Dots Diner
Much like San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, Boulder is fondly remembered for a time when it was — for lack of a better word — real. Those who lived here in the seventies reminisce about a time when the Pearl Street pedestrian mall was still a novel idea. They remember seeing Van Morrison play at the Blue Note and getting beers at J.J. McCabe’s.
Boulder used to feel like a small town. It had a roller rink, two bowling alleys and a drive-in. It had restaurants like the L.A. Diner, Mother’s Cafe, Joe’s Spoon and a funky little place next to the Sinclair gas station on 8th and Pearl called Dot’s Diner.
A Boulder institution holds on to its local flavor
The Dead Kennedys played the last show at the Blue Note long ago.
A lot has changed since then. The Dead Kennedys played the last show at the Blue Note long ago. The drive-in became a housing development. The roller rink gave way to a 24-Hour Fitness. L.A. Diner became a Soundtrack Superstore before it was demo-ed for a new strip mall. Through all of this, Dot’s Diner has remained the same Boulder institution — sort of.
The Dot’s Diner on Pearl Street is now home to a mixed-use development and Dot’s has been reincarnated in the former locations of Mother’s Cafe (1333 Broadway) and Joe’s Spoon (2716 28th St.).
The funk of the original Dot’s has persevered, due in large part to the fact that ownership has stayed “in the family.”
Nancy Van Loon founded Dot’s Diner in 1974, naming it for her mother, Dot Wallace.
The concept was simple — old fashioned Southern fare in a kitschy atmosphere. The ambience was created with a 1950s-style counter, blue-and-white checkered floor, driftwood dolls hanging from the ceiling and pictures of Elvis on the wall.
In 1979, Van Loon hired a young Peter Underhill as a dishwasher at her other restaurant, Nancy’s, on 8th and Walnut. Eleven years later, she sold him Dot’s.
Underhill was forced to move Dot’s from the original location in 1998 when the building owners decided they wanted something more pedestrian friendly. Uprooting the diner from its home of 24 years was an adjustment, Underhill says, but it has worked out very well.
Nancy Van Loon founded Dot’s Diner in 1974, naming it for her mother, Dot Wallace.
The Dot’s Diner at 28th Street retained the kitsch by keeping the counter and stringing vintage aprons across the ceiling. The smell of homemade biscuits fills the air two or three times a day and photographs of the original restaurant grace the walls.
One upside of the move was an increase in seating capacity. The Pearl Street location had only six tables, whereas the former Joe’s Spoon site has 20 tables and a counter. Although Underhill says he misses the “killer patio,” indoor seating is more practical.
Melissa Swedlund, a server at Dot’s for 11 years, remembers that the weather on the patio didn’t used to deter loyal Dot’s patrons from finishing their huevos rancheros or Arnold’s Eggs (a biscuit and ham in creamy ham sauce.)
“One time, when the patio was full, we had one of those Colorado cloudbursts,” Swedlund recalls. “I thought for sure people would be rushing out of there in total chaos, but instead, everyone took out their umbrellas and held plastic bags over their heads, and just kept on eating.”
What keeps people coming back to Dot’s is the quality of the food and the service, she says. Regular customer George Gombas agrees.
“There’s a uniqueness to the place,” Gombas says. “When you’re here, you just end up meeting and talking to people.”
Gombas recommends the chorizo omelette with pico de gallo. The Southern Breakfast is also a customer favorite — eggs, ham, grits, biscuit and gravy.
Although its food has been called gourmet truck-stop fare, Dot’s also caters to the health-conscious Boulder crowd. Underhill points out that they offer lard-free beans, tortillas and salsas, as well as alternatives like tofu huevos.
Dot’s other location on Broadway opened its doors in 1997. It offers the same menu and laid-back atmosphere, despite being under different ownership. Underhill sold it to another Dot’s family member, Fred Nicolai.
Nicolai worked for Dot’s since moving to Boulder from Chicago in 1990. He still recalls the smell of cinnamon rolls his first time in the restaurant. He says that artists, musicians, students and business people like Dot’s because it’s unusual and funky.
For Underhill, the key is relationships.
“We have a lot of long-term employees and a lot of repeat customers,” he says. “Instead of saying ‘see you next time,’ we say, ‘see you tomorrow.’”
Decades after Nancy Van Loon opened Dot’s Diner, it is still, as the menu says: “Where the folks get their yolks.”
Originally published by The Colorado Daily