The new Boulder Swim Club, an all-ages clubhouse style restaurant, bar and game lounge, is now open in the historic Boulder Broker Inn in South Boulder. What you see today is just the start. By late May 2024, the Swim Club expects to open its heated outdoor pool with a shaded deck bar and yard games, too.
The community’s collective imagination is the main limit with this space, said Swim Club’s general manager, Chandler Baird. “We’re trying to grow to what the space is going to be.”
Longtime locals will remember the former Broker Inn restaurant that closed in 2014 and may be drawn to visit this redesigned space to rekindle memories of family meals and special occasions. Some of the original building design details, on the walls and in antique door glass, remain in the newly designed space. They complement the colorful and cozy retro vibe in one of the Swim Club’s two bars, known as the Library Bar. Ampersand Coffee and Spruce Confectioners pastries are served in the Library from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and Chef Rodrigo Quijano’s Asian-fusion main menu is available in the evening.
Connected to the Library Bar is a large game room, with a second bar, dining tables and banquette seating, two ping-pong tables and a 35-foot shuffleboard game (all free), and a $2 per-game pool table. The west side is nearly all windows and light, filled with plants, and has a raised nook with chabudai-style seating and pillows. Two large screen TVs and a DJ booth are ready for CU game days and special events. (Baird said the Swim Club is owned by an undisclosed family.)
Quijano’s most recent project was Santa Elenas in Fort Collins, making wood-smoked Mexican food, and he has also worked with Chef Troy Guard of the TAG restaurant group in Denver.
With the Swim Club, Quijano is now venturing into Asian-fusion cuisine. He explained his passion for the project and his excitement about crafting a fresh and innovative menu.
“I, myself, love, love, love food. And I love the community aspect that food has to it and, certainly, this is not just a place to come and eat and drink,” Quijano said. “This is also part of a hotel, so there’s a lot of aspects of nurturing within these walls and that’s something that has always attracted me to this industry, taking care of other people.”
Quijano honors the Broker Inn’s historically famous shrimp bowls with his version, a coconut crusted shrimp with Thai basil aioli. Asked about his personal favorite, Quijano recommended the Ahi Tuna Wontons, a recipe he started working on about five years ago and feels has found a home at the Swim Club.
The food and drink center around the concept of Tiki, which bar manager Max Alicea described as the ability to use as many spirits as possible along with what he called “the signature traits of Tiki, overly flamboyant, large, and having a good time.”
Alicea’s team created a nine-page bar menu with cocktails, mocktails, beer and wine. They’re making the St. Thomas island famous “Soggy Dollar Painkiller” and Alicea’s personal favorite, the “Chai Me Up” with locally sourced chai and orange spirits from Grove Street Alchemy.
Mocktails are on trend with health-conscious Boulder and, Alecia explained, they want to do more than substitute alcohol and mimic a classic, so they’re adding a drink his predecessor created, called the Ninja Kick, a combination of coconut milk and matcha.
The dessert menu marries classic Asian flavors with delightful twists, including fresh-baked ginger-molasses madeleines, lychee-coconut crème caramel and a dragon fruit sorbet with Lilikoi soda and Pop Rocks sprinkles.
Guests can choose a dining or hangout spot from a few different spaces within the 10,000-square-foot club to match their preference for light, noise and crowds. The Swim Club’s management has added sound dampening design in the ceilings so guests can have private conversations amidst a room full of activity without the overwhelm and reverberations you get in open industrial metallic ceilings. Optional spaces for events include a private dining room on the main level, a multi-section event space upstairs that can be partitioned, along with a second kitchen (that has an operational antique dumbwaiter lift).
Baird, the general manager, said that everyone is welcome and they envision that this is a place where people could spend a full day, from co-working in the morning, to having book clubs or other meetings, enjoying time poolside and staying into the evening for events or date nights.
Parking is free and the main entrance to the Swim Club is around the back of the hotel, through double doors from the lot that runs parallel to U.S. Route 36/28th Street. Bike racks are on order and the team is working with the City of Boulder to see about getting direct bike path access to the property, too.
“It’s really a space for everybody in South Boulder,” Baird said. “Here you have free parking on site, it’s not timed, it’s not rushed. People can hike at Chautauqua and then come down, get a drink and relax.”
Ultimately, Quijano and Baird said, they’d like this to be the living room of Boulder, where there’s live music, kids can play games, a family can go to the pool with cabanas, and everyone can enjoy food and drink for all occasions. The Swim Club team says to expect a grand opening announcement close to the end of May.
Boulder Swim Club
Location: 555 30th Street, Boulder
Hours: Generally 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Max Alecia is head bartender at Boulder Swim Club. He is bar manager.
Hence the name Swim Club, is this a membership club?
Hello Barb, thanks for asking. We are currently operating as a full restaurant and bar open to the public. When the pool opens we hope to launch a membership that is advantageous to the guest who are members and coming in often. The membership will have more benefits than a traditional guest experience both at the pool and in the restaurant. We hope to see you soon, let me know if you have anymore questions.
Tell more about the pool(s)
Hello, we’re happy to share more about the pool. It’s the original pool for the Broker Inn that’s currently being refinished and updated hoping to open in early May! This isn’t a lap pool and is more for leisure than laps. Around the pool you’ll have access to pool side service from the restaurant and we hope to have local food trucks on weekends. We hope to see you soon! Let me know if you have anymore questions.
This is fun and a much needed community space! Will It be a membership or pay per visit setup? More info on actual access to pool especially for families would be appreciated.
Hello, we’re happy to hear you’re interested in joining us! We are happy to have all ages in the space. We have multiple forms of entertainment such as two ping pong tables, shuffleboard and a pool table. The restaurant within the club is open to the public without membership and would be treated as a traditional restaurant.
We will be offering day passes to access the pool come spring in addition we will offer a membership at that time. The membership will include more benefits than a traditional guest experience.
The pool is currently being refinished and updated hoping to open in early May! Around the pool you’ll have access to pool side service from the restaurant and we hope to have local food trucks on weekends. We hope to see you soon!
Awesome review! Can’t wait to go!