Best New Nugget 2011 | Wilson Chandler | Best of Denver® | Best Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Music and Stores in Denver | Westword
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Best New Nugget

Wilson Chandler

The drawn-out drama leading up to the February trade of Carmelo Anthony to the New York Knicks had several downsides. Among them: the loss of Lala Vazquez, Anthony's wife and one of Denver's only VH1 reality-TV stars, and the even more heartbreaking loss of Chauncey Billups, who was ripped away in the deal. But the upsides include Knick-turned-Nugget Wilson Chandler, a young 6'8" forward with "Unstoppable" tattooed across his upper back and the game to match. Chandler started his time in Denver with a bang, scoring sixteen points in his first game to help beat the Celtics, and he's continued to provide a spark, a sense of humor and a lot of points off the bench and in a starting role. If he can sustain that kind of basket-filling, Nuggets fans will soon forget all about that flashy golden boy whose name rhymes with "Jell-O."

Best New Skatepark

Aurora City Park

Colorado has some of the gnarliest skateparks in the world, giant concrete behemoths packed with everything a skateboarder could ask for. So why do those stubborn street urchins still slide and grind on every little ledge in the city? Aurora's new pocket-sized park, designed and built by the skatepark experts at Grindline (a Seattle-based company better known for building bigger, burlier bowls) officially opened in February and probably won't do much to keep kids off the streets, but its handful of small ledges, manual pads and a simple banked feature are already attracting skaters from all over the metro area — proof that bigger isn't necessarily better.

Best New Ski Lift

Black Mountain Express

The new Black Mountain Express at Arapahoe Basin represents the end of an era for the 65-year-old no-frills ski area, where the old A-frame lodge and parking-lot beach parties are still just as skiers have always loved them. In this case, it's a change for the best: The high-speed quad replaces the circa 1978 Exhibition lift and cuts the old fixed-grip triple chair's trip time to the top in half. But the truly hard-core among A-Basin fans don't need no stinkin' lift: The Full-Moon Snowshoe Dinner series at Black Mountain Lodge (elevation: 11, 500') with chef Christopher Rybak sold out months in advance for the entire season.

Best New Ski Terrain

Heli Ski/Heli Board

Nothing compares to the 22,000 acres of new ski terrain open at Silverton Mountain this season, where the lone chairlift is now supplemented with a whirlybird, thanks to a new operating agreement. Heli drops start at $159 per run (less with a $399 season pass) or $999 for a full day (six runs), making this the most affordable heli-skiing operation in the United States, and get you as high as 13,514', with vertical drops in the 3,100' range; Silverton uses proceeds from the heli-skiing to subsidize its use of the helicopter for avalanche control. And the ski area gets as much as 600 inches of new snow annually, which should keep your rotors spinning.

Best Nugget

Nenê

It's a tough time to be a Denver Nugget. Carmelo Anthony, possibly the best player in franchise history, and hometown hero Chauncey Billups were recently traded to New York for good but not great players, cash and draft picks. We wish the 6'11" center would rebound and block shots at a higher rate, but Nenê is a presence, and he's resilient. He leads the league in field-goal percentage and is generally efficient. He's a team player — and that's exactly what the Nuggets need right now.

Best Outlaw

Brendan Mundorf

The Denver Outlaws missed out on their chance to play in the Major League Lacrosse championship game this year by losing to Long Island. But the team earned its number-two seed in large part because of Brendan Mundorf's prolific scoring. The attacker led the Outlaws in scoring with 38 points and ranked fourth in the league in that category. That effort actually represented a slightly down year compared to his previous four seasons, so Outlaws fans can hope for a bounce-back year for Mundorf and the team in 2011.

Best Place for Motorcycle Maniacs

Vintage Motos Museum

Jim Dillard's Vintage Motos Museum is a labor of love in every sense of the word: Jim loves motorcycles, especially the vintage European numbers, and he loves to labor over them, restoring them to their gleaming prime. This collection of nearly 200 retro machines is on view only on Saturdays, but if you love motorcycles, you won't want to miss it, or Dillard's stories. He says each bike has one, if you have the time: Bring a camera and big ears.

Best Place to Learn to Drive a Zamboni

The Ice Ranch Zam Camp

Aside from a Lamborghini or a Rolls-Royce, few motorized vehicles elicit as many oohs and aahs as the Zamboni, and for good reason: Zambonis are awesome. Kids love to watch them, and parents want to drive them. At the Ice Ranch Zam Camp, they can. The Littleton venue offers periodic Zamboni-driving lessons, along with a course on the history, safety and operation of these magical pieces of ice-resurfacing equipment. The classes, which run $100 and are for adults eighteen years and older, pair four to six students with two instructors, and they fill up fast. Don't get frozen out.

Best Place to Play Old-School Nintendo

Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys

Courtesy of the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys

Dreaming of those rumpus-room days, long past, in which you would spend hours navigating Link through Hyrule, your trusty Nintendo controller in hand and visions of 8-bit glory dancing in your head? Now you can relive those halcyon times at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys, which features not just a stunning collection of dolls and dollhouses spanning centuries and continents, but also less exotic toys — like the original, beloved Nintendo Entertainment System, in full working order, plus a bevy of games. So pop on in and get ready for some nostalgic button-mashing — but, as any Nintendo disciple will tell you, don't forget to blow into the game cartridge first. For some reason, that seems to make all the difference.

Best Pool Hall

Wynkoop Brewing Company

Wynkoop Brewing

With its creaking old floors, smoothed wooden fixtures and green lamps, the pool room on the second floor the Wynkoop Brewing Company forces you to stand at attention and show respect for another time and place in Denver history. And the beer's not bad, either. The pool hall includes twenty-plus billiards tables, shuffleboard and darts, and it features a bar back that was once part of the Tivoli Brewery. But it's the tables that matter — tables where you can usually find Denver's resident pro, Melissa "The Viper" Little, who practices there, gives lessons and generally holds court on her status as one of the best players in the nation. Even better, you can play free during the day Mondays through Thursdays — which is good for the pockets and even better for your pocketbook.

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