Reclaiming the Baker neighborhood, by blocks and Inches

Yesterday’s picture in the Denver Post real estate section of the new Curt Fentress architecture firm headquarters/Watermark sales office, in the historic Chittenden Mansion on West Fourth Avenue just off Broadway, brought back memories of a much earlier attempt to label the Baker neighborhood as one of Denver’s hippest.Close to…

Common Grounds loses ground

There’s a sign in the window of the Common Grounds at 1601 17th Street, and it’s not good news. The landlord has put this prime piece of real estate up for lease, and that means LoDo could lose a great local coffeehouse (and a barista who was once on Survivor)…

Wake-Up Call: Good news out of a bad economy

Wolf Creek Ski Area is one of the last vestiges of old Colorado, a family-run, rustic, relaxed ski area with tons of powder and no pretense. Not surprisingly, a Texas developer took one look at the stunning spot and decided to build a massive resort village nearby — one that…

231 Milwaukee back on the market

When Bar Luxe opened three years ago, it was a sleek Cherry Creek bar, soon to be joined by Euro, a hip Cherry Creek restaurant helmed by Olav Peterson, formerly of Restaurant 1515. But Euro was gone by the end of 2007 (Peterson is now at Bistro One), and Bar…

Wake-Up Call: More scary stuff at DIA

The devil horse. The one-world murals. The underground tunnels where aliens (the extraterrestrial ones) hang out. Yes, Denver International Airport has a lot of scary stuff. Starting with the name of its terminal: Jeppesen. It was supposed to honor pioneering aviation navigator Elrey Jeppesen, who founded the Colorado-based Jeppesen Company…

Take a Shot!

You may not have a valentine this Valentine’s Day, but there’s a lot to love tonight. From 9 p.m.- 1 a.m., the Cherry Cricket, at 2641 E. Second Avenue, will offer its annual Anti-V Day Karaoke Party. “Pissed at your ex? Can’t afford a fancy dinner? Think Valentine’s is a…

Wake-Up Call: welcome to the Mile Haiku City

In desperate times, the media are desperate for an uplifting story — or at least a fun one. And so Luis Jimenez’s “Mustang” has become our own Hudson River miracle landing. It was just two weeks ago that I got the invite to join the nascent Facebook group started by…

Wake-Up Call: a visit to the dinosaur museum

On Sunday, I stopped by the Newseum in Washington, D.C., the new, 250,000 square foot facility on Pennyslvania Avenue devoted to the history of news. The views from this building are stunning, as are many of the exhibits. But in many ways, I might as well have been at a…

Plans for North Star’s replacement move ahead

While the abysmal economic climate has stalled many proposed restaurant plans, the new owners of 3200 Tejon Street are moving ahead with their project to put a steakhouse in the former home of North Star Brewery. Sean Kelly (pictured) has already signed on as the chef at the new venture,…

Bistro Vendome’s Monday night Bistro Bites

Denver Restaurant Week doesn’t start until February 21, but many restaurants are already serving up special deals. Last month Bistro Vendome, the French restaurant at 1420 Larimer Street (in an absolutely lovely space off the Arcade), extended its Sunday night mussels and frites deal through Thursdays. That nine-dollar deal is…

Bogus save-the-burger campaign from Good Times

Found this comment posted on our piece about the campaign to ditch “Mustang,” the blue horse outside of DIA: “Denver’s nonprofits have to come together! While we may not be able to agree on the fate of the blue horse, one thing we can all agree on is that burgers…

Wake-Up Call: high-flying art at DIA

The debate took off fast last week over Luis Jimenez’s “Mustang,” otherwise known as “DIA’s Heinous Blue Mustang,” which stands outside Denver International Airport. (Read more in this Off Limits report, as well as at www.byebyebluemustang, the site started by local realtor Rachel Hultin.) But in all the hot discussion…

All aboard! The ChopHouse coming to Denver International Airport

At Denver International Airport, the Greetings From Colorado store at Concourse A sells T-shirts from Haiti (including models that list the wrong date for Denver’s founding) and souvenirs from anywhere but Colorado. But right around the corner, travelers will soon be able to get a real taste of this state:A…

French twist redux: A Cote to expand its hours

From almost the moment it opened, Patrick Dupay’s lovely bistro, Z Cuisine (at 2239 West 30th), was so popular that expansion was inevitable — if awkward, since the space right next door wasn’t available, so in January 2008  Z Cuisine a Cote, a Parisian wine bar, opened two doors away,…

French twist: La Fondue now Le Chateau

First Gallagher’s turned into 5280 Steak House. Now the spot next door at 1040 15th Street has been transformed from La Fondue to Le Chateau, a French restaurant that still features a fondue section on the menu…

Michel Wahaltere moving on

In this week’s Bar Back, Jon Solomon reports on his visit to Lavish, the club that now occupies the former home of Le Rouge. That was the combo club/fine dining spot at 1448 Market Street (at 15th Street) that boasted a menu created by Eric Roeder, formerly of Micole and…

Wake-Up Call: From hope to nope

You can still spot remnants of Shepard Fairey’s iconic Barack Obama posters around town, which the artist himself slapped up during the Democratic National Convention (earning himself a stint in the clink in the process, as Jared Jacang Maher first reported here). But even the most grassroots efforts grow up,…

Land of Lincoln

There’s no evidence that Abraham Lincoln ever set foot on the land that would become Colorado while he was alive, but the late president is making plenty of appearances here this week. After a special, one-hour sneak preview of the PBS film Looking for Lincoln, Colorado state historian Bill Convery,…

Wake-Up Call: the sins of former senators

It’s not quite the million-buck-a-year consulting job that Tom Daschle got working with former Tele-Communication Inc. honcho Leo Hindery’s InterMedia Advisors, and it may not come with a private car. But former Senator Wayne Allard just took a job with The Livingston Group, a D.C. lobbying firm. Apparently the dog-eat-dog world…

The Empress rules!

Super Star Asian may rate as the Best Dim Sum in Denver, but according to Chinese Restaurant News magazine, the Empress Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant — a more upscale, white-tablecloth joint located nearby at 2825 West Alameda Avenue — ranks as the sixth-best Chinese restaurant in America, far ahead of…

Wake-Up Call: JonBenét Ramsey and 1990s nostalgia

As the awful economic news keeps pouring out (Agile Group, anyone?), you can understand the urge to look back at the good old days. Even the bad crimes of the good old days. And so yesterday, the new Boulder District Attorney and the old Boulder Police Chief held a joint…