Shirley Sneve and Stewart Huntington
ICT
DENVER — Ben Jacobs wants you to savor the meal – and more.
Jacobs, Osage, and co-owner Matt Chandra opened the first Tocabe: A Native American Eatery restaurant in 2008 in northern Denver. Now they’re expanding their reach with a new outlet in the busy Denver International Airport.
“We want you to enjoy our food and then say, ‘Oh wow, this is an amazing story and everything that goes with it,’” he told ICT not long after his restaurant opened in late April in the airport. “We’re not selling you the story. We’re selling you good food, but we’re selling you from the heart in the essence of who we are, where we come from.”
Tocabe is the only Native American-owned and operated restaurant in Metro Denver specializing in Native cuisine. Many selections include ingredients from Native-owned businesses, such as tepary beans and wheat berries from Ramona Farms, located on the Gila River Reservation in southern Arizona; wild rice from northern Minnesota’s Red Lake Nation Foods; and blue corn from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s Bow & Arrow Brand based in southwest Colorado.
The airport location opened with a ribbon-cutting on April 29 with traditional songs and dancers.
“We’re excited to expand,” Jacobs said. “What’s so fun about it is we can continue to share our company and our concept. But what we represent, the Native community first and making sure to share Native ingredients that are for Native communities. It’s a great way to expand that and also not just on a local audience now, but really having an opportunity for a global audience.”
The airport location is run under a franchise model with Mission Yogurt, which operates numerous eateries in the airport. It made sense to get a partner, given the complexities of operating in the airport environment, he said.
“Everyone has to go through … full background checks, fingerprinting, you name it,” he said. “That way they can get through security protocols and things like that. … We have badges that we can go in and out as needed. So we’re working through the transition. It’s hard enough to open a restaurant on the street, but … an airport is just a totally different ballgame.”
But teaming up with Mission hasn’t taken focus from the mission.
“We represent the Native community first,” said Jacobs. “While we do food, yes, we’re representing culture and community and identity. And not just a food concept. We want to be a culture concept. … It’s our identity. It’s our representation. And so, we’re really excited about all these opportunities and knowing that … there’s only growth potential there.”
And it’s all part of a larger story of the growth in the Indigenous food world.
“I think for Native culinary arts, there’s so much creativity and innovation happening that the population, especially people that enjoy a food experience, want to have.” he said. “So I’m really excited not just for us, but for all the young Native culinary talents and those in my generation that have been out there, that are out there sharing, sharing again, sharing our food, sharing our cuisine, sharing our creativity.”
The goal for visitors to Tocabe, whether at the airport or in Denver?
“We want everyone to be able to go back and say, ‘Hey, I had this amazing Native, this amazing Indigenous, meal,” Jacobs said.
And then come back.
You can find the new Tocabe near Gate A38 in Concourse A at Denver International Airport. The original Tocabe in the north Metro area is at 3536 W. 44th Avenue, Denver. For more information, visit the company’s website.