13 NOVEMBER 27-DECEMBER 3, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | 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 fi ll 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 re- spect 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 fi ne dining. I have no background in fi ne dining. All I know how to do is cook meat. His knowledge of ingredients and my knowl- edge 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 fi nd 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 perfec- tion. 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 fl ows 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 con- sistency 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 fl avor 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 stan- dard 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 magnifi cent 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 or- dered 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, includ- ing 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 sacrifi ce 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 dev- iled 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 infl uence in the future. Right now, Barella, is ex- perimenting 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 fi rst 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 mat- ter 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 notori- ously diffi cult and demanding, especially in today’s fi nancial 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 informa- tion, visit riotbbqcompany.com. Arrive early for the best selection. Patrick Klaiber has been working in barbecue since his teens. VALERIA MOONCH PHOTOGRAPHY VALERIA MOONCH PHOTOGRAPHY
