Chef Amos Watts, weeks from reopening The Fifth String, dies at 43
Denver chef Amos Watts, proprietor of The Fifth String, has died weeks forward of the acclaimed restaurant’s reopening.
Watts, 43, died Sunday morning after a medical episode, in line with his pal Justin Brunson and former mentee Caroline Glover. Neither had been absolutely positive of the character of the episode.
“He touched a whole lot of of us in his time right here in Denver,” Brunson stated. “He’s going to be significantly missed by all of the cooks right here on the town. All of us liked him. He was a large man, a really superb particular person.”
Brunson described Watts as “one of the proficient cooks Denver has ever seen.” However cooking wasn’t at all times his plan.
“I wasn’t excited by something in faculty,” Watts stated in a 2011 interview with Westword. “And I by no means, ever thought I’d be a chef, however I dropped out of school, and my dad advised me to go prepare dinner.”
Watts grew up in Nebraska and located his strategy to Denver to go to culinary faculty at Johnson & Wales College. He started working at Jax Fish Home in LoDo and met Brunson, a daily on the restaurant, in 2003.
Watts moved away from Denver and finally landed in California, the place he labored as sous chef at Cyrus, a Michelin Star-awarded restaurant. He returned to Denver round 2011 and finally grew to become the top chef at RiNo’s Acorn.
It was at Acorn that Watts educated Caroline Glover, a James Beard award-winning chef who went on to open Annette and Touring Mercies within the Stanley Market.
“He mentored fairly just a few younger cooks which have gone on to open their very own locations or be government cooks,” Glover stated. “I believe that speaks to the kind of chef that he was. I do know that was actually necessary to him, that he offered as a lot data as potential for folks to develop. That needs to be one among his greatest legacies.”
Glover stated she thrived below Watts’ steerage and excessive requirements, studying find out how to steadiness flavors and take note of particulars. And after Acorn, she stated Watts grew to become a cheerleader for Annette and went from boss to pal.
“He was undoubtedly a power within the culinary world,” Glover stated. “He was bigger than life. I realized a ton below him.”
Watts left Acorn round 2015 when Brunson requested him to be his government chef at LoHi’s Previous Main. The duo labored collectively for just a few years earlier than Watts left to assist the proprietor of Acorn, Bryan Dayton, open the Mexican restaurant Corrida in Boulder in 2017.
“Amos was one among my greatest buddies,” Brunson stated. “It was actually superb to work aspect by aspect with anyone that was so proficient and enjoyable.”
Three years later, the pandemic hit, and Brunson needed to get out of the restaurant enterprise. So he offered his lease for the Previous Main house at 3316 Tejon St., in addition to all fixtures and tools, to Watts.
“He had big aspirations to be on his personal and function a restaurant together with his spouse Jessica,” Brunson stated.
Watts and his spouse opened The Fifth String in 2020, specializing in small-plate “upscale American” meals, wine and cocktails. They closed in LoHi final August, partially resulting from a well being scare. Watts advised BusinessDen in February that medical doctors discovered benign tumors on his jaw.
“I didn’t know if I’d be capable to be a chef,” Watts stated in February. “That was scary. I simply wasn’t in a position to be there as a lot.”
Seven surgical procedures and a clear invoice of well being later, Watts stated The Fifth String — which had been quickly working from a Ballpark vineyard — would reopen with its personal house alongside Colfax within the Hale neighborhood.
“We’re simply able to prepare dinner and produce again The Fifth String to its unique state,” Watts stated in February.
The Fifth String — which Westword included on its 2023 “High 100 Eating places We Can’t Dwell With out” record — was lower than two weeks from reopening on the time of Watts’ demise, in accordance Brunson. He stated he doesn’t know what’s going to now occur with the restaurant.
“He was one of the jovial, humorous, excited, energetic, lovely people I’ve ever met in my life,” Brunson stated. “He liked everyone, working arduous and cooking arduous.”
Watts is survived by his spouse and two youngsters, son Loren and daughter Sloane.
“He actually made them part of each enterprise he did,” Glover stated of Watts’ household. “In case you knew Amos, you knew his household and also you knew how a lot they meant to him.”
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This story was reported by our companion BusinessDen.