Now entering its 30th year in business, Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar is easily taken granted. But given the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch credentials, private oyster farmer in Virginia, and dedication to really good seafood in Denver, it certainly shouldn’t be.
After all, since 1998 chef Sheila Lucero has helmed the sustainable seafood program and the LoDo location has a staple of the neighborhood since before many Denver residents moved here, or in many cases, were even born. With that in mind, some may not realize, or might have forgotten, the role Jax has played in the evolution of seafood in the Denver dining landscape. But Dave Query, founder of not only Jax but several other restaurants under the umbrella of his Big Red F Restaurant Group, hasn’t.
A Seafood Visionary
Today, Denver is a culinary destination, with Michelin-starred restaurants, diverse food halls, and celebrity chefs. But when Jax first opened, the scene was a lot different. Denver back then was still considered a meat-and-potatoes culinary backwater, and the mere idea of a seafood-focused concept like Jax was revolutionary.
“In the early days, we got a lot of pushback on serving oysters in the mountains,” said Query, who opened the first Jax Fishhouse and Oyster Bar in Boulder in 1994. “‘This is the West, you’re so far from the ocean,’ people said. But how is it okay for Le Bernardin (in New York) to be serving Hawaiian tuna or Water Grill (in Los Angeles) to be serving Florida pompano? They’re all flying over Denver. If you think of airplanes as fishing vessels and airports as harbors, we’re one of the busiest harbors in the world.”
Just as Coors Field revitalized the LoDo neighborhood, the opening of Denver International Airport transformed Denver’s dining experience. Suddenly, not only did the airport start bringing in fresh seafood from all over the world, it also delivered the out-of-state diners hungry for the unique Southwest-meets-mountains-meets-Midwest cuisine.
In fact, while it may be subtle and impossible to prove, one could argue that Jax introducing and championing seafood in Denver had a broader impact on how people began to view Denver as a dining destination. Challenging the notion that you can’t get fresh seafood in the mountains allowed chefs, restaurant owners, and even diners to challenge additional notions as well.
Now, said Query, “You can get oysters at 7-Eleven with a mojito.”
A LoDo Pioneer With a Dash of Gritty History
The building on 17th and Wazee where the second location of Jax stands today previously had housed the original Terminal Bar, a gritty dive frequented by troubadour Tom Waits, who wrote a song about it. Upstairs was the Mayfair Hotel flophouse where legendary Beat poet Jack Kerouac was known to stay.
It was here that Query chose to enter the Denver market in 1995, bolstered by the success of the original Jax established in Boulder the year prior. The surrounding area was slowly transitioning from a collection of abandoned warehouses to an entertainment district, thanks to the recent opening of Coors Field. But overall, it was still a little sketchy.
“Union Station was a dangerous place back then,” Query said. “I told my staff not to park down there. People were getting stabbed down there in the parking lot at night. I mean, it was dead, like dead.”
All that changed quickly as LoDo became the hip, “it” area to hang, long before the rise of neighborhoods like Highland, RiNo, and, given its current status, Cherry Creek. Now, Jax became the center of it all, both literally and figuratively.
“People used to roll over here every day for happy hour, to the point where the bartenders used hand signals with each other to start making two dozen martinis and oyster shooters as these guys were walking across the street,” Query said. “It was great.”
The Downfall of Downtown, With a Side of Hope
Since those pre-pandemic heydays, and despite two renovations to the iconic Union Station just down the street, this area of LoDo has regressed a bit to those older, seedier days. The sidewalks are starting to buckle. Drug use and crime has creeped back in. And while Jax is still thriving within its walls, Query is not happy with what he’s seeing outside them.
So after 29 years operating as a silent pioneer of LoDo’s dining scene, he’s become much more vocal in his 30th. This February, Query sent a well-publicized letter to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston outlining his concerns. In April, he expressed cautious optimism based on the promises the mayor issued in response. Today, that optimism is gone.
“I was hoping for the best, trying to support him,” Query said of Denver’s mayor. “He had made these great comments about cops on horseback and bicycles, EMT teams roaming around here, extra third-party security forces keeping the calm. But so far, nothing. We have not seen a cop on a horse, ever.”
His role as the defender of the neighborhood, is a reluctant one, but one he shoulders out of a love for the space, the corner, and the region. And since the closing of the Jax Glendale location, the LoDo spot now gets the full focus of his attention in Denver.
“This is a marquee corner, a great location,” he said. “I love LoDo and it’s frustrating the state of LoDo right now. This is one of our crown jewels. You can’t neglect this… I don’t think it’s falling back necessarily. It’s just not falling forward.”
A Return To The Basics
Like any restaurant that’s been around for 30 years, Jax has had its share of menu revisions. Longtime regulars recall with fondness the filet mignon of tuna, a charred block of tuna, sliced rare on a bed of hash browns studded with rock shrimp. It was so popular that servers considered it a staple of their income.
That dish, and many others, have been replaced with new menu items, some even drifting from the seafood focus such as pork chops and burgers. After all, it’s a business, but Query wonders if maybe all this shift also needs to get revamped.
“We changed maybe more than we should have,” he said. “We changed for a long time. We changed almost the entire menu every season. As a result, 30 years later, we’re a little schizophrenic.”
As a result, the entire Jax footprint, all four locations, will undergo a full menu overhaul in the new year, bringing back old favorites and refocusing on who they are and were always meant to be.
“We’re really going to draw back to our roots of why people come to a seafood restaurant. They’re coming to eat fish,” Query said. “Our mantra this year has been reduction in complexity, and this is part of that, just getting rid of the noise and making things simpler so we can make them better.”
In many ways Jax is entering its middle age years (by restaurant standards), comfortable and confident in what it is without apology. Not chasing trends. Not looking to impress. Just being Jax, fully, and simply.
That includes knowing exactly where it plans to stay—serving seafood, on the same corner in LoDo where it all started, challenges be damned.
“I’m not thinking this is over,” said Query. “We’re not going anywhere. Jax LoDo is about to have its most spectacular year ever. This is a special, unique place and it will literally be here long after I’m gone.”
Visit the Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar in LoDo from 4 to 9 p.m. on Monday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. through 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday; and 2 to 9 p.m. on Sunday. Lunch is served Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. 1539 17th St, Denver, jaxfishhouse.com.
