El Toro a must-stop on Colorado Boulevard

The Westword staff cruised Colorado Boulevard for this week’s cover story, with stops at restaurants ranging from an old-school IHOP (which replaced a Village Inn) to the very new-school, new Snooze. One of our favorite spots didn’t make the cut — but it’s definitely worth the drive to El Toro…

Wake-Up Call: Michael Huttner, the early days

On my first road trip to Montana, back in the pre-cell-phone days, I had to stop every hour or so and find a phone so that I could check in with a lawyer who was concerned that the Denver DA’s office was going to file charges against our high-school intern…

The Mexican advises against rushing to the altar

Dear Mexican: I am a 22-year-old Mexican-American woman, still living with my parents but going to college, working full-time and taking care of myself financially. I grew up in a very traditional Mexican household, youngest of four kids, and we were all born in the United States. I’m unmarried, but with a steady boyfriend I have…

Wake-Up Call: Back in bear country

“Please scare the bears,” reads the lead sentence in a story from today’s Wall Street Journal. “That is the message state wildlife officials are sending residents of Colorado communities besieged by hungry black bears with a taste for fresh-baked pies and other fattening human fare.” The bears, state wildlife officials…

Otto’s is outta Market Street

It just opened on May 1, but Otto’s American Grill has already closed its doors at 2200 Market Street, in the former home of the downtown Brix in the Premiere Loft project. The space is currently for lease; maybe the third time will be a charm. The original Otto’s is…

Wake-Up Call: Senator Bennet rolls up his sleeves

Business boosters at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce didn’t know what had hit them. On Friday, when Senator Mark Udall offered a healthcare briefing at the Chamber, there hadn’t been a single member of the media. But on Monday, when Senator Michael Bennet did the same, the TV cameras…

Wake-Up Call: Romanoff on the range

“What’s he doing in the Senate?” “Why, it’s an honorary appointment. He’s an honorary stooge.” Frank Capra’s classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was on TCM yesterday afternoon — just the thing to warm up the set (and the sofa) before Jake Cutler returned to Mile High, particularly given all…

Oskar Blues Liquids & Solids has yet to solidify

Oskar Blues’s benefit golf tourney today at Twin Peaks is a big hit, with all 144 slots sold out. But when the golf is over, the participants won’t be able to retire to the new Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids in Longmont, as originally planned. That’s because the still-in-the-works…

Wake-Up Call: The Obama promise, stuck in line

Denver looks golden in most memories of last year’s Democratic National Convention — including Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, which was delivered on August 28, 2008, exactly 45 years to the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But then, there are the memories of trying to…

Wake-Up Call: The doctor is still in

Dr. Warren Hern just keeps making headlines — whether he wants them or not. For decades, he’s practiced behind bulletproof glass at his Boulder clinic, occasionally attracting the attention of publications ranging from Westword (you can read one of our profiles here) to the current edition of Esquire, whose “The…

The Mexican: You ask, he answers

Dear Mexican: A gabacho in the local daily suggested that some of our prisons be outsourced to Mexico to save us some money. What are your thoughts? Would wabs make for good guards looking after homies and white-trash inmates? Have a chew on that taco. Mike the Mick From Missouri…

Wake-Up Call: Ted Kennedy in Colorado

Remembering Denver at this time last year during the Democratic National Convention — the downtown sidewalks full, the downtown cash registers ditto — it all seems like a mirage. Like that season of Dallas that ended with Pam finding Bobby in the shower, and realizing that the entire plotline had…

Wake-Up Call: Beauprez decides against a Senate run

In politics, timing is everything. Timing and money — big money, in the case of anyone who’s going to take on barely incumbent Senator Michael Bennet, who’s already raised over $2 million to retain an office he’s held for fewer than eight months. The money was a major obstacle in…

Wake-Up Call: The DNC’s island of misfit toys

I’m looking across the highway at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High, the settings for so many memorable sights during the Democratic National Convention, which kicked off exactly a year ago today. And between them — at least from this vantage point — is Elitch Gardens, where,…

Wake-Up Call: Pinned by a PIN

I was running late for a plane and needed some cash very early last Thursday, so I stopped by a local Wells Fargo, put my bank card in the ATM and keyed in my PIN. And nothing happened. Beyond a notice that occasionally blinked “Your PIN must be between 4…

Tomatoes thrown at Chipotle miss target

This week’s Time magazine story on “America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix It” cites Chipotle, Denver’s homegrown success story, as one of the companies doing things right — which made yesterday’s petition delivery to Chipotle headquarters in LoDo, calling on the company to work with the Coalition of Immokalee…

Wake-Up Call: Parking meter monitors

As Denver struggles to close its budget gap, ideas are flying. In his monthly e-mail to constituents, Doug Linkhart, an at-large member of Denver City Council, offers this: “How can a bunch of quarters help fill our $120 million budget gap? By doing what Chicago recently did, and letting someone…

Verily, we ask: What would Jesus do?

Dear Mexican: My family hasn’t been long in this country, came here because of lousy treatment by other Europeans, and didn’t live close enough to the southern U.S. border to have exposure to Mexico or Mexicans. So anyone looking down on Mexicans can be mysterious to many of us who…

Wake-Up Call: Good riddance to First Data

First Data has flown the coop. The financial firm that moved its corporate offices to Greenwood Village in 2001 is now moving those offices back to Atlanta. First Data certainly made its mark while it was headquartered here. With its then-subsidiary Western Union doing a booming business in sending money…

A taste of restaurant history before LoDo Bites

We just heard that tonight’s LoDo Bites is sold out — bad news for procrastinators, great news for the LoDo District, which is putting on the event. It also says a lot about how far this part of town has come from the days when the Wazee Supper Club was…

Wake-Up Call: A very civil insurrection

At a round of town-hall meetings on health care that kick off today, first-term congresswoman Betsy Markey will hand out copies (abridged) of a George Washington favorite, “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation,” originally a 110-item list of Jesuit guidelines for civil behavior. Great idea, but…

Wake-Up Call: Civic Center’s past, present, future

Past, present and future all meet in Civic Center, the park at the heart of the city. To get a real feel for the park now, head to Civic Center Eats, the weekly marketplace that runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday in the summer. But stick around,…