Dave Query turns dream into reality with hard work, ambiance and a flair for fare

Working as a cook at Mustard's Last Stand at only 14 years of age, Dave Query knew he was destined to go into the restaurant business, whether as a chef, owner or both.

What he didn't foresee was just how much reality had in store for him.

With a collaboration of silent partners – a mix of friends and mentors who allow Dave to make the decisions – backing him, Dave has opened five restaurants in Boulder and two in Denver since 1994.

As a senior at Fairview High School, Dave wrote a 10-year plan that outlined his hopes to attend a cooking school, travel the country and work in as many great restaurants he could, then return to Boulder and open his own restaurant, for a class assignment. When the teacher sent the plan to parents' address 10 years later, Dave had satisfied most of his goals, graduating from the Culinary Institute in New York, and traveling to and working at restaurants in cities known for their high-class and unique cuisine: New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago and France, among them.

When he returned to Boulder in 1988, he implemented that last of his dream, working at if not co-owning restaurants in the Denver-Boulder area including The Lickskillet Cafe, Cliff Young's and Q's in the Hotel Boulderado.

"There’s never been anything else that I ever wanted to do," Dave says.

The seven restaurants that make up Big Red F are now among the most popular in Boulder and Denver – not only for their cuisine and libations, but for their ambiance and exemplary customer service: Zolo Grill, Jax Fish House, the West End Tavern, Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace and Happy in Boulder, and LOLA Coastal Mexican and Jax Fish House in Denver.

Dave says the fact that he grew up in Boulder hasn’t hurt. "Anytime you can do business in the town you grew up in, it’s going to be to your advantage," he says.

And most of his restaurants do not serve Mexican or seafood cuisine by chance: Dave enjoys spending time as well as eating south of the border. LOLA, with its Coastal Mexican fare, combines the best of both cravings.

Before Dave discovered his love and flair for cooking, the entrepreneurial spirit was alive and well: he owned a shoe-shining business and sold beers through his family's fence to the golfers on the course on the other side. That spirit lives on in the parent company of the seven restaurants, Big Red R Restaurant Group, and in its managers, whom Dave encourages to come up with entrepreneurial ideas to keep the restaurants fresh and exciting and customers walking in the door.

The most recent brainchild of the management at West End Tavern is to host a tour of the breweries whose beers are served at the restaurant. The Boulder Brew Bus will provide tours almost every Sunday this summer starting June 20. (For more information, visit http://www.thewestendtavern.com/TheBoulderBrewBus/tabid/597/Default.aspx/.)

"It’s just as much fun running a 16-year-old business as opening a brand new one," Dave says.

Although he has a rather successful restaurant company to run, Dave has juggled that commitment with the responsibility of raising three children – two sons now at the University of Colorado and a daughter at Fairview. Though none of them seem interested in following in their father’s footsteps, he is happy they have all found their own destinies to explore – law, business and photography.

"It's a pretty hard career choice," Dave says. "If they don’t get into it, I won’t be that upset."

For more information about Big Red F Restaurant Group or any of its establishments, visit http://www.bigredf.com/.