Before Kevin Grossi became the face of fried chicken for the Big Red F Restaurant Group and The Post, he tried his hand at a lot of hip places in Colorado. His first job in the state was at Wynkoop Brewing Company in Downtown Denver. From there he moved on to Red Rocks, where as a chef, he said, he would wander backstage and get to meet a ton of musicians.
Grossi, who was in his 20s and “wild” at the time, eventually went on to work for Richard Sandoval (Tamayo, Toro) at Zengo (now closed). There he cooked under Troy Guard, long before Guard became the name behind TAG Restaurant Group, which runs #Hashtag, Los Chingones, Guard and Grace, and more.
“I was still living that bouncer life, and went to San Diego, Boston…then came full circle back to Denver,” said the chef, who started cooking at the age of 14 in Michigan. It was then he first landed at Big Red F, and stayed for seven years until launching The Regional in Avanti Denver.
Cashing in and Moving Out
When Grossi left the food hall and Denver, he brought The Regional to Fort Collins. It operated through COVID and until, one faithful day, someone came in and offered to buy the restaurant.
“He bought it with cash, and we walked away,” said Grossi, adding at the point in his life, running the restaurant felt too stressful and unhealthy. “I realized it was a unique opportunity. I could walk away and make money, or stay until the lease ended. I walked away and didn’t look back.”
While he loved his restaurant baby, the chef realized the real priority was his family. He wanted more time with his young kids and to ease stress for both his wife and himself.
“I started realizing, what am I doing this for? Mostly, it was for myself, but life changes when you have kids,” he said. After the sale, the family moved near Boulder and Grossi took a break from the kitchen.
Heading Back to the Frying Pan
That break led Grossi to sales, which, he said, he hated. After a couple years there, he realized the kitchen was where he wanted to be, though in a capacity that gave him personal life balance and time with his family. The chef got a job at River and Woods in Boulder, and finally he felt he was in a place that fueled his love of cooking and restaurants, but also gave him the space to be a father and husband.
“It was fun to work at River and Woods, and I love Daniel [Asher],” said Grossi, referring to the restaurant’s chef and co-partner. “I was able to get some momentum going.”
But then his first restaurant family came calling, and Grossi moved on to Big Red F for the second time. It helped that the company offer him the position of culinary director for The Post and West End Tavern. This gave him a lot of freedom to work with menus, but also the team to support the restaurants during those hours when he wanted to be home with his family. That balance, said the chef, is priceless, and he’s happy to be right where he is and has no plans of jet setting anywhere else, for now.
The Chef Takeover
Join Grossi as he takes us through a day-in-the life as a chef for Big Red F. No day is the same, he said, and on Friday, August 7, he will be spending a lot of time at The Post in Estes Park. But first, he plans to swing by Moxie Bread Co. in Longmont to pick up products for the restaurants.
Once at the restaurant, Grossi said we can expect to see a lot of chicken being processed and cooked. And, we may even get a sneak peek at the dish he is bringing to DiningOut Events’ Chicken Fight! in Denver on August 20. The everything-fried-chicken festival takes place at Elitch Gardens, and it’s an all-you-can-eat-and-drink extravaganza.
Get tickets for the festival here, and watch as Grossi shows us what it’s like being a chef for The Post. Comment and follow DiningOut Denver and The Post on Instagram in order to be entered to win a $100 gift card to any Big Red F restaurant (The Post, West End, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, Centro Mexican Kitchen), which has locations across the Front Range.
