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The Rayback Collective, a food truck park, bar, and family-friendly social space, is Boulder’s new summer hotspot. Tucked into the northwest corner of Valmont Road and 28th Street, the long-awaited project (formerly known as the Boulder Food Park) opened last week. Boulderites are quickly taking to the progressive space to sip local brews, sample Front Range food trucks, and get some sun while playing a round or two of corn hole and bocce ball on the manicured turf and gravel yard.
The Rayback borrows a trendy industrial feel from the building it occupies, the old Rayback Plumbing warehouse. Once stacked high with toilets and pipes, the cavernous building and adjoining yard now houses a 30-tap bar, a music and film venue, and an outdoor food court with spots for four food trucks that rotate twice daily for lunch and dinner. If you’ve ever visited Austin, Texas (or Finn’s Manor here in Denver), you’ll be familiar with the concept of a food truck park. This one, however, is distinctly Boulder-ized for a clientele that requires ample local beer selections and a family-friendly space to eat and play outdoors. The best part? The waitstaff will actually bring your Funkwerks sour or Avery IPA right to you on the bocce ball court.
Check the website for a calendar of each day’s rotating food trucks; options range from gourmet mac and cheese to barbecue to farm-to-truck sandwiches to Peruvian street food to ramen. Expect to pay about $8 to $12 for your meal.
Pro tip: Boulderites flood the Rayback en masse for the post-work week drinking hours. Skip the crowds and head to the park for beer, bites, and bocce ball in the early afternoon instead.
2775 Valmont Road, Boulder, 720-507-8838
