AJ's Pit Barbecue Founder Jared Leonard Now Being Grilled by Feds

Jared Leonard came to Colorado in 2018 with big plans. He initially was just going to open Au Feu, a smoked-meat shop, at the upcoming Zeppelin Station food hall. But then he decided to bring two more of his Chicago-based restaurants (which had gotten into legal trouble in the Windy City) to Denver.

"I was supposed to open Au Feu and then go back to Chicago," Leonard told Westword that February. "I was going to be here six months, so I brought my wife and kids. They loved it so much, and we decided this quality of life is so much better for us."

But Leonard will definitely be back in Chicago soon, and indefinitely: Last week he was arrested in Denver after an Illinois-based grand jury indicted him on federal wire fraud charges, accused of applying for more than $1.6 million in pandemic relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. But most of that money never made it to any of his restaurants, not in Chicago or in Colorado, where he'd gone on to start several other spots, including the Michelin-recommended AJ’s Pit Bar-B-Q.That place closed in late February, when the staff quit, accusing him of failing to make health-care contributions or pay taxes; the eatery was seized by the state.

Earlier in the year, Leonard had closed three other Colorado eateries: Grabowski’s Pizzeria (which had moved from the Source to Lakewood) and the Campfire restaurants in both Evergreen and Lakewood.

"There were a ton of red flags over the years," Patrick Klaiber, who'd worked for Leonard for seven years and was the general manager and pitmaster of AJ's for six — told Molly Martin at the time. "It feels good to get out of there and get away from him. I see the good in getting it all out there. ... I know I'm gonna come out on the better end of all this — maybe I'll open my own place."

And now he has: Riot BBQ opened in the old AJ's spot at 1820 South Delaware Street last month. But any connections to Leonard end there, starting with his new partners, Manny Barella and Caleb Benton, who bought some of the AJ's equipment at an auction in April and urged Klaiber to join them.

”This isn't AJ's 2.0. This is a new concept,” Klaiber emphasized at a preview. “What happened with AJ's sucked, but we're ready to move forward. And it couldn't have worked out better to be teaming up with these two. Everything happens for a reason.”