Colorado's truly legendary restaurants are few and far between, and they are becoming scarcer. Between notoriously minuscule profit margins, ever-increasing costs and the many, many rigors of the 2020s, it's not surprising that many well-established joints — even those that have served customers for decades — are bowing out of business when buildings are sold, leases are up or owners just plain need a rest.
Heinritz didn't necessarily consider the restaurant's already impressive history when his crew purchased it."We signed a ten-year lease, and that seemed like a lifetime," he recalls. At the time, Heinritz was living in Fort Collins and working in a cabinet factory, and none of the family had much restaurant experience."My brother James was living in Boulder," Heinritz recalls."He was talking to [then-owners] the Kauvars about property listings.
The consequences of serving alcohol to underage patrons have changed drastically, as well."Back in the ’90s, it was a little wink and a nod: Keep it in balance, don’t be a jerk about it," he says. Now, serving a brew to a twenty-year-old could mean a total shutdown for three to ten days. Those 3.2 days are long gone.