On the night before Thanksgiving, the Cherry Cricket — the iconic, seventy-year-old burger joint in Cherry Creek — suffered a kitchen fire that shuttered it. And while the current owner, Breckenridge-Wynkoop Holdings, was already in the process of turning Breck on Blake, a former brewpub at 2200 Blake Street, into a second Cricket, the original — which is just a year into a twenty-year lease on its home at 2641 East Second Avenue — is closed for the foreseeable future. Says Becky: 

This just ruined my Christmas. 

But others aren't fans. Says John: 

Most overrated burger in Denver. Has been for years.

Replies Susan:

The only thing that made holiday shopping in Cherry Creek palatable was the knowledge that after I was done, I could head to the Cricket and grab a burger (no way is it overrated) and a few beers (which never hurt). Now what will I do? The Cricket closed at Christmas? Bah, humbug.

Maybe Santa will bring a fast remodeling job for the Cricket, one of the last vestiges of the days when Cherry Creek was a modest, walkable (and parkable!) neighborhood in the center of Denver, and the Cherry Cricket was at its heart.

• Word of Mouth