A new, family-oriented bar and grill, The Lowdown, is opening in Boulder. The new restaurant is set to open in mid-March on 2731 Iris Ave.
For co-owner Erin Perkins, The Lowdown is a full-circle moment. She moved to Boulder from Central New York in 2002 with her best friend since she was nine, working at a restaurant called Murphy’s. “It had a very family-oriented vibe. Very inviting, comforting. When I worked there, families that would bring their kids in there three times a week,” Perkins says. There, she built a community of friends and even met the man she’d eventually marry, Adam Perkins.
Through the years, the couple came to own Murphy’s Tap House in Louisville, a spin-off of the original Murphy’s. And gradually, the kids that used to visit Murphy’s a few times a week became Murphy’s employees.
The original Murphy’s closed in 2020 due to the pandemic, replaced with The Local, which also eventually closed in 2024. The Perkins ran into the landlord of that space, who asked if they wanted to return to the neighborhood and open something in the empty space. “We went back and forth and back and forth,” Perkins says.
After a few months of deliberating, they decided to open a new restaurant, returning to the space where Erin had built a life in Boulder. In opening this new place, Erin is also bringing in Jean Della Contra, the childhood friend who moved to Boulder with her. “We’re getting back into this location, and I’m doing it with my best friend. It’s just, it’s really special. It’s a good feeling,” Perkins says.
The Lowdown will serve a diverse menu, so “families can come in multiple times a week, and everybody can find something on the menu that they like,” Perkins says. The restaurant will also serve a variety of craft beers from its 14 taps. Owing its namesake to Boz Scaggs’ 1976 hit “Lowdown,” the restaurant is meant to be a funky, low-key spot.
“I want it to be just comfortable and cozy and inviting,” Perkins says. “It’ll be your local bar and grill.”
