Remembering Don Monette, founder of Flagstaff House and pioneer in Boulder restaurant scene

If there’s one thing to remember about the late Flagstaff House owner Don Monette it’s that he would do anything to make sure his customers had a special experience at his restaurant.

On Mother’s Day weekend in 1971, not long after he bought the restaurant, rain washed away part of the old gravel road leading up to the top of Flagstaff Mountain, where Flagstaff House has sat since the 1920s, overlooking Boulder below. So Don and his sons, Scott and Mark, flagged down cars on their way up from the bottom and shuttled guests part way up in a van. At the washout, they laid down plywood for people to walk across and then greeted them with champagne and another van on the other side to take them the rest of the way up.

“It was one of the busiest days of the year, and he wasn’t going to take no for an answer,” Scott said. “We saved Mother’s Day that year and continued to do that … when the road closed.”

“Even if it only meant he would have 10 people dining there that night,” added Adam Monette, Mark’s son and Don’s grandson, who now owns the restaurant.

Monette, who built Flagstaff House into a fine dining establishment that is now synonymous with Boulder, died on Feb. 14 at the age of 85.

Don was a pioneer in the Boulder restaurant industry with a vision to create a timeless fine-dining experience, and over five decades, the restaurant has won global recognition and awards for its food and wine, and is often cited as one of the best restaurants in Colorado.

“Guests who have had a relationship with Don for the last 50 years have been coming in and sharing their stories of hospitality and even from moments outside the restaurant,” Adam said. “I’ve heard about times where he would help buy flowers for someone’s wedding when they needed it, or tracked down a special bottle of wine that someone was missing from their wine collection.”

Don, originally from Michigan, was a cook for the Army and fell in love with Colorado while stationed there during the 1950s. In 1963, he and his wife Carole moved to Boulder, where Don later opened the Viking Restaurant and Golden Buff Coffee Shop.

Flagstaff House was originally a cabin built in 1929 and later became a summer-only restaurant under its current name. The owners of the former spot were guests of Don’s restaurants, and when he heard they were selling it, he had an aha moment.

“At the time it was a huge investment and a huge risk,” Adam said. In addition to the single dirt road, “it was on well water and you had propane tanks. It just wasn’t fit to be a restaurant.”

“Everyone doubted him, even his dad, especially where he’s from, he was taught as a kid that, ‘People like us don’t make it in the world,’ but he kind of said, ‘Forget that,’ and really made something special of himself,” Adam said.