While meeting the challenges of change (Part II)
By Morgan M. Hurley
In the last issue, we started a story about Barrell & Board & Bar and Gossip Grill, but we just ran out of time and space. The separate interviews conducted with owner Moe Girton and B&B Executive Chef Mina Rosete just didn’t get the space on the page that this writer had hoped. So here we are. To read part 1, visit: Meeting the challenges of change.
The gist of our last feature explained a bit about how Barrel & Board came about, but there is so much more to tell.
Barrel & Board was purchased during COVID, and while there wasn’t a lot of money available, it was an offer too good to pass up. The original plan was to move Gossip Grill there, but then COVID ended and the opportunity to have a second space fell into place. There are 17 investors in Barrel & Board, making it a 100% employee owned business. The top four investors, Moe Girton, Stefan Chilcoat, Joey Arruda, and Matt Ramon, are all familiar names within our community and our gay/queer bar and restaurant establishments.
It is important to note that while you may still associate them with “MO’s Universe,” that is no longer a thing. Each of the properties that at one time were connected by that marketing phrase are now all individually owned. It just so happens that there is a lot of familiarity, which makes the community we are all a part of even closer than most. Many of us “grew up” with these people, or at least their names, as they moved up to their ownerships. The other 13 people are also familiar faces, and all work within the community.
That said, Girton calls the shots. She said it was important to her to be different from any other business and “uplift marginalized communities” by specializing in women-owned, queer-owned, and people-of-color (POC)-owned businesses.
“As best as I can, not bring on too much product from cis white men,” she said.
One of those is Uncle Nearest Whiskey, which is a black woman brand; the CEO is Fawn Weaver and the master blender, Victoria Butler, who is the great great granddaughter of Nearest Green, the black slave who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Butler is also the first known black woman master whiskey blender in history.
That’s quite a story, and Girton not only has Uncle Nearest featured in five cocktails carried in house on draft, she’s had Weaver and Butler in the Boardroom.
Girton said those “tapped” cocktails are often complicated and time-consuming to make, so they make a huge amount in a punchbowl and “keg it.”
We touched a bit on the mocktails in the previous story but, not enough. This is a huge, growing trend, and Girton is here for it. She said their mocktails list is almost as big as their cocktail list, and they also have “alcohol-removed” sparkling pinot and prosecco.
“We’ve completely upped our mocktail game to craft,” Girton said. “We’re not just doing your basic soda water and blackberries and ginger beer. We have a women-owned Limoncello; we have the Ritual line, a Liar’s Coffee liquor and some really cool spirits to make these with.”
Everything is elevated. Even Gossip Grill has some new mocktails.
“People used to judge you and make people feel bad for not having a real cocktail,” she said. “It needs to be normalized. Having alternatives for folks who don’t care to drink has become a huge priority in maintaining our safe space and community space.”
When it comes to those who do like to dabble, one of her new bartenders is from “world famous Denver Death & Co.” – the company that puts out a top-selling cocktail book – and Girton said she was “crucial” in the establishment of the new cocktail men. Each of the new cocktails is named after a strong woman artist.
Their wine club – held last Saturday of the month from 2-4 pm – includes raffles, gag gifts, charcuterie boards, and five, 4 oz. pours. Miriam T hosts and the wines are always top notch, she said.
In addition to all the great wine, cocktails and mocktails inhouse, Gossip Grill has launched a new “mobile bar” on wheels.
The branding on the outside of the is hard to miss, but it’s what you get when the trailer gets parked and all opened up that is the real treat.
The mobile bar is available for rent. As the trailer says on the back, “Call for a good time! 619-260-8023 or gossipgrill.com.”
A tribal leader
Something else we just scratched the surface of last month was the double-life of Mina Rosete, Barrel & Board’s executive chef. Girton calls her a bonafide “bad ass.” Rosete’s been with the restaurant since nearly the beginning and with a great team and a new menu out, she feels she’s at the top of her game.
“I really pride myself on us being a safe space for other queers,” she said. “Being in the community that I am in, in terms of the service industry, being a female chef has always been super challenging. It’s a boys club. And being queer and being brown – it’s been more of a challenge, especially when you get into positions of power and you’re in charge of other people and [especially] men.”
She’s certainly got this part of it figured out, but she’s also got another life she’s devoted to back in New Mexico – her indigenous tribe, where her father is the tribal leader and the last of his generation; meaning, once he is unable to fulfill his duties or he passes, the leadership may soon fall to her and her siblings, but they have other callings at the moment.
“We have to be the holders of this knowledge and teach others, you can’t force it, you have to be called to it,” she said.
So for now, the self-taught chef is balancing her business and immersing herself into these traditional practices that may soon be her life.
“In the indigenous culture we call it ‘walking the red road’ which is tied to the spiritual path that is given to you,” Rosete explained. “I spent a lot of time running from my culture and running from my true self. I think a lot of it was being queer, and not being able to engage in the community I was brought up in. I got lost doing drugs and alcohol for a long time. When I moved out here, I got clean and sober and that has given me back my culture.”
She admits that she is far from a “hyper-spiritual” or “dogmatic” person, but reconnecting has given her a sense of purpose.
“It grounds me a lot and helps me to heal my wounds,” she said.
The story of these two women is inspiring in so many ways. Our community needs them and they need this space. For more information about Barrel & Board, its food, cocktail, wine, and mocktails menus, visit barrelandboardsd.com.
–Morgan M. Hurley can be reached at [email protected].
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