Robert Thompson’s Angevin & Co. is riding high atop the U.S. pickleball wave. In addition to an announced project in the Globeville Fox Park development, Camp Pickle is slated to open in Centennial “just off Arapahoe Road,” about 200 yards from Topgolf in 2024, according to PR sources.
Thompson is getting back to his roots in developing an “eatertainment concept,” which he first founded in 2012 with Punch Bowl Social, offering a unique combination of play and dining that grew into 20 national locations before the restaurateur sold out of his ownership stake (per What Now Denver).
This version of games n’ fun will be housed in a “1940s-era camp culture” setting with the ubiquitous paddle game as its centerpiece. This means 14 total pickleball courts with 11 indoors for all-season access. In addition to pickleball courts and leagues, Camp Pickle will feature duckpin bowling lanes, three karaoke rooms, and 10 dart lanes inside and an sprawling outdoor area featuring cornhole and horseshoes.
This competition, of course, will be supplemented by drinks and dishes. And the food won’t just be typical bar fare, either. James Beard Award Semifinalist Chef Manny Barella will serve as culinary director of Camp Pickle (as well as for another Thompson “smaller footprint” eatertainment project, Jaguar Bolera). Fittingly, the Monterrey, Mexico-born chef will be charged with combining wood-fired cooking techniques with Mexican-influenced eats.
“I’ve even had the awesome opportunity to stage at Loro, an Asian smokehouse meets Texas barbecue spot in Austin, where James Beard Award winners, Chef Tyson Cole of Uchi and Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue balance both cuisines in very well executed dishes, despite the seemingly tremendous difference,” Barella told What Now Denver.
Currently in the “brainstorming phase” of menu creation, Barella said that people should “be ready for smoked proteins and crave worthy items.” Barella joins Camp Pickle after several national posts at luminary restaurants including at the celebrated Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder. Fortunately for Coloradans, Barella has been enjoying the state ever since. Now, he will have to sharpen his pickleball skills as well as his knives.
“I’m a competitor, so I’ll definitely be practicing,” Barella said.
