Ted, RIP

A moment of silence, please, for Ted, the inanely named little brother of United Airlines. The low-cost, shuttle-like service to nearby destinations made sense when it was announced in late 1993; the name never did. It was the equivalent of renaming an economically challenged portion of this city “Ver.” Even…

The Final Frontier

I try to be faithful to Frontier, the homegrown airline that took off in 1994. And when I heard that it was adding flights to Missoula, Montana, where I frequently travel, it seemed that my longtime loyalty had paid off: I used to fly the old Frontier direct to Montana,…

Denver Daisy, Day Twenty

My Denver daisy got off to a fast start, but it’s been slow going — and growing — since then. By June 4, day twenty, from when I poured the seed packet into my scrounged pot of dirt — and the official date for germination — my packet had produced…

Cut on the Bias

Dear Mexican: First it was the Native Americans, then the blacks, then the Japanese. For a while, Muslims. Now I fear that American prejudice will soon overwhelm Mexicans. It’s one thing to be called a dirty Jap or border-hopper, but is it possible that America will cause another ethnic group…

Mean, Lean ‘N Green

It’s not easy being green. Not much fun, either. Although restaurants specializing in good, healthy food abound in Denver, and many chefs focus on using local products whenever possible, the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has a way of sucking all the flavor out of a concept with its bossy,…

The View

Denver is a city built on great neighborhoods, filled with characters and coffeehouses. I fell in love with Stoneman’s Row when I first moved to Denver and would take frequent trips to the original Muddy’s, just so I could detour past these eight ancient stone houses standing sentinel over the…

Drink Up!

On June 6, Denver will see its last Thirst Friday — because this summer, one of Colorado’s biggest cultural assets will also become a liquid asset. As of July 1, the state can start issuing art-gallery permits that allow galleries to serve (not sell) alcohol for four hours a day,…

The Mexican-Redneck Connection

Dear Mexican: I’m a Mexican-American, but I always lie and tell people my ancestors were from Spain and immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. My whole family says this. We feel embarrassed if we tell people that our heritage is Mexican because Mexicans in the USA are so…

Belly Up to the Bar

Celebrity-starved Denver has a new star — and he didn’t arrive empty-handed. Pastry chef and Food Network personality Keegan Gerhard and his wife, Lisa Bailey, moved to Denver earlier this year, and today they’ll unveil D Bar Desserts, their jewel-box of a bakery/dessert bar at 1475 East 17th Avenue, right…

Lost in Translation

Dear Mexican: Why did the comedian Cantinflas never catch on in Hollywood? I thought he was supposed to usher in the Mexican wave of actors and movies that would help transform Hollywood.El Curioso Dear Curious: Do people even know who Cantinflas is anymore? For those of you not familiar with…

Fuel for Love

The face of the River North neighborhood changes almost daily. Last week, the old Denargo Market — the warehouses where famers unloaded produce for decades, and where Jack Kerouac did some heavy lifting sixty years ago — came down, changing the view to the west from the Broadway/Brighton Boulevard viaduct…

A Matter of Course

The concept behind the Colfax Marathon seemed like a can’t-miss proposition. After all, Colfax Avenue — America’s longest main street — runs exactly the length of a marathon, and passes through some very colorful parts of three towns. But what worked conceptually didn’t work in reality, according to race organizers,…

Last Call for Goodfriends

When Goodfriends closes at the end of service on Saturday, May 17 (or, more likely, early on the morning of May 18), it will close for good. With it will go a lot of memories — since the restaurant/watering hole at 3100 East Colfax Avenue has been open almost thirty…

Denver Daisy, Day One

It used to be that Mother’s Day was considered the safe day to plant in Denver. But after those May 13 snow showers, experts revised their estimate, emphasizing that the real first day to safely plant gardens in this town is May 15. So yesterday, I planted my Rudbeckia, the…

Good Taste

Gagging over an ill-advised (and expensive) Colorado tourism campaign that invited visitors to taste our misspelled and out-of-date cuisine, last month I invited readers to send their responses to this question: “What does Colorado Taste Like to You?” And although we’re still accepting entries (you can submit one simply by…

Scot Free

Dear Readers: My recent column regarding the dissimilarities between Scots and Mexicans provoked a surprising number of responses — both from Irish readers and real Scotsmen furious that letter writer Great Scot could be so pendejo. Here are two: Dear Mexican: I thought the Mexican’s analysis was right on with…

The Mormon Chronicles

Lee Steed, a senior aide to Mormon polygamist leader Warren S. Jeffs, has purchased $2 million worth of property in five spots in the Sangre De Cristo mountains for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to Hatewatch, the online publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center…

Cabin Fever

Beatrice & Woodsley, the new restaurant opening Wednesday, May 14, at 38 South Broadway, has quite a story behind it. That’s because it’s brought to us by the folks behind Two-Fisted Mario’s and Mario’s Double Daughters Salotto, which was named for a pair of conjoined twins. “We do a lot…

We Have Your Wallet

Dwayne Edward Wright, we have your wallet — the wallet you lost back in the mid-70s, when you were a student at a community college in Texas. So how did that wallet wind up under a pine tree in Conifer, Colorado?…

Draft Dodger

Yes, it’s commendable that the current issue of Draft magazine includes Denver International Airport in its “Beer Drinker’s Layover” guide to fourteen airports with good selections of microbrews. Commendable, even if mysterious, since Draft calls DIA “one of the West Coast’s craft beer meccas.” But there’s a bigger problem with…

The Colfax Marathon Goes Off-Course

For the past two years, on the morning of the Colfax Marathon, I’ve gotten up at dawn, prepared myself for the grueling day ahead, then steered my car east along Colfax Avenue. But unlike the stalwart runners, I did not continue all the way to the edge of Aurora, where…

Can We Talk?

Last month, the Colorado Tourism Office offered a taste of this state to New Yorkers in the form of “Colorado High Altitude Concrete,” made by the distinctly un-Coloradan Danny Meyer (“Balls!,” April 24). Anyone hungry for more was referred to a website that touts our fine cuisine of rattler cakes…