Blackbelly Celebrates a Decade of Growth and Community in Boulder

"It's crazy looking back on it," says Hosea Rosenberg of the evolution of Blackbelly, which he launched as a catering company in 2011, two years after winning the top prize on season five of Top Chef.

In search of a bigger commissary kitchen for his catering business and the farm dinners he was doing at the time, he found a location at 1606 Conestoga Street in Boulder. "I didn't think of it as a restaurant space at first," Rosenberg recalls. "It was old and beat up, and it wasn't set up for fine dining. But then it dawned on me that east Boulder didn't have a lot of food options, and there was enough space to do something right. ... I felt like I needed a home base, a place where customers could come, friends could come — a gathering place."

On November 11, 2014, Rosenberg opened the first brick-and-mortar iteration of Blackbelly. A decade later, the business has grown in big ways, and the team is ready to celebrate the milestone during a special tasting-menu dinner on November 16. Limited reservations are still available for $150 per person via Tock.

"We took the opening menu from day one and put it through the lens of what we're doing now," Rosenberg says. For the event, the current team will be joined by guest chefs who are past Blackbelly employees, including Chris and Ariana Tiegland, who met as staffers at the restaurant, got married and opened Glo Noodle House in Denver in 2022. "It should be a party," he adds.
The business has "sort of organically grown the whole time," he says. "I never had a master vision for this space." He credits his team, past and present, for making Blackbelly as successful as it's been. "The team we assembled for the opening was remarkable — especially in the kitchen," he remembers. "It was a group of chefs that were beyond talented. ... We definitely had some good luck on our side when we opened."

In fact, the place was soon "bursting at the seams," Rosenberg recalls. When the doughnut shop next door went out of business, he took on the space and opened Blackbelly Butcher in 2016. Soon after, he added Santo, Rosenberg's ode to his home state of New Mexico.

When the pandemic hit, the team went into "survival mode," he says, "but we got so much support from locals and regulars."

So after the third occupant of the Blackbelly building, a Quizno's outpost, went out of business in 2021, "it was a really great opportunity to grow again," Rosenberg notes. "You have to keep reinvesting in the business; you can't just rely on past success. So we're constantly trying to upgrade."

The latest expansion was unveiled last year and includes a private dining room "that's been a game-changer," a retail market and, most important, more opportunities for growth for the team.
That includes butcher Kelly Kawachi, who was honored at the state's first Michelin ceremony in 2023 as the Colorado Culinary Professional award winner. Blackbelly nabbed honors, too, including landing on the Recommended list and earning a Green Star for its sustainability practices, both of which it retained in this year's guide.

Kawachi is also part of the leadership team at Blackbelly Market Denver, a smaller offshoot that debuted on Tennyson Street in March.

While Rosenberg is proud of the ways in which the business has grown physically, he's even prouder of the growth of his teams, which run everything from the butchering and charcuterie programs to the restaurant, market and catering operations. "A lot of people don't realize we have all these different arms," he says. "All the teams are really humming these days."
When he first launched Blackbelly catering and opened the brick-and-mortar, "it was survival," Rosenberg recalls. "It was me, I was working every day." But over the years, collaboration — both with his staff and the community — has become key.

"Growth can be hard and growth can be dangerous," Rosenberg admits. "But we've done it slow and steady...and I have to grow, too. I need new challenges. The secret to our success is that we keep coming up with new challenges, which keeps me super motivated."

It also keeps him focused on what's important. "I love cooking. I love cooking for people — I love the creativity, the passion. It's what keeps me going," he concludes. "Nothing brings us together like food."

Blackbelly Market & Restaurant is is located at 1606 Contestoga Street in Boulder; for restaurant reservations and market hours, visit blackbelly.com.