Familiar Face – Leslie Middleton

Diners attribute the quality of their eating out experience to the people they interact with – the front of house workers. For 17 years, Leslie Middleton has been the most noticeable front of house person at Gunbarrel’s Café Blue American Grill while her chef husband Kevin runs the kitchen.

These days, because of COVID, Leslie isn’t just taking orders and bringing out delicious drinks and food to diners at the restaurant, she’s also driving freshly prepared meals to patrons’ homes. She’s doing it all with graciousness and a huge amount of gratitude.

Because Leslie is a community mainstay, delighted diners suggested it’s time to learn about her and acknowledge the tremendous amount of fortitude and wide spectrum of skills it takes to be successful in the restaurant business.

Left Hand Valley Courier (LHVC) - Where did you grow up and what did you do following high school?

Leslie Middleton (LM) - I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and my family are diehard Buckeye fans. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. I attended Muskingum College and Ohio State and ended up moving to Bakersfield, California and attended Cal State Bakersfield. My degree is in public administration, with a health care concentration.

LHVC - Where did life take you after that and how did you find yourself in Colorado in the food industry?

LM - I ended up moving to Norman, Oklahoma where I had my first child, Elise. We only lived there for 20 months, then we moved to Gunbarrel. I had my second daughter, Kendall, at Boulder Community Hospital. I ended up going to culinary school at Cooking School of the Rockies and did part of my studies in the south of France. Not too long after I graduated, I got divorced and juggling the kids with cooking just became too difficult, so I kind of fell into the wine business.

LHVC - How did you and Kevin meet and go into business together?

LM - While working at a charity event at the Glenn Miller Ballroom, I slipped and fell on some olive oil. I went down hard and landed on a guy’s foot...as he picked me up and apologized, he introduced himself as Kevin Middleton. We will be married 20 years this June. I truly fell for him. After about two years of marriage, we decided if we were going to work so hard, we should do it for ourselves.

A friend of ours found a spot in the Gunbarrel Shopping Center and we went and checked it out. We both felt it was a great location and we knew we could do this. It was terrifying, but it’s been the best decision we’ve ever made. We’re now going on 17 years and even with this crazy pandemic, we’ve had such overwhelming support from the community. I know we will make it through this.

LHVC - How have the people in your life become integral to Café Blue?

LM - Both our daughters have worked for us. Elise has moved on and now works as a paralegal for Adams County. Kendall is still working at the Blue. Before we opened, we’d recently lost our border collie, Blue, hence the restaurant’s name.

One of our employees was an artist, so he did the logo for us. We’re so grateful we get to do what we love. Kevin is an amazing chef and loves cooking with seafood. I love bartending and interacting with our customers.

I don’t like saying customers because I really consider them my friends. We have also been blessed with a wonderful staff. Both Joanna Campbell and Jessica Gaffney have stuck with us throughout this pandemic.

LHVC - What impact has COVID-19 had on running your business and your life in general?

LM - Since the pandemic, we haven’t always been able to have dining inside, but we offer carry out and I drive deliveries around Gunbarrel and Niwot. We’re open Monday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 4 p.m.to 9 p.m. This allows us to play golf at Lake Valley on the weekends. Golfing has helped us keep our sanity during these crazy times.

Kevin had his 50th birthday during COVID, so it wasn’t quite the celebration we had anticipated, but our 20th wedding anniversary is this June, so hopefully we can combine the two big events and celebrate with our friends and family.

We love our Gunbarrel community and could not have picked a better place to live and have our business.

Café Blue, serves lunch and dinner and is located at 5280 Spine Road in the Gunbarrel Shopping Center.