After 33 years serving seafood and Southern cooking in Denver, the husband-and-wife owners of Bayou Bob’s are closing their restaurant on the 16th Street Mall and retiring at the end of the month.
The Cajun restaurant’s last day of service will be Saturday, Aug. 31, which on Tuesday.
“After 33 years, it’s just, it’s time,” Bob Hoffpauir, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Tamra, told The Denver Post. “We’ll probably stay open until the food runs out and people stop coming.”
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Originally from Louisiana, the Hoffpauirs first opened Bayou Bob’s in 1986 inside a food court on Denver’s Stout Street. They graduated to a full-service restaurant in 1990 and moved to their current location off the mall in 1995. Bob Hoffpauir credits their success in Denver to “just doing so much of it ourselves, being able to keep an eye on costs.”
“For me to be here all the time — I’ll be 65 next month — I don’t have it in me anymore,” he laughed.
After the restaurant closes, the couple plans to retire in Florida.
But first, Bayou Bob’s will participate one last time in this weekend, selling what it always has — fried alligator, fried pickles and crawfish etouffee.
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Back at the restaurant, the Hoffpauirs will serve fan-favorite dishes like catfish, gumbo and peach cobbler to well-wishing customers. When the Hoffpauirs announced their closing , there was an outpouring of social media support.
“I just really want to thank the people of Denver and Colorado,” Hoffpauir said. “They’ve been incredibly nice to us and put up with us over the years.”
Bayou Bob’s closure comes a year after the long-running just around the corner, followed by Marlowe’s next door. The first new concept to replace them is slated to open this fall.
Bayou Bob’s, 1635 Glenarm Place, 303-573-6828,