Rob O’Dell Fat Alley BBQ
By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

“I don’t have a story,” he says, tucking his head to one side. I don’t believe him. For one, he’s got a strong southern drawl, and we’re sitting in Telluride, Colorado. Two, Rob O’Dell owns Fat Alley BBQ, one of Telluride’s favorite hangout spots. So how did he get here from his hometown, Brewton, in lower Alabama?

It began when O’Dell was painting tank cars. After working on the railroad, one summer he decided he was done with painting. He left Brewton and went to Destin, Florida. That’s where he discovered restaurant work. As he says, “Those were the easiest jobs to get.”

That was the beginning of a restaurant career that included work at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City, Restaurant Henri in New Orleans, and Beano’s Cabin in Vail, where O’Dell worked with Chad Scothorn, now owner and chef of Telluride’s Cosmopolitan. O’Dell planned to open his own restaurant in Vail with a friend. But while they were in the planning stages, they saw a classified ad in the Vail Daily. It advertised a business opportunity in Telluride—Fat Alley BBQ. They bit. On June 5, 1995, O’Dell and Hill bought the restaurant.

One of their signature dishes is the Carolina pork shoulder, marinated in vinegar and brown sugar, topped with coleslaw and served as a sandwich. “That’s something most places in the West won’t do,” O’Dell says. The sides, too, are decidedly southern, including fried okra, smoked potatoes, sweet potato fries, and red beans and rice.