Overland Barbecue Joint Is One of This Year’s Hottest New Restaurants

“This is the best job I’ve ever had,” says Manny Barella of his new role as one of three co-owners of Riot BBQ, which opened at 2180 South Delaware Street in June. “If I don’t have to wear a chef coat again for the rest of my life, I will be a happy man.”

That’s quite a statement from a chef who has spent much of his career rising through the ranks in the fine-dining world, even earning a James Beard nomination in 2022 in the emerging chef category and competing on season 21 of Top Chef last year (he finished in the top five). Now, his go-to uniform is a t-shirt and an apron.

Riot BBQ made headlines when it replaced former Michelin Bib Gourmand pick AJ’s Pit-Bar-B-Q, which lost its Bib status before closing in March amid allegations of bad business behavior by owner Jared Leonard, who was arrested for fraud in July.

But Riot has a story — and a take on barbecue — that’s burning brighter than AJ’s ever did.

How It Started

Riot BBQ’s pitmaster and co-owner, Patrick Klaiber, has been working in barbecue since he was a teenager. He got his start as a line cook and dishwasher at Hecky’s Barbecue in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. After turning 21, he moved to Colorado and began working at the now-closed Moe’s Original BBQ in Fort Collins. By 2018, he’d moved to Denver, where he began working the pits at the then-new AJ’s, which specialized in Texas-style smoked meats.

“Before I started working at AJ’s, I hadn’t really eaten a lot of Texas-style barbecue. It was more Chicago-style, like rib tips and hot links and chicken, which I still love. But something about Texas-style is that the meats really speak for themselves,” Klaiber says. “When I started at AJ’s, I was like, oh, this is completely new to me. It was a really good learning experience — well, good and bad,” he notes, alluding to circumstances that ultimately led him to stage the walk-out that marked the end of AJ’s run.

While Klaiber was working at AJ’s, he got a fortuitious message from Barella, whom he’d never met before.

Barella grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and began traveling and cooking in the U.S. on J-1 visas as a way to get out and explore the world. As with Klaiber, his first restaurant gig wasn’t glamorous. “I went to Mississippi and worked at a casino changing chafers at a buffet,” he recalls. That was followed by increasingly upscale gigs in Atlanta, southeast Georgia and Napa. By then, “I knew about Frasca,” Barella says of the Boulder fine-dining stalwart that has earned many accolades during its two-decade-long run, including a Michelin star in 2023. “That was my dream job for three years.”

So he immersed himself in Italian cuisine and made his way to Boulder, where he landed a job working as a sous chef at Centro Mexican Kitchen under Johnny Curiel (yes, the Johnny Curiel who now owns four restaurants of his own, including two with Michelin stars, with a fifth on the way). After just a couple of months, “Johnny told me, you should quit,” Barella recalls with a laugh. “He said, I know you want to go to Frasca.”

Which he did, for over a year. Then he took on more new experiences, becoming becoming the sous chef at Uchi despite having no prior experience with Japanese cuisine; he later scored his first executive chef role when Bellota replaced Acorn at the Source, a move that brought him back to cooking Mexican food inspired by his upbringing. “I like to look for that challenge and put myself into uncomfortable situations,” Barella says of his career trajectory.

After Bellota, Barella took on another new-to-him role as culinary director for two concepts in development by Robert Thompson, the original founder of Punch Bowl Social. One of those, Jaguar Bolera, opened in Raleigh, North Carolina, last year; its food is what Barella describes as “Mexican heart with a Southern soul,” and developing the menu included starting a meat-smoking program.

A Partnership Forged in Fire

“I had dabbled [in barbecue] but never on a restaurant level,” Barella recalls. At the time, one of the buzziest barbecue joints in metro Denver was Plates by the Pound, which eventually closed when owner Aaron Gonerway decided to move to Texas. It was Gonerway who suggested that Barella reach out to Klaiber for advice, and the pitmaster agreed to help.

“I was living in Longmont at the time and I would drive down a couple of times a week just to learn. … I had never even held a brisket in my life,” Barella admits. “At the time, I told Patrick, you make this look so easy — I know it’s not, but you are so consistent, it’s like a well-oiled machine. I hope that one day I get to that point, and if I ever have a barbecue place, I hope it’s like AJ’s.”

Barella continued to practice his barbecue skills and stayed in touch with Klaiber for the next two and a half years, often texting him photos of his brisket-smoking progress.

After the AJ’s property was seized by the state for unpaid taxes, the landlord reached out to Klaiber to see if he could help fix some clogged drains. When he went over to take a look, he learned there was going to be an auction — news he shared with Barella, who was between gigs and had just welcomed his first daughter.

Barella looped in Caleb Benton, whom he’d met through the Hispanic Restaurant Association, where both are founding members. Benton is an operations-minded hospitality pro with corporate experience at companies like Hillstone. “We found out there was an opportunity to bid for the entire thing,” Barella recalls. While he and Benton could have taken over the place on their own, “There was [Patrick’s] blood, sweat and tears in this building. The very least he deserved was to be part-owner,” Barella adds.

A Recipe for Success

Five months into Riot BBQ, it’s clear that having partners with complementary skills is key to the operation. “The knowledge of the three of us, we fill the gaps that the others don’t have yet,” Barella notes. “It has been so organic. It’s so easy to come up with ideas and dishes and execution — [Patrick] has been doing barbecue as long as I’ve been cooking. Our paths have been going next to each other, but they have never crossed. So there’s a respect for his knowledge and there’s a respect for my knowledge, and we just look for, how can we combine them to make the best food that we can come up with?”

Klaiber adds, “Manny’s background is mostly in fine dining. I have no background in fine dining. All I know how to do is cook meat. His knowledge of ingredients and my knowledge of running the pits, it just works for us.”

The two are appreciative of what each brings to the restaurant. “Patrick is laid back,” Barella points out. “There’s no drama. And if something needs to happen, he puts his head down and does it. That’s really hard to find nowadays in the industry. You can teach the cooking. You can teach the skill, but you cannot teach the attitude. You either have it or you don’t have it.”

Klaiber touts Barella’s “strive for perfection. I thought I had that in me, and I do, but his is even more intense than mine is, and I’ve learned a lot from him already, whether it’s about managing people, cooking, just having fun while being here. I don’t think there’s been a day we’ve worked together where we’ve been upset or angry at each other. It flows so well.”

Barella and Benton also bring a corporate mindset to Riot BBQ — not in a way that threatens to make it boring, but from a consistency and training perspective that has made the entire operation stronger — and allowed all three co-owners to have a better work/life balance. “Make it systematic,” Barella explains of the approach. “I call it being smart lazy. … That whole, I worked six-days-a-week, eighty-hours mentality, I think, is gone. Now, it’s more about, are you that bad at training that you have to be there? It’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to your team, it’s not fair to the restaurant. You’ve got to empower people. I get to have dinner with my wife. I get to put my daughter to bed. It’s such a privilege in this industry to have family time. A lot of chefs wish they could.”

The Meat of the Matter

“Why do we have to do what everyone else is doing?” Barella asks of Riot BBQ’s menu. While many barbecue restaurants offer very similar lineups, he and Klaiber have been thoughtful about their approach: combining the pit master’s knowledge and passion for Texas-style smoked meats with Barella’s northern Mexican heritage.

The holy trinity of Texas barbecue is brisket, ribs and sausage, and Riot is nailing all three. Before opening, the team tested four types of brisket using two different rubs: the original AJ’s recipe and Barella’s blend. “Manny’s rub won, but my brand of brisket won, so we combined them,” Klaiber says. “The flavor of Manny’s brisket really punches you in the mouth a lot more than the AJ’s rub did.”

While that rub does contain the standard salt and pepper, Barella isn’t spilling any other secrets. What he does love to talk about, though, is the al pastor ribs. “A lot of places do traditional brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika,” he says. “I’ve had plenty of magnificent ribs, especially living in South Georgia. But I love pastor. That is my death-row meal.”

So when developing the menu, Barella decided to use his pastor recipe from his days at Bellota on the ribs. “We took one bite,” he recalls, and boom. “It just worked so well, we didn’t have to force it.” After searching menus across the country, Barella and Klaiber believe that Riot may be the only joint around serving an al pastor take on ribs on its regular menu.

The sausage is a more traditional Texas take, with cheddar, jalapenos and the brisket trimmings. “We could be buying sausages, like most barbecue restaurants do, but it’s such a good product that it’s worth the time and labor,” Barella notes.

Then there are the coffee-rubbed pork belly, pibil-style smoked chicken marinated in achiote and citrus, and pork belly burnt ends. Chicken and brisket can also be ordered in taco form, which comes on tortillas made by one of Denver’s oldest wholesale tortilla companies, Raquelitas, using beef tallow from the restaurant.

All of the food is available from open until it sells out. Unlike some spots, including most of the bigger chains, Riot will not hold meats overnight to resell the next day. “We don’t want to do anything that will sacrifice the integrity of the food,” Barella says. While there were some days in the beginning when the spot did sell out early due to unexpectedly large crowds, now the team has a pretty good handle on how much to prepare. And when there’s leftover meat, it’s used in other applications, like adding the pulled rib meat to the dirty rice, one of six sides available.

None of the sides are slackers, from the more standard pit beans, potato salad with deviled egg dressing, and creamy mac and cheese, to the vinegar-based slaw made with salsa macha and the esquites-topped cornbread.

“We wanted to lean into Mexican, but not too much, because there’s nothing to compare it to, so I didn’t know how Denver was going to receive that,” Barella says. But the reception has been very warm, so expect even more Mexican influence in the future. Right now, Barella, is experimenting with the idea of a charred pineapple salsa to serve with the al pastor ribs, which would “give more of that visual of pastor,” he says.

Bib or Bust

Before Riot BBQ opened, Klaiber’s career high came when AJ’s was among the Bib Gourmand picks in Colorado’s first Michelin Guide in 2023. “I was in shock, and the next two months were the busiest of my life,” he recalls. “It was tiring, it was exhausting, but it was very rewarding at the same time.”

But when the new edition of the guide was announced the following year, AJ’s was the only spot that did not retain its status. “When we lost it,” he recalls, “we sat down to talk about why maybe we lost it.” That was hard to nail down, because Michelin is famously secretive. It could have been a matter of consistency, he admits, as changes (like holding meat overnight) were implemented to keep up with the huge increase in demand.

And then came the woes that led to the closure of AJ’s. But with Riot, he says, “I got to bring a lot of AJ’s employees back, and that was really meaningful to me.”

Now, “Our number-one goal is to get back on that list,” Klaiber shares. “I want it for Manny. I want it for the staff that I won it with originally. We’ve got signs posted around the restaurant that say, ‘Bib or bust.'”

“I cannot think of a better motivator than having it and losing it,” Barella adds. “Whether we get it or not, it’s striving for that progression — not perfection. Even if we don’t get it and the lines are out the door, I’ll be happy.”

“That’s what we’re striving for, that same quality we had in 2023 and even better. I really, really think it’s a step above,” Klaiber notes.

The Good Life

Opening and operating a restaurant is notoriously difficult and demanding, especially in today’s financial climate. But the team at Riot BBQ has found a winning formula — not just for guests, but for themselves.

“It is like out of a dream,” says Barella, who is a huge proponent of Riot’s counter service-style set-up. “I don’t know why it took me so long to open a counter service restaurant. People should lean more on it. We did our busiest night with four people. … I’m never opening a full-service restaurant again. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it. It’s really hard with the rent, the taxes.”

“It’s a no-brainer,” adds Klaiber.

Up next for the team: rolling out a line of bottled sauces, which will provide an additional revenue stream — an idea that came from Benton.

Wherever Riot BBQ leads Barella and Klaiber, they’re in it together. “Joking but not joking, I said he can never leave me,” Barella shares with a laugh. “You’re stuck with me.”

“And I never plan to. Life is too good right now,” Klaiber concludes.

And Riot BBQ is too good to miss. So show up early, order a Texas trinity and a cold beer or cocktail, settle into the dining room or on the large back patio, and enjoy the spread at one of the best restaurants to open in the Mile High this year.

Riot BBQ is located at 2180 South Delaware Street and is open Wednesday through Monday from 11 a.m. until sell out. For more information, visit riotbbqcompany.com.