Post will brew beer at its Boulder location and deliver a heavy dose of “mountain funk,” Query says. It has a small music room in back where the brewery will host musicians and comedians.
All of Query’s establishments have a chill, authentic vibe, which mirrors the man.
Designing an enduring, successful vibe
Success follows Query like a well-kept, loyal dog.
He moved to Boulder when he was 12 and caught the restaurant bug at his first job at the Boulder Chicago-style dog staple Mustard’s Last Stand. He got international with it when he studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and traveled and worked in Chicago, San Francisco, New York and France.
After that professional jaunt, he returned to Boulder and opened his first restaurant, “Lick Skillet,” in Gold Hill in 1989 with $5,000 borrowed from his grandfather. Then came Q’s Restaurant at the Hotel Boulderado (he sold his stake in this in 1993), and then Jax Fish House in 1994. From there his empire has slowly grown into the 13 multi-concept restaurant locations Big Red F runs now.
Query he relies on three things to keep his endeavor humming: integrity, humility and manners. He bakes into all his operations and stresses them to employees:
The Boulder restaurant scene
Boulder’s dining scene is buzzing, buoyed by an influx of successful, growing tech companies, Query says. Google is one; it’s set to move into its new Boulder headquarters that can accommodate hundreds of additional employees this December.
As someone living and breathing the local restaurant scene, for decades, Query has a unique, deep insight on where to dine in Boulder.
His must-visit Boulder restaurants:
With Boulder’s increasing restaurant competition, he says for restaurateurs to find success “you gotta be on your game.”
Boulder-area chefs, operators kicking a$$ and Big Red F lineage
Query also listed off some Boulder chefs and operators that are kicking butt and taking names, aside from those at his Big Red F establishments.
He listed off Chef John Platt at Riffs Urban Fare and Eric Skokan at Black Cat as among the hardest-working chefs in Boulder.
Query’s also has an impressive, growing lineage of chefs who have come through the Big Red F system.
They include: Brian Benham at Dish Gourmet; Ian Clark at Bru Handbuilt Ales & Eats; Dakota Soifer at Cafe Aion; Drew Honness at Sweet Cow Ice Cream; Brendan McManus at Lucky Pie Pizza & Tap House; Hosea Rosenberg from Blackbelly Market, Rayme Rossello from Comida, Mike Lawinski from FATE Brewing Company, among others.
A note about Boulder
Like many long-time Boulder residents sniffing the winds of change whipping around town, Query’s worried that Boulder’s becoming too exclusive, is Aspenizing.
Hopefully, bellies full of chicken and beer keep our toes on the ground.
Editor’s note: Story has been updated to clarify chefs in Big Red F’s lineage and the chefs Query named as among the hardest-working in Boulder.
