Riot BBQ in Denver: Better Than What Came Before It

What's interesting is what moved in to take its place.

Riot BBQ

Riot BBQ is now operating out of 2180 S Delaware Street, the same space AJ's occupied before it closed. I'll say upfront that taking over a former Michelin-recognized spot is either a great opportunity or a lot of pressure depending on how you look at it. From what I can tell, Riot BBQ is treating it like an opportunity — and pulling it off.

The thing that stands out to me is that they're not trying to be AJ's with a new name. They're doing their own thing with their own flavor profiles, which is the right call. Nobody wants a tribute act, especially when the original already had a defined reputation and a loyal following with opinions about it. Riot BBQ is building something separate, and from what I've seen, the flavors are legitimately distinct from what came before.

I've been to enough BBQ spots around Denver to know that "good BBQ" in this city is a moving target. The bar has gotten higher over the last few years, partly because spots like AJ's raised expectations before closing, and partly because Denver diners are less willing to settle for mediocre smoke and call it a meal. Riot BBQ seems to understand that context. They're not coasting on the location or the built-in foot traffic from people who used to go to AJ's.

South Delaware Street isn't exactly a destination strip — it's a working-class stretch in the area south of downtown where you're generally going somewhere specific rather than wandering. That actually works in Riot BBQ's favor. The people showing up are there because they want BBQ, not because they stumbled past a cute patio. That self-selecting crowd tends to produce better feedback loops for a restaurant trying to find its footing.

The fact that I'm calling this one of the better BBQ spots in Denver right now isn't something I say lightly. Denver has historically been a tough market for BBQ — we're not Texas, we're not Kansas City, and there's always been a weird pressure on Colorado BBQ spots to either imitate those traditions or invent something new enough to justify existing. The places that do well here tend to find a middle ground: respect for technique and smoke, but enough personality in the seasoning and sides to feel like they belong here.

Riot BBQ, from everything I can gather, is landing in that zone. The flavors are its own. The space has a history, but the restaurant doesn't seem burdened by it. And stepping into a location with any kind of name recognition — even one that ended on a down note — gives you a built-in starting point that most new restaurants don't have.

One thing worth noting: AJ's closing was a real loss. A Bib Gourmand recognition is not nothing, and it's worth acknowledging that the Denver food scene took a hit when it shut down. But part of what makes watching Riot BBQ interesting is seeing what a new team does with the same physical space and a completely clean slate in terms of reputation. They don't inherit AJ's goodwill, but they also don't inherit any of the baggage from whatever led to the closure.

If you're on the south side of Denver or just willing to make the drive down to that stretch of Delaware, it's worth checking out. The address is 2180 S Delaware — easy to find, not buried in a strip mall, the kind of place you pull up to and immediately know you're in the right spot for what you came to eat.

BBQ is one of those food categories where reputation builds slowly and word-of-mouth matters more than almost anywhere else. People who love good BBQ talk about it. They bring friends. They argue about whose ribs are better over text messages at 10pm. Riot BBQ is the kind of place that could generate that kind of conversation, which is a decent sign for a spot that's still relatively new to the Denver scene.

I don't know yet how the full menu shakes out across every cut and every side, and I'd want more time with it before making sweeping declarations. What I do know is that the first impression is strong enough that I'm already thinking about when I'm going back, which is usually the clearest signal I have about whether a place is doing something right.

Denver's BBQ landscape has a new player worth paying attention to. Riot BBQ isn't trying to resurrect what AJ's was — it's making a case for what it is. So far, that case is pretty solid.