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Ada County Coroner: Owner of Barbacoa Grill died on Friday

One member of the Boise restaurant community said Robert Castoro "set the bar so much higher in this town."

BOISE, Idaho — The Ada County Coroner confirmed to KTVB on Saturday that the owner of Barbacoa Grill, Robert Castoro, was found dead in his home on Friday.

Officers responded to a death investigation on Gossamer Lane in Boise, off of Parkcenter Boulevard and Bown Way, on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the Boise Police Department.

Police added that there is currently no evidence of a crime and no evidence that a gun was involved.

Ada County Coroner Dotti Owens is expected to release details of Castoro's autopsy on Monday in a press release.

His cause of death is still under investigation.

One fellow business owner, Ted Challenger, is still in shock of Castoro's passing.

"It was unbelievable," Challenger said. "He set the bar so much higher in this town, the restaurant scene here now is creative, it's colorful it's busy and he has a lot of stake in that."

Challenger told KTVB he's known Castoro since he moved to Boise from California.

"It's a tremendous loss," Challenger said. "When you do a restaurant, you put your soul into it and he put his soul into it, but fortunately, for the Barbacoa family, they function as a family they'll continue to function as a family. I feel that Barbacoa will definitely go on, it's just a sad day that it'll have to go on without him."

Challenger is the owner of three bars in downtown Boise.

Barbacoa, which is located on Bobwhite Court, off of Parkcenter Boulevard in southeast Boise, was the seventh "themed" restaurant that Castoro opened.

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