Hot food, hot topics at 8 Rivers

The new 8 Rivers, at 1550 Blake Street, is becoming a hot spot for politics as well as Caribbean cooking. Even before it officially opened on October 1, six weeks behind its original target, it hosted hungry and thirsty politicos -- including Nancy Pelosi, Walter Mondale, Harry Reid, Ken Salazar...

By Patricia Calhoun

November 12, 2008

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The new 8 Rivers, at 1550 Blake Street, is becoming a hot spot for politics as well as Caribbean cooking. Even before it officially opened on October 1, six weeks behind its original target, it hosted hungry and thirsty politicos -- including Nancy Pelosi, Walter Mondale, Harry Reid, Ken Salazar and Diane DeGette -- during the Democratic Natonal Convention. (It helps that Wanda James, wife of chef/owner Scott Durrah, was big in Barack Obama's campaign).

And the activist action continues. At 5:30 p.m. tonight, it will be the site of a Colorado Progressive All-Star Celebration, with the Progressive Majority; tickets at the door are $25.On Saturday, November 15, it will host a SAFER reception from 6-9 p.m., and a Pan African Film Festival party from 9-midnight. For more details on all events, hours and the menu, go to www.8riverslodo.com.

Meanwhile, 8 Rivers's original home at 3609 West 32nd Avenue, which Durrah vacated when the much larger LoDo location finally opened, could soon become a new restaurant named Venue.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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