Meet Patrick Klaiber | General Manager/Pitmaster

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patrick Klaiber and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
There are multiple factors that have lead to the success of AJ’S.

Every employee past and present has helped contribute to our success. Building an incredible team is extremely important in the service industry and we have been lucky enough to be able to do that over the years. From back of house employees to front of house, every position matters and I am so fortunate to have been able to work with my team over the years.

Obviously food quality is a huge factor, mastering the technique of Barbecue is not easy and it takes a lot of hard work and time. I have been in the barbecue industry since I was 16, pretty much half of my life and I have learned from some amazing people over the years. While those restaurants were very different from AJ’s, I have taken the knowledge from those places and brought them here. We’re all about keeping it simple at AJ’s, simple food with elevated flavors all while paying homage to traditional Texas style BBQ. Slow smoked on offset pits using a combination Red and White Oak.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am most proud being in the Michelin Guide. Back in September of 2023, AJ’s was awarding the Bib Gourmand, a Michelin Award that recognizes great food at a great price. That was the craziest week of my life. If you had told 16 year old Patrick that his name would one day be in the Michelin Guide I would’ve said “Whats the Michelin Guide?” Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be where I am today. I am so so proud of that.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Funny you should ask, some of my best friends in the world just visited me a few weeks ago. We of course went to Widespread Panic at Red Rocks, saw The Rolling Stones at Mile High Stadium, camped for a couple days up in the mountains, ate some amazing food around town, and had a couple beach days at Chatfield and Horsetooth reservoirs. We went to a couple other Bib Gourmand awarded places, La Diabla in Denver and Basta in Boulder. Two of my favorite restaurants in Colorado.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have multiple mentors that have helped me get to where I am today. The first one that always comes to mind is Hecky Powell. Hecky was the owner at the first restaurant I worked in, Hecky’s Barbecue, in Evanston Illinois. He hired me on as a dishwasher/line cook and quickly promoted me to manager when I was 17. At that point in my life I had never even thought about pursuing this industry as a career. I was just a lost High School kid and he took me under his wing and taught me so much about the service industry and even more about life. I still remember the time he came into the restaurant and told me I had a future in the restaurant business. I worked at Hecky’s from when I was 16 until I moved to Colorado at 21 years old. After I moved to Colorado we stayed in touch, he’d always say “when you move back here, we’re opening a restaurant together!” Sadly, Hecky passed away due to Covid complications in 2020. I 100%, without a doubt, know I would not be where I am today without him.

My Mom and Dad. They have been my biggest supporters my entire life. Through everything, they are the ones that are always there for me. When I dropped out of college after freshman year because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, they were the ones that insisted I go back to pursue a degree in Restaurant and Hospitality Management. Anytime I need advice they are the first people I call. The day we won the Bib Gourmand award, they showed up at AJ’s with a bottle of champagne ready to celebrate. One of the greatest days of my life. Without them I don’t know what I would be doing right now.

Ted Schneider. Ted is the owner of Moe’s Original BBQ in Fort Collins. When I moved to Fort Collins in 2015 I was hired as a prep cook at Moe’s. Ted and I bonded rather quickly over music, after one of my first shifts I was sitting at the bar wearing a Grateful Dead hat, Ted looks at me with a stone cold face and says “is that a hippie hat?” I said “yeah but I’m not a hippie” and the rest sort of just fell into place. Turns out he had seen the Grateful Dead plenty of times. Ted taught me a different side of the industry, he taught me about different flavors and spices and the combination of the two. He really taught me the cooking side of things. He taught me how to make a proper roux, I had no idea what a roux even was before I started working there. Ted and I still catch some live music together from time to time, talk business, and share some laughs.

Amanda and Jared Leonard, the owners of AJ’s Pit Bar B Q. The amount of trust they have showed in me the last 6 years of working for them is incredible. The biggest compliment an owner can give an employee is trusting them to run their store. They have supported me every step of the way since I started working for them. They have given me the freedom to do things the way I want to do them, to show what I am capable of, with their full support. Jared and Amanda’s original restaurant was Rub’s Backcountry Smokehouse in Chicago and I used to eat there a lot when I lived in Illinois. My mom took me to one of Jared’s BBQ 101 cooking classes for my 18th birthday. Little did I know I’d be the Pitmaster at one of his future restaurants in Denver.

Website: https://pitbarbq.com

Instagram: @pklaibs, @ajspitbbq

Image Credits
Photo credits to Connor Stehr and Nick Friedler