June 20 marked the grand opening of Relish Food Hall // Pickleball, Boulder County’s newest pickleball club. Located in the former Sam’s Club space on South McCaslin Boulevard, Relish offers 19 indoor pickleball courts — among the most in Colorado — plus eight chef-led food concepts, a bar and a cafe.
Jeff Youngstrom, who co-owns Relish with General Manager Tory Leggat, hopes to see Relish become a community hub. “You come and play — it’s great exercise — and you end up making friendships. Chatting at the net builds community,” he said
At Relish, people can come for a class or drop-in play, then stay for a meal or drinks, turning the courts into a casual social space. The lounge runs along the north side of the building, where natural light and high ceilings highlight the enormity of the space. Large glass doors open onto an outdoor patio. Comfortable, modern seating surrounds the eight food stalls, with offerings ranging from Lenin’s Wood Fired Pizza and Venezuelan arepas to gyros, acai bowls and more.
Pickleball is known for being beginner-friendly, easy to learn and intergenerational. “People of all ages and from all different backgrounds are meeting on the court,” said Ben Lampert, Relish’s director of Pickleball.
The sport’s popularity has created a growing need for places to play.
“For a while, Louisville was the only town in the area that didn’t have any designated pickleball courts,” Youngstrom said. In February, the City of Louisville announced plans to convert the inline skating rink next to the police station on West Via Appia into outdoor pickleball courts. Progress on that project has been slow.
Relish hopes to serve players of all skill levels. Beginners can try the five-dollar “Intro to Pickleball” clinic. More advanced players can pursue an official DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) score, used to rank skill levels for tournaments. Relish hosted its first National Pickleball League tournament June 27-29, and will host a split-age tournament Aug. 15-17.
Beyond the courts, the complex includes three conference rooms, a large event space, an outdoor patio with a live music stage and a lounge. Each of the food concepts was designed by one of six independent chefs working with Relish. “They’re very unique; there’s nothing generic about it,” said Youngstrom.
Food halls give up-and-coming chefs a way to launch without the risk of opening their own brick-and-mortar. Relish allowed chefs Gary and Ashley Southard of the Magic Food Bus to transition away from a food truck to a fixed physical location.
Relish joins a growing list of hybrid pickleball-and-food halls across the Front Range — including Epic Pickleball in Littleton and Highlands Ranch, Pickleball Food Pub in Westminster and Aurora, Third Shot Pickleball in Wheat Ridge and SportyPickle in Englewood. Chicken N Pickle, a national franchise, recently opened its first Colorado location in Thornton.
Boulder Pickleball, by contrast, doesn’t have its own kitchen or bar. Players there can grab a beer from Sanitas Brewing, which operates out of the same building on Frontier Avenue. At Boulder Pickleball, the game itself is the whole draw, said Senior Coach Adam Johnson. It was the first facility in Boulder built exclusively for pickleball, opening in 2023 with 19,000 square feet of indoor courts, lessons, clinics and open play. “We just celebrated our two-year anniversary,” noted Johnson.
Outdoor pickleball courts remain limited in Boulder County, with many just repurposed tennis courts. The sport is offered outdoors at the South and North Boulder Rec Centers, while the basketball gyms at South, North and East centers host indoor play at scheduled times.
Relish is aiming to fill those gaps, and offer more than just courts. “It’s like old-school pick-up basketball,” Youngstrom said. “We wear nametags. We want people to build friendships and then to use all this space for other things they want to do.” Youngstrom’s vision seems to be coming true: On July 25, Relish hosted a launch party for Boulder-based pickleball dating app, PickleMatch.
“Just bring yourself,” Lampert said. “And bring a friend.”
Correction, July 31, 2025 6:16 pm: An earlier version of this story misstated how the planned facility compares with others in the state. It likely is the largest pickleball facility in northern Colorado. Peak Pickleball in Colorado Springs is another contender for the state’s largest.