Last Man Standing

Pim Fittis about as far as you can get from a multi-unit restaurant operator, but apparently neither love nor great food was not enough to keep her Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai (most recently re-named A Yummy Yummy Tasty Thai Food) going after she left East Colfax Avenue and moved it to Louisville. I just got word that the place has closed, and the phone is going unanswered.

But for every restaurant that closes, another opens. That hot stretch of East Sixth Avenue where Fruition and Montecito ("California Dreamin,'" April 19) opened over the past six months also has another new restaurant: Thai Thai Hibachi,in the former home of Oliver's, at 1312 East Sixth. Although the joint had some trouble tracking down a hibachi chef, everything else makes its timing seem good. The space is large and good-looking in a lacquer-and-Asian-statuary fashion, with room to catch the overflow business from the neighborhood's new heavy-hitters, as well as diners who're looking for something more casual -- something with absolutely no connection to California or New American cuisine. And up in Boulder, where we recently lost Rhumba, this month we gained Lulu's Low Country Kitchen, a Southern-style comfort-food joint with a distinct Louisiana twist.

Leftovers: I'm still getting notes and calls from folks who've dropped by to visit Jerry at the Conoco at 11802 Oswego Street in Englewood. He's the sandwich savant who picked up this year's Best of Denver award for Best Sandwiches From a Gas Station -- the guy who serves every hoagie with a large side of crazy and the occasional hour-long dissertation on the art of sandwich construction (molecular chemistry figures prominently), who rolls up his sandwiches tight as joints. I've heard about people tossed out for daring to question Jerry's sammich skills (which no one ever should, because I don't care who you are, Jerry knows more about sandwiches than you do), about customers held up for two hours while waiting on an Italian hoagie, about folks driving all the way up from Colorado Springs just to get a taste.

If you haven't yet made the scene, you should. My only fear is that someday this gas-station counter will get so crowded (and with the amount of time per sandwich that Jerry averages, any more than five customers waiting at any one time could bring the entire operation to a standstill) that Jerry will have to hire on a sandwich apprentice, and that will ruin everything.

But that hasn't happened yet. Before it does, I think I need to go get myself a couple more sandwiches.