It’s been a long time coming, but finally chef Jim Pittenger has a new restaurant home and complete rights to his brand, including the Biker Jim’s name. Now, he will open Biker Jim’s Bikers and Bakers in Avanti Denver, taking over the spot housing Eloise on the first level of the food hall and offering brunch, brats, and bold breakfast food.
The new menu won’t offer as many sausages and toppings as the original RiNo location of Biker Jim’s, but the chef said about six will remain, including a new ostrich one. Aside from exotic meat and “ethnic brats,” Pittenger plans on making Dutch babies for brunch, Korean fried chicken, and waffles using a large Pizzelle machine. The goal for the latter, he said, is to create the ultimate chicken and waffle cone with mashed potatoes and gravy.
If the bakery and brunch aspect feel off brand for Biker Jim, it’s really not. In fact, Pittenger has baked his whole life and figured he would make and sell cheesecakes long before he stumbled into sausage. For many years he even made cheesecakes to sell at the hot dog cart, featuring flavors such as Irish Car Bomb, Limoncello Sour Orange, and Chocolate Chipotle Chili. That was over 20 years ago, and for 18 of them Pittenger ran his Biker JIm’s concept solo. In general, it did okay that way, even eliciting a visit and fan fare from Anthony Bourdain in 2010 and 2016, when the late chef donned a Biker Jim’s T-shirt.
That was before, when Pittenger slowly grew his brand and presence. The most recent drama stems from a partnership the chef made in 2021, which he did as a lifeline during the pandemic. He teamed up with someone he had known for a long time that ran a successful hand sanitizer business. The goal centered on funding and promoting his gourmet sausage business. At first it wasn’t too bad. Biker Jim’s spread and soon grocery stores offered a few of his sausages packaged and ready to take home.
“My decision to partner up with him at the time, with the information I had, was a good decision and it made sense,” said Pittenger. “I ultimately ended up trading Biker Jims for shares in his company that was going to do all this stuff. I was suddenly on payroll, which was weird because, you know, really getting paid regularly sometimes is interesting.”
While Pittenger benefited from a stable income and not having to worry about the fine details of his business, soon things started to feel off, he commented. He noticed payroll didn’t show up until $60,000 disappeared from the Biker Jim bank account. In fact, said the chef, in the course of the first nine months, his partner sucked $300,000 out of the restaurant bank account.
“When that money ran out, so did payroll. The other (hand sanitizer) company just basically faded away after that, and the red flags became abundant,” he added, mentioning that’s when massive bills from venues and vendors started rolling in. “He basically toasted the business over the course of the next three years, to the point where I walked away from it a year and a half ago.”
He also decided to talk to an attorney to find out what he could do to salvage the situation. Lucky for him, Pittenger discovered the Biker Jim’s name was only tied up as long as he, Jim, was employed by the company. While before the rights to his name, likeness, history, and everything else could be used, once he walked away he got those back. He also distanced himself from the numerous lawsuits brought to the parent company.
Since then, the chef has peddled Biker Jims around town in various ways. For a while he did Bikers & Bakers at Milk Market. He also popped up around the city, worked conventions, showed up at farmers’ markets, and had a stint with the Great American Beer Festival, all while trying to figure out what to do and where to land.
“The harder you work, the luckier you get,” quipped the social chef, mentioning he had been tired of being stationary after the drama with his former business partner. “If you show up every day and go to work, stuff happens. And by me sucking off and making a dent in my couch, not a lot happens.”
As for the November opening, serendipitously, the owner of Eloise was looking to move on, and Pittenger was looking for the right place to move in. It appears luck has struck the 67-year-old chef, and once again, Biker Jim’s is back in business, this time with brunch.
Biker Jim’s will open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 3200 N. Pecos St., Denver, berlinerhausdenver.com
