While it's a Greek restaurant with "Pete" in its name, it's not Pete's Kitchen (that's fellow Denver musician Slim Cessna's favorite place to score a smothered burrito), nor is it Pete's University Park Cafe or any of the other restaurants in Pete Contos's restaurant empire.
It's the similarly-named, Greek-influenced Pete's Cafe. "I've been going there for years," Allen says. "It's great, kind of low-key."
Pete's Cafe is tucked inconspicuously between a Mexican bakery and a hair salon at 514 East Colfax. While Allen likes the steak and eggs, bacon and pancakes at the breakfast and lunch joint, his go-to grub is hands-down the breakfast burrito.
"There's something unique about it," he muses. "It's kind of the whole package, where it's smothered in green chile, on a bed of hash browns about the size of quarters, and it has some cheese in it," he explains. "And it's not too hot. Anyone can eat it."
Allen, who was introduced to the cafe by a co-worker in the mid 1990s while he was working for Wax Trax, digs the ambiance and hospitality of the little cafe as well. "The atmosphere is great. There's lots of older people, guys there just drinking coffee, talking in Greek. It's very authentic."
What about the rest of the group? Does Allen drag fellow Apples in Stereo band members to Pete's? "The problem is half the band is vegetarian, so there's almost nothing in there that's safe for them," Allen says.
"I definitely can't say the Apples as a whole endorses it, but I wholeheartedly do."
After touring earlier this year to promote their new album "Travelers in Space and Time," Apples in Stereo is performing at a few festivals this summer before heading back out on tour this fall to Brazil and -- hopefully -- Europe.
To contact Pete's Cafe, call 303-832-7854.
