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Another rum-and-Coke order at the Mercury Cafe. Bartender, brace yourself: Chances are good the customer will take a sip, look confused and say, “This tastes really funny.” “It’s not even close to perfect yet,” admits Marilyn Megenity, owner of the restaurant/dance hall at 22nd and California streets. “It’s the soda…

A statewide program that pays for medication needed by people with AIDS recently dropped a drug, ganciclovir, that prevents blindness. The Assistance for AIDS-Specific Drugs (AASD) program was established in 1989 to give Colorado’s AIDS patients quick access to some medicines, eliminating much of the paperwork and many of the…

The dry-cleaning industry has been hit hard by the popular passion for saving the environment. While some shop owners have undertaken expensive renovations to reduce pollution caused by toxic chemicals, others have been socked with huge cleanup fees. Now dry cleaners are complaining that they can’t bear the costs alone…

For Pete’s Sake Karen Bowers’s “Mannix Depressive,” in the July 5 issue, while well-written, factually on the mark, entertaining and even illuminating in many respects, at first troubled me. It did not seem to expose R.W. “Pete” Peterson’s excesses so much as it may have served him yet one more…

part 1 of 2 Deadline-grabbing private eye R.W. “Pete” Peterson fits all the requirements of a media darling. He’s glib, likable, quotable and presentable in a slick-haired kind of way. And due to a few high-profile cases (the Denver investigator is credited with locating the daughter that TV star Roseanne…

part 2 of 2 In the years since Peterson had worked for Marvin Davis and John Masek to find out who was pilfering oil from their pipelines, the business partners had been involved in an acrimonious parting of the ways. As is often the case in such disputes, they devoted…

part 2 of 2 Concerned about the massive erosion washing billions of tons of soil off private lands each year, Congress in 1985 enacted several sweeping conservation measures. CRP was by far the biggest. The idea was simple. In exchange for taking “highly erodible” cropland out of production, the government…

part 1 of 2 Most working ranchers and farmers would find tending to the Colorado Farms spread a respite. The foreman of the ranch, Delbert Jenkins, is 33 years old and owner of a bushy horseshoe mustache and a droopy Stetson. He runs about three dozen cattle on just over…

Stick to your guns: Every accused felon is entitled to a defense, of course, but still, Rob Coleman’s is a doozy–a head injury made him do it. Just last December, remember, Coleman was the hero of every pistol-packing, private-property-protecting Dirty Harry fan in town. On December 7, when state senator…

Be warned, Cajun music enthusiasts: If you live in Colorado, you’re not hearing the genuine item. At least that’s the contention of Maryland-born Linda Keydash Cart and her husband, Louis, a native Cajun reared in the tiny bayou town of Iota, Louisiana. The two are musicians, amateur historians, members of…

The Rest of the Best Kudos to you for another entertaining Best of Denver issue, and for your choice of Sinuhe Wallinheimo as “Best DU Hockey Player.” He’s an excellent goalie and entertaining to watch. Your characterization of DU’s season as “mediocre,” however, was a bit confusing. The Pioneers were…

Two weeks ago a young newspaper hawker named Robert Lewis caused a stir after he was handcuffed and jailed at Coors Field. Lewis’s incarceration by off-duty Denver police officers on a criminal trespass charge made news because few people realized Denver’s new ballpark has its own private cell block. But…

The federal government intends to erect a controversial new building in Boulder despite opponents’ contentions that some of the land slated for the bulldozer contains an American Indian sacred site. The flaw in the opponents’ argument, according to Clair Green, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, is that representatives…

part 4 of 5 Best Italian Sodas The Art of Coffee 1836 Blake St. Coca-Cola may be the real thing, but it isn’t the only thing. The Art of Coffee knows that, and instead serves up old-fashioned Italian sodas. Italian syrups such as boysenberry and coconut are combined with carbonated…

part 1 of 3 Best Ladies’ Room in a Mall Neiman Marcus Cherry Creek Mall These aren’t stalls, gals, they’re suites. You get your own toilet, sink and mirror–all spotlessly clean and luxuriously private. If you can’t bear facing another sale, you could lounge in here all day. Best Men’s…

part 1 of 2 Best Way to Discourage Californians From Coming to Colorado First stop: Colorado Springs Before being handed the keys to their new twelve-bedroom tri-levels in Highlands Ranch, Golden State initiates will be required to spend a week of altitude adjustment in lovely Colorado Springs. Included on the…

part 2 of 2 Best Mousetrap Magnum Police district station 1, in Denver’s northwest quadrant, was a hotbed of rodent activity. “We had so many mice,” says Captain Dan O’Hayre, “the night shift had given them all nicknames.” That ended in October 1993, when O’Hayre brought in an exterminator–a gray-and-white…

part 3 of 3 Best Place to Get Tanked Fish Den 5055 W. 44th Ave. Which came first–the fish or the tank? If you’re planning a home aquarium, we suggest it should be the tank. You can get that–in any size–at the Fish Den, as well as aquatic plants to…

part 1 of 3 Best Contract Rider Warren Zevon For a September 1994 date at the Ogden Theatre, Zevon’s contract stated that he would not play if the sound mixer cried. Best Music-Fan Mom Lois Smith Smith’s son is Kevin Smith, an Arvada native who plays bass for the Austin-based…

part 1 of 3 Best Batting Cage Batter’s Box 6091 S. Pierce St., Littleton Dig in there, slugger. For one buck you get to see sixteen pitches (would you like the 35-mph floater or the 85-mph smoke?), and if your hands aren’t bleeding after that, shell out $20 for something…

part 5 of 5 Best Tamales Rincon Tropical 8615 E. Colfax Ave. If you think of a tamale as something hot and porky wrapped in a corn husk, you’re in for a surprise: The Salvadoran version is a whole new ballgame, both inside and out. Rincon Tropical, a fledgling restaurant…