5280 Magazine October 2020 by 5280magazine

AN INTRODU C TI O N TO CANYONEERI N G I N UTA H PAGE 42

E XP ERIENC ING H O M EL ESSNESS I N T H E A G E O F C O V ID- 1 9 BY ROBERT SANCHEZ

A B O O K L O V ER’ S G U ID E T O C O L O RA DO PAGE 66

THE DENVER MAGAZINE

DINING IN DENVER

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68 Delicious Ways Colorado Chefs, Entrepreneurs, And Good Neighbors Continue To Nourish Us All

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10 TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT LAWYER FOR YOUR CASE Evan Banker, recently recognized by Best Lawyers® in the category of plaintiffs’ personal injury litigation, shares tips for finding and selecting the best personal injury lawyer for your case. Searching for a lawyer is a lot like perusing the cereal aisle: a vast assortment, dozens of bright and shiny boxes screaming for your attention, and a lot of bold claims.

settled similar cases. Ask how many personal injury cases they have handled for your type of accident or injury, and what percentage of their practice is dedicated to plaintiff’s personal injury.

Over $53 million is spent annually by Denver personal injury attorneys on television ads. This is more than the combined television advertising spent by personal injury lawyers in the three next largest U.S. cities 1 behind Denver: Baltimore, MD, Nashville, TN and Louisville, KY.

COMFORT & EXPERIENCE WITH NEGOTIATION AND GOING TO TRIAL

Hiring a lawyer is a consequential and deeply personal decision that should not be taken based upon a 15 second television spot. At Chalat Hatten and Banker, we believe a successful case starts with research to the find the right lawyer for you, your family, or a loved one.

USE YOUR NETWORK Always start your search for an attorney by asking people you trust. If you or someone close to you has worked with an attorney they liked for any type of matter, contact that attorney for a referral. Well-respected lawyers will be able to recommend law firms with the right credentials and strong reputation for success, ethics and experience in the legal field for your case. Most of our cases actually come from referrals.

RESEARCH Never make a decision about a lawyer solely based on someone else’s recommendation. Read online reviews and check independent directories such as lawyers.com to see what past clients have to say. In addition, always consider the lawyer’s reputation within the legal community. A positive reputation among peers is an excellent indication of a good lawyer so take time to read peer-reviewed sources such as Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Martindale Hubbell.

SELECT, INTERVIEW AND COMPARE SEVERAL LAWYERS Reputable personal injury lawyers do not charge for an initial consultation. Select a few attorneys who you think might be a good fit, schedule a consultation, discuss your case, and interview them. It is not necessary to choose lawyers who have offices in the community in which you reside. In fact, the best, most highly respected lawyers will take cases outside of their home city. In addition to the advancements in technology, these lawyers understand the importance of the legal matter far outweighs the expense associated with traveling.

CREDENTIALS, EXPERIENCE, AND RESULTS Discuss how long the partners have been in practice, the firm’s age, size, awards, leadership roles and organizations with which they are associated. It is also important the attorney you choose is well respected in the legal community. Some good questions include: “What percentage of your practice involves personal injury cases?” “How often do lawyers refer cases to you?” In addition, confirm the attorney has never had an ethics problem and if they carry malpractice insurance. The Colorado Supreme Court, Office of Attorney Regulation lists lawyers and publishes any public discipline history.

Most personal injury cases – around 95% – are settled before trial, but it is important to hire a lawyer who has a successful history of taking cases to court, when necessary. Many lawyers are reluctant or lack the experience to take cases to trial but sometimes this is necessary to get the full and just value of your case. Insurance companies keep records of the attorneys who will take cases to trial and those who will settle for less. Ask what sort of settlements they have obtained in similar cases, how many of their cases go to trial, and the success rate of those that do. We believe that a case that is well-prepared for trial is likely to settle.

PERSONAL ATTENTION TO YOUR CASE A personal injury case is exactly that: personal. And because each case is different, it is important you work with a lawyer who not only takes a personal interest in you and your case, but who is also going to provide an individualized strategy to your representation. Make sure you speak with the attorney who will be handling your matter. If the lawyer chooses to have a paralegal or intake specialist speak with you rather than taking a few minutes out of their day, that is a good indication of the type of attention you’ll receive.

FEE STRUCTURE Before hiring a personal injury lawyer, understand their fee structure. Each attorney may offer different payment structures and rates so make sure you are comfortable with the arrangements. We have found that some of the lawyers we would least recommend actually charge some of the highest rates.

VIRTUAL REPRESENTATION Ensure the attorney you choose is not only following COVID-19 safety measures, but also has the resources and capability to handle your case remotely. Inquire about their technology, comfort and experience with video conferencing for interviews, depositions and court hearings, and the ability to securely send and receive important documents.

ASSESS YOUR PERSONAL COMFORT WITH THE LAWYER After your interviews with each lawyer, reflect on your experience. You will be relying on your attorney for advice, and telling your attorney personal details about your life, so make sure you feel connected and aligned with their personality and approach. Ask yourself: “Did I feel comfortable talking to this attorney about the details of my case?” “Did the attorney answer my questions satisfactorily?” and most importantly, “Do I trust this attorney?”

CHOOSE A RESPECTED PERSONAL INJURY SPECIALIST It is important to select an attorney who has substantial experience and proven results with your type of case. Always ask if they have tried or

Evan P. Banker, Attorney/Partner 1

“The A List,” supplement to Trial Lawyer Magazine Vol. VII No. 3 (Fall 2019)

303.861.1042 | ebanker@chalatlaw.com

YOUR TRIAL LAWYER’S REPUTATION MATTERS. PUT YOUR TRUST IN CHALAT LAW. For over 30 years, we have been dedicated to helping seriously injured victims in auto, truck, skiing, snowboarding, and bicycle accidents, professional negligence, medical and legal malpractice cases, product and premises liability.

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PICTURED: Evan Banker, September 2020. Mr. Banker was recently recognized by Best Lawyers® in the category of plaintiffs’ personal injury litigation. The firm of Chalat Hatten & Banker is listed by Best Lawyers® as a Regional Tier One Best Law Firm in Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury.

303.861.1042 | CHALATLAW.COM |

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YOUR NEXT FALL ADVENTURE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK Towering granite peaks. Endless trail options. Millions of acres of national forest and parks. The expansive lands of the Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota will leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Autumn’s crisp air and bright colors beckon you to spend a day — or weekend — embracing the outdoors, taking in the spectacular displays of fall foliage and celebrating at lively harvest festivals throughout western South Dakota. Whether you’re into adrenaline-soaked trail rides, easygoing hikes, fantastic wildlife, or calendar worthy scenery, there’s a cornucopia of experiences waiting for you. Our great places and great outdoors are wide open for adventure. Consider this your invitation to roam free.

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FEATURES

O C T O B E R 2020

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The Future Of Denver Dining Front Range culinary creatives will never allow the local restaurant scene to fade into fast-food, corporate homogeneity. COVID-19 be damned; we found 68 delicious ways that Colorado chefs, entrepreneurs, and good neighbors are nourishing us all. BY PATRICIA KAOWTHUMRONG & DENISE MICKELSEN

A Book Lover’s Guide To Colorado Whether you want to trace the footsteps of authors past, explore the works of writers present, or help our literary institutions survive to see a post-coronavirus future, consider this story required reading. BY JESSICA LARUSSO

The Block Life, loss, fear, and hope in one Denver homeless encampment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Meats, cheeses, and accoutrements from Goed Zuur pair well with its plethora of sour beers.

Joni Schrantz

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S M A L L B AT C H L I M I T E D R E L E A S E

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DEPTS.

D I A L O G U E 18

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D I N I N G G U I D E 80

21 COMPASS 21 FASHION

How Rockmount Ranch Wear’s iconic pearl snap shirt has maintained its otherworldly popularity.

22 HISTORY

A high school teacher and his students are preserving the tragic legacy of Colorado’s Japanese internment camp.

24 DIVERSIONS

26 POLITICS

An obituary for in-person voting: Dead at 161, the custodian of Colorado’s democracy is survived by mail-in ballots and political bickering.

EAT & DRINK 31 WINE

31 24

Colorado wine pros call for change amid the Black Lives Matter movement.

32 SIPS

Three top-notch Blackowned wine labels available at local liquor stores.

28 TRAVEL

34 ESSAY

Avoid the hordes of Subarus en route to popular destinations in states west and south of Colorado by heading north and east to spots with fewer visitors.

A restaurant critic contemplates the legacy of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, 20 years later. BY SCOTT MOWBRAY

COLUMN 42 GREAT OUTDOORS

Learning the ropes on a canyoneering adventure in Utah’s Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. BY DOUGALD MACDONALD

BACKSTORY 120 DIGGIN’ IT

ON THE COVER

Five of the most significant dino discovery sites in the Centennial State.

Photograph by Sarah Boyum

42 5280 (ISSN 10826815) is published monthly by 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202. Subscriptions are $16 for one year (12 issues). Back issues are available for $5.99 plus tax and shipping by visiting shop.5280.com. Periodical postage paid at Denver, CO, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS (see DMM 707.4.12.5). NONPOSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to 5280 Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 37270, Boone, IA 50037-4270. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement No. #40065056 Canadian Return Address: DP Global Mail, 4960-2 Walker Road, Windsor, ON N9A 6J3. 5280® is a federally registered trademark owned by 5280 Publishing, Inc. 5280 also owns trademark registrations for TOP OF THE TOWN, DENVER’S TOP DOCTORS, DENVER MAGAZINE, COLORADO PARENT, and COUTURE COLORADO. © 2020 5280 Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

Clockwise from top left: Brien Hollowell; Matthew Stacey; Cactus Creative Studio/Stocksy; Courtesy of Excursions of Escalante; Getty Images

Tips and tricks for keeping Halloween a wholly communal holiday during COVID-19.

Don’t make a wish, MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. MAKE YOUR DREAM BODY A REALITY.

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HIGH-TECH ROBOTICS ON MY HEAD? NOT UNLESS THE DOCTOR WHO HELPED DEVELOP IT IS AT THE CONTROLS.

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Robby took advantage of the groundbreaking ARTAS® robot technology that takes the best follicular units from the back and sides of your head and uses them to create a natural head of hair. Dr. Harris isn’t just a national leader in this technique, he was the lead consulting physician on its development. Robby says he’s now so used to the “new me” he can’t recognize old photos of himself. Want a “new you?” Schedule an online or phone consultation.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, CALENDAR & DINING GUIDE

Letters to the Editor must include your name, address (both of which can be withheld upon request), and a daytime phone number. Letters may be submitted via regular mail or email (letters@5280.com). Calendar events should include a basic description of the event; its time, date, place, and cost; and a phone number that readers may call for more information. Send calendar submissions to events@5280.com. To have a restaurant considered for our Dining Guide, contact us by phone or email (dining@5280.com) to receive a submission form. We also encourage you to contact us if your experience at a restaurant differs significantly from our listing. Information for these sections should be submitted at least six weeks before the issue’s cover date.

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Combining style and quality into a beautiful wardrobe that’s uniquely yours.

featured collections Brodie • Velvet • 360 • Sundry AG • Transit • Majestic • Kinross

Writer’s guidelines can be found online at 5280.com/writers-guidelines. To suggest a story idea, email us at news@5280.com.

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DIALOGUE FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Nowhere To Go

The hardships of experiencing homelessness are myriad and obvious, but the events of this past spring and summer have only served to exacerbate those difficulties. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing social unrest, extreme heat and poor air quality from wildfires arrived in the Mile High City in August, only to be followed by a cold snap in early September. For the nearly 6,000 unhoused people in Denver, the city’s response to the pandemic—including forcibly sweeping encampments throughout the summer—fell far short. Starting this past spring, senior staff writer Robert Sanchez immersed himself in the lives of the residents of a series of Capitol Hill encampments. His affecting report, “The Block” (page 74), illuminates the unvarnished details—the struggles of finding food and fulfilling essential needs, including access to toilets and water—of what it’s like to live on the streets. “The pandemic has made it easy to focus on ourselves and the challenges we’re facing in our lives, but thousands of people here are living with the COVID-19 threat without the basic necessities that make all of us feel human,” Sanchez says. “I wanted to find the humanity within each of them as they lived through this global crisis.” As we move toward winter and flu season—and as the coronavirus continues to spread and wreak havoc on the services unhoused people rely on—local leaders don’t yet have a coherent plan to protect those experiencing homelessness. Sanchez’s story shows why that should be unacceptable to all of us.

GEOFF VAN DYKE

“The Loneliest Place To Die” August 2020

This intimate feature by deputy editor Lindsey B. King wove the story of Brian Roundtree, a former 5280 employee, into an incisive examination of suicides in Colorado jails. The piece resonated with Roundtree’s friends and family:

“Remember how funny he was in our marketing class?” Michelle

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OCTOBER 2020

beautiful voice,” Amy Intriago wrote. “I’ve

never written to an editor before or commented on an article, but this feels like a must. I love the way you wrote about Brian Heath Roundtree. I could feel the honor, the friendship, the upturned smile that must have been on your face. I would love to be able to memorialize people with my words the way you did there. It was beautiful, human, and unashamed.”

“Burned” July 2020

Roughly 2,250 male prisoners in Colorado have participated in the State Wildland Inmate Fire Team, or SWIFT, helping to battle more than 750 wildfires. As detailed in this story by Boulder writer Hudson Lindenberger, however, fewer than five have gone on to join fire departments. On Instagram, we asked our readers if they feel like the program is working. “It is horrible, but

not too many places will give ex-prisoners jobs,”

@ruthallen8 replied. “Then we wonder why they have problems after

something to do, work on a team, build confidence, and feel valued. That in itself is

more valuable than anything else, IMO.”

“A Look Back at Vesta Through the Eyes of Those Who Made It a Denver Icon” August 11, 2020

5280.com asked staff members and restaurant regulars for their favorite memories of the Blake Street landmark, which shuttered after 23 years in business. But disappointed readers wanted to mourn the restaurant’s demise, too. “Such a great piece,” Kayla Jones wrote. Chris Jacobs added: “Had many great dinners there!”

“I could feel the honor, the friendship, the upturned smile that must have been on your face.”

Ron Scovil reminisced that “Vesta was our anniversary restaurant when I was married.” Like many others facing the departure of a loved one, Teresa Sanders turned philosophical: “I

loved Vesta. I guess all good things come to an end.” CO NTAC T US

Send email to letters@5280.com or mail your feedback to Letters, 5280, 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202. Please include your name, address, and telephone number. Letters and posts may be edited for length and clarity. You can also follow us and join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest (all @5280Magazine).

From left: Sarah Boyum; Courtesy of Kari Cummings

Price commented. “So sad how things turned out for him.” It also touched strangers. “Your article has a

they are out.” Even if former prisoners can’t land coveted positions in fire departments, @stef.elize believes SWIFT is still benefitting inmates: “I would say that this program is fantastic not only because it might lead to a job, but because it gives these men

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HISTORY DIVERSIONS POLITICS TRAVEL 



Space Cowboy

How Rockmount Ranch Wear’s iconic pearl snap shirt has maintained its otherworldly popularity.

On any given day, you might see fifth-generation farmers, hipsters, or—if you’re lucky—the Rolling Stones browsing the racks of Rockmount Ranch Wear. They flock to the LoDo store for a fashion icon: the original pearl snap shirt. Often imitated today, the staple was the brainchild of Denverite Jack A. Weil, who, figuring snaps wouldn’t break off like buttons, added them to the rugged cowboy shirt 76 years ago. Elvis and Marilyn Monroe took to the garment, but it was 1980’s Urban Cowboy that set the uncalloused hands of the masses to snapping, says Steve Weil, Jack’s grandson and Rockmount’s president and chief creative officer. The brand’s popularity hasn’t been bucked since, thanks to its commitment to maintaining core elements (jaunty collars, those gleaming clasps) while evolving with the times (see: the cosmic wonder above). “People are attracted to brands that stay true to themselves,” says Florence Müller, the Denver Art Museum’s textile and fashion curator. Now, with stars like rapper Lil Nas X donning Western wear, Rockmount may be poised for an extra surge of demand—a rush it’s preparing for this fall by debuting new floral and Day of the Dead patterns. —KIM HABICHT

P H O T O G R A P H BY M AT T H E W S TA C E Y

OCTOBER 2020

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HISTORY

A Legacy Of Neglect

When John Hopper was growing up in Las Animas, his mother worked at the local hospital with a man named Emory Namura. Hopper heard people mention that Namura, an administrator, was a former resident of a nearby Japanese internment camp during World War II, yet as far as Hopper could see, no such place existed. He also never learned a thing about the long-gone outpost in high school, and it was only briefly mentioned during a history class he took at Colorado State University. Hopper returned to eastern Colorado to teach social studies at Granada High School, about 50 miles east of Las Animas, in 1989, and he couldn’t shake the mystery of the facility. So he asked a few students to help interview Namura about what is officially called the Granada From top: Relocation Center. Namura, in turn, put a face on one of America’s most inhumane acts. John Hopper and the site In the early 1940s, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the federal government of Amache; shipped some 120,000 people of Japanese descent to 10 internment camps across the internees at the detention area United States in an effort to prevent Japanese spies from receiving intelligence. Namura and his family were forced to leave California and spend years on land outside of Granada in the detention area, commonly known as Camp Amache. Namura and his wife enjoyed fleeting moments of normalcy, such as shopping in town and even welcoming a child. But each night, they had to return to cloistered barracks along with more than 7,000 others. After the war, the camp was razed, most internees moved elsewhere, and Granada residents mostly ignored the site. Following the interview with Namura, who died in 2004, Hopper decided that Amache’s history needed to be preserved. Touching off a now two-decades-plus-long mission, Hopper and his students set out to find and interview more survivors, many living near Denver, and cleared overgrowth at the Amache cemetery, where around 10 camp residents are buried. Over time, the project was incorporated into Hopper’s curriculum, and by 2000, local teenagers had collected more than 32 hours of video interviews, prompting Hopper to open the Amache Museum in downtown Granada to house the artifacts. “We’ve got to remember this history,” he says, “so it doesn’t happen again.” As word spread about the archive, former internees and their descendants reached out from places like Chicago and Los Angeles to offer perspectives, photographs, and documents. “We created a community where people felt comfortable telling these stories,” says Tarin Kemp, a University of Denver student who started working at the museum in high school. In recent years, Hopper and his team have shifted their focus to restoring the camp’s ruins, most of which are currently cement foundations covered by sagebrush. The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded the group more than $64,000 in grants to map the former barracks, and the team hopes

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to eventually reconstruct many of them. In February, the NPS also announced it was considering including the location in the national park system, which would provide more funding to help increase awareness. The COVID-19 pandemic made that process more complicated, but no matter the outcome, Hopper and his students say they’ll keep working to ensure Amache is never forgotten. —HEATHER BALOGH ROCHFORT

From top: Rachel Woolf (4); Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, X-6562

A high school teacher and his students are preserving the tragic history of Colorado’s Japanese internment camp.

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DIVERSIONS

Trick... Or Treat? A Halloween expert on how to maintain tradition during COVID-19.

Roll the excitement of Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve into one, and you might come close to the Bardeen family’s enthusiasm for Halloween. Paul Bardeen (below, at right) invented the original pumpkin-carving kit in 1943, and his descendants still run Grampa Bardeen’s, the innovator’s Denver company, nearly eight decades later. So even though the pandemic seems hell-bent on ruining trick-or-treating, canceling Halloween was never an option. Instead, Tara Bardeen, Paul’s granddaughter and the business’ marketing manager, suggests organizing a neighborhood pumpkin walk to preserve the door-to-door ritual and sense of community it creates. Here, her instructions for pulling off a Halloween miracle on your own block. —ANGELA UFHEIL STEP 1 To encourage participation, set a time before October 31 for a neighborhood carving party via Zoom. Order your kit (for $50, you get 18 sturdy tools and 16 patterns) from grampabardeen.com. STEP 2 Ensure your work of art lasts: Buy thick-stemmed, deep-orange pumpkins, which hold up longer than yellower varieties. Oh, and illuminate your design with an LED tea light. They’re cooler in temperature than other bulbs, helping your pumpkin stay fresh.

RFA TK

STEP 3 Turn the gourd upside down and cut a hand-sized opening around the belly-buttonlike blossom end. Use one of the kit’s two scoops to scrape the inside wall until the “face” area you want to carve is manageable (about an inch thick).

STEP 5 Have all your neighbors display their pumpkins so families can stroll and admire the views while maintaining six feet of space (costumes and masks recommended). Set up an online poll via a service like Doodle, where residents can vote for their favorites: “Nothing brings a block together,” Bardeen says, “like a bit of friendly competition.”  For more tips and a pumpkin seed

recipe from Tara Bardeen, visit 5280.com.

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From left: Getty Images; Courtesy of Grampa Bardeen’s; Sarah Boyum (tools)

STEP 4 Tape a paper pattern (find more printable options on the website) to your gourd, leaving at least two inches between the diagram’s edges and the top and bottom of the pumpkin. Then, use one of the steel-tipped poker tools in the kit to punch holes along each design element, remove the pattern, and connect the dots as you carve with a saw from the kit.

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After more than a century as the most popular way to exercise democracy in Colorado, in-person voting in the Centennial State has died. (To be clear: Its ghost will linger in the form of some physical polling places for early and Election Day voting.) The cause of death is disputed, with most experts pointing to obsolescence; a cadre of prominent politicians, however, maintain that something more nefarious transpired. Official in-person voting arrived in these parts in 1859, just two years before Colorado was designated a U.S. territory, but it took decades for the system to approach anything resembling a democratic process. White men made up the entirety of the electorate until the Territorial Suffrage Act of 1867 granted Black men the franchise; votes could be cast using any piece of paper that spelled the candidates’ names correctly. Those loose strictures prompted political groups to create “party tickets”— basically, ballots that included every name of a faction’s preordained nominees—which they then sometimes paid voters to submit, often more than once. The 1890s, however, were a decade of enlightenment. As early as 1891, for example, the state government decided to make ballots uniform, which mitigated ballot stuffing and helped keep votes secret. Meanwhile, the efforts of Colorado suffragists, including writers Ellis Meredith and Elizabeth Piper Ensley, led to women casting votes in 1893, nearly three decades before the right was extended to their peers across the country. The 20th century welcomed new technology, such as lever machines, and increased protections through the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. As more people began participating in the process, Coloradans began experimenting with alternate forms of voting, including mail-in ballots. Although balloting by post had been used temporarily before, mostly during times of war so that soldiers could still have their say, 1986’s Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act legitimized the idea that the mail could deliver fair and accurate elections. But in-person voting’s death knell didn’t begin to sound in earnest until 2013, when, in an effort to limit administrative costs and ensure a fair process, the Colorado General Assembly passed a law to send ballots to all voters. Voter participation jumped, from 51.7 percent of registered voters in the 2010 midterm election to 56.8 percent in 2014 and to 65.5 percent two years ago. That year, more than 70 percent of voters mailed in their choices or dropped them off at a ballot box. During in-person voting’s final days, conspiracy theories arose about its decline. Most notably, President Donald Trump claimed Democrats planned its murder in order to more easily commit fraud and steal elections. At press time, he had failed to introduce any evidence of this idea. Such malfeasance has been nearly nonexistent

The custodian of Colorado’s democracy is survived by mail-in ballots and political bickering.

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within the Centennial State; only .0027 percent of the more than 2.5 million ballots cast during the 2018 election were thought to represent some form of illegal voting. In fact, both parties in Colorado agree it was just in-person voting’s time. The pandemic simply hastened its departure. In-person voting will be remembered fondly by sticker aficionados, people who insist on making small talk in line even though you are clearly not interested, and your grandparents.

—SHANE MONAGHAN

Cactus Creative Studio/Stocksy

In-Person Voting, Dead At 161

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TRAVEL From top: Independence Rock; tanking in Nebraska; the Cosmosphere museum

Lodging: For $155 a night, you get breakfast, a camel or pony ride, and a tour of the adjoining zoo— featuring zebras, kangaroos, and other animals—at Hedrick’s Bed & Breakfast Inn, off KS 96 northwest of Hutchinson.

WESTERN NEBRASKA Drive Time: 4.5 hours

Top Attraction: No matter which of the multiple-mile hikes through Toadstool Geologic Park in Oglala National Grassland you take, you’ll be treated to otherworldly geographic formations—many look like (yeah, you guessed it) massive toadstools—and 10,000-yearold fossil beds.

With many people vacationing by car during the pandemic, popular road trip destinations in states west and south of Colorado are crawling with Subarus. Which means it’s a good time to head north and east to three spots with fewer visitors. —SM

CASPER, WYOMING Drive Time: 4 hours

restaurant’s ode to its hometown, The Casper, which is topped with pork belly mac and cheese.

Top Attraction: Independence Rock—a 136-foot-tall landmark that more than half a million Oregon Trail pioneers passed by on their ways to new homes on the West Coast—still has the names of 19th-century trailblazers carved into the bottom of it.

Lodging: The Red Butte Lodge (starting at $80 per night) just outside Casper offers guests views of Casper Mountain as well as private fishing access along the North Platte River.

Adventure: Rent a kayak, paddleboard, or canoe from 307 River Sports (all start at $45 per day) and drive upstream before splashing along the North Platte River, which takes you through the 100-foot-tall cliffs of Fremont Canyon.

Drive time: 7 hours

Eat & Drink: In 2019, the Travel Channel awarded the best burger in Wyoming to Casper’s Branding Iron. We recommend trying the

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HUTCHINSON, KANSAS Top Attraction: The Cosmosphere museum is home to the largest combined collection of U.S. and Russian space artifacts—such as the Liberty Bell 7, the craft used during the second manned U.S. space flight, in1961.

Adventure: Head 650 feet below the Earth’s surface at the Strataca museum for a guided tour of one of the few active salt mines in the country. Eat & Drink: Bogey’s in downtown Hutchinson makes more than 100 different flavors (everything from chocolate to ginger snap) of milkshakes. Use one to wash down a fried-jalapeñocovered Blue Dragon Burger.

Eat & Drink: The Bean Broker Coffee House & Pub in Chadron is a homey shop with small breakfast bites (like the vegetarian breakfast sandwich made with pesto mayo) by day and a bar featuring live local acts after sunset. Lodging: The Olde Main Street Inn in downtown Chadron was used as General Nelson Miles’ headquarters when he investigated the tragic events of Wounded Knee in 1890. (The memorial is an hour’s drive north.) The hotel hasn’t changed much since: The rustic rooms (around $90) are still full of Western-style antique decorations.

Clockwise from top left: Tonda/Getty Images; Courtesy of Nebraska Tourism Commission; Courtesy of the Cosmosphere

The Roads Less Traveled

Adventure: Instead of inner tubes, Nebraskans float rivers in giant stock tanks, the metal tubs cows feed from. Stop by Glidden Canoe Rental in Mullen to procure a vessel ($25 for adults, $10 for kids) and slowly drift along the Middle Loup River.

WINE ESSAY. 

EAT DRINK &

From left: Founder of the Wine Suite Maia Parish, Cabana X at Bar Helix owner Kendra Anderson, and Wilson Daniels director of education William Davis

In Vino Veritas

Colorado wine pros call for change amid the Black Lives Matter movement. BY C H A S I T Y CO O P E R

P H O T O G R A P H BY B R I E N H O L L O W E L L

In almost every corner of American culture, this year has been one of reckoning, and the wine industry is no exception. Richard Betts, who served as the award-winning wine director at the Little Nell in Aspen from 2000 to 2008, made national headlines in June when he resigned from the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas, citing the organization’s lack of urgency in responding to the Black Lives Matter movement. “I think that everybody in my position—male, white, privileged—we’ve all been asleep on the job,” Betts says. But the sudden urgency from white sommeliers and media figures to amplify the voices of Black wine professionals has raised questions that have also become familiar: Why now? Will there be real change after this moment has passed? OCTOBER 2020

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WINE CONTINUED

William Davis recognizes both the vibrancy of the local wine community and the need for more inclusion and equity, too. Nineteen years ago, he was the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa’s first Black wine buyer as the manager for the Ship Tavern, which, at the time, had the largest wine list in Denver. In his current position as director of education for Napa-based importer/ marketer Wilson Daniels, Davis sees progress. “Wilson Daniels— along with other importers, restaurants, and organizations—is increasing access through scholarships, which open the door for Black people who want to get into wine,” Davis says. Still, there is a lot more work to be done to spark real change. Davis believes that, over time, more diverse faces in the industry—encouraged by scholarship investments, mentoring, new leadership, and smart marketing—will help dismantle longstanding roadblocks

“I love Colorado, and my legacy in wine will be in Colorado.” a Black woman.” Now Anderson is more vocal with her peers about the need for increased recruiting and mentoring of diverse staff, particularly relating to restaurant wine service. As a veteran of the industry in Colorado,

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to wine education and enjoyment in the Black community. He’s optimistic in part because of the dedication of innovators like Anderson and Parish. “I love Colorado,” Parish says, “and my legacy in wine will be in Colorado.”

Theopolis Vineyards

SIP ON THIS

Not one of Colorado’s 140 wineries is Black-owned, but you can find these three top-notch Black-owned labels at local shops.

L ONGE V I T Y W INES

T HEOP OL IS V INE YA R DS

Bordeaux- and Burgundy-style blends from Phil Long’s winery in California’s Livermore Valley region spotlight Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

Theodora R. Lee’s winery, nestled in California’s southeastern Mendocino County, is known for rich expressions of Pinot Noir and Petite Sirah.

JENN Y DAW N C EL L A RS Established in 2016 by winemaker Jennifer McDonald, Jenny Dawn Cellars is the first urban winery in Wichita, Kansas, specializing in blends made from Crimson Cabernet and Chardonnay grapes grown in the Sunflower State.

Clockwise from top: Courtesy of Theopolis Vineyards (2); Courtesy of Longevity Wines; Courtesy of Jenny Dawn Cellars

Maia Parish, a Denver native, sommelier, and wine judge, is used to being the only Black woman at trade tastings and wine functions—when her name isn’t left off email lists altogether. “Colorado has a few major wine events, but they aren’t as well advertised to diverse consumers as they should be,” says Parish, who hosts and produces her own events through her consulting company, the Wine Suite. The dearth of people of color in Denver’s food and wine industry—particularly in 2002, when Kendra Anderson, the sommelier-owner of Cabana X at Bar Helix, launched her first catering company here—affected Anderson’s approach to breaking into the scene. “It became important to cement my reputation by focusing on my expertise, training, and palate,” she says. “And not to minimize my Blackness in any way, but I also didn’t want a break just because I’m

ESSAY Chef-owner Dana Rodriguez, who immigrated to Denver from Mexico in 1998, and her team at Work & Class

Bourdain Revisited A restaurant critic contemplates the legacy of Kitchen Confidential, 20 years later. B Y S C O T T M O W B R AY

In this Weird Year, there are people I have needed to hear from again for the sake of my sanity. My two favorites are gone: Anthony Bourdain and Christopher Hitchens. Neither man had patience for injustice or idiocy. Given 2020’s unceasing injustice and idiocy, I’ve been rereading and re-watching both Tony and Hitch. I was blessed to see Hitchens, the British-born social and political critic, in person in Alabama in 2010 at a Christian think tank debate about atheism. He struggled to the podium, bald and weary from chemo, and I feared a diminished roar from the great lion. Oh, me of little faith! He was learned, sharp, and funny. We infinitesimal creatures, he said, are made of dust from the stars of a billion billion galaxies, and as we will go the way of all stars, the original sin is to not think critically in our brief meantimes. Witnessing his brain at work, as he faced his own extinction, was nourishing. When Hitchens died the following year, Bourdain tweeted: “The world just got a helluva lot dumber.” Bourdain, whose 2018 death by suicide was one helluva shock, offered us the same kind of succor as we watched him tramp and puzzle and exult his way through life, food, culture, and the world. He led with a mighty heart. What

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impressed me most was his habit of introspection and his interest in the troubles and labors of others. We could use a lot more of that right now, surely. I recently reread Bourdain’s breakthrough book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary; it’s worth another read. In 2000, Kitchen Confidential landed like a frozen turkey in a fry barrel, exploding with its dishy accounts of sex, drugs, and criminality in the hothouse journeymen kitchens of P H O T O G R A P H Y BY S A R A H B OY U M

OCTOBER 2020

ESSAY New York City. It was fun to read, if a bit oversalted. By 2017, Bourdain regretted the misogyny and sexism built into the macho bravado of his kitchens, but two deeper themes stand out in Kitchen Confidential. The first was his honesty about two decades of dissolute underachieving (before he got to Brasserie Les Halles, the Park Avenue South bistro where it all came together for him), described with the rare confessional quality that also likely saved him from the worst seductions of fame. The second was Bourdain’s call to give credit to others. In the case of Manhattan kitchens, that meant mostly underrecognized people of color. Bourdain admired not just the diligence of the “Ecuadorian, Mexican, Dominican, and Salvadorian cooks” who kept those restaurants running, but also their mastery. “A guy who’s come up through the ranks, who knows every station, every recipe, every corner of the restaurant and who has learned, first and foremost, your system above all others is likely to be more valuable...than some bed-wetting white boy whose mom brought him up thinking the world owed him a living,” Bourdain wrote. He thus fired an early warning flare on an issue the restaurant industry has only recently begun to widely grapple with: The success of chefs—too often white and male—has usually rested on the labor of the same workers of South and Central American origins that Bourdain championed (as well as those of African and Asian heritages). He would return to that point many times. In 2012, he tweeted: “Let’s play a game. Count the Mexicans at the James Beard awards.” In 2015, he denounced Trump’s attacks on immigrants, predicting a calamity for the restaurant industry if mass deportations occurred. Well, calamity hit restaurants in 2020, and I keep thinking about Bourdain’s celebration of his colleagues down the wage chain. As much as owners and operators have suffered this year, surely Latino workers suffered more. Nationally, they represent nearly 19 percent of the population but 27 percent of restaurant employees. In Colorado, 21 percent of the population is Latino—that number jumps to 34 percent in the Denver metro area—with Hispanic or Latino people holding 25.4 percent of restaurant jobs in Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood. When I talked to Lorena Cantarovici, the Ar36

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gentinian owner of Maria Empanada, in April, she said, “We are laying off people from the lowest income brackets in the state. Laying off a dishwasher is hard. We need to do something to make them not feel abandoned.” It’s true that in the past few years, recognition of the roles of women and people of color, at least at the chef level, has increased, and there has been fitful attention paid to pay equity. After much criticism, the James Beard Foundation, whose award deliberations I have witnessed from the inside, has become more consciously diverse—yet this year’s awards were canceled, according to the New Anthony BourYork Times, in part due dain speaking at to a lack of diversity Madison Square among the to-beGarden in 2016

announced winners. Locally, chefs of color are beginning to get their due, with the rise of stars like Cantarovici; James Beard– nominated Dana Rodriguez of Work & Class and Super Mega Bien and Tommy Lee of Uncle and Hop Alley; Theodora and Sylvester Osei-Fordwuo of African Grill & Bar; and others. What Bourdain stumped for in Kitchen Confidential was the value of labor and the richness of the American restaurant kitchen subculture. The coronavirus crisis has revealed a hard truth, though: In Congress, the hospitality industry seems to be regarded as a sort of servant sector of the domestic economy, appreciated but not taken seriously. Airlines were given a bailout, while, at press time, legislation for relief specific to the much-larger restaurant industry was stalled.

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COVID-19 will leave restaurants in a hole made deeper by this neglect. It will take years for businesses to recover, with many unseen casualties—disproportionately, the people who work the hardest and earn the least amount of recognition. In Denver, the biggest challenge will continue to be pay equity, because I doubt that minimum-wage increases, without subsidies from the state, will be viable. Bourdain said his life was “a happy, stupid, wonderful confluence of events,” and his ability to appreciate his journey in the context of regret resonates right now. That quote comes from one of his most moving episodes of No Reservations, in season seven (available online). It involved a return trip to Cambodia that was a televised mea culpa for a Cambodian episode of A Cook’s Tour that he had made for the Food Network a decade earlier. In 2000, Cambodia was incomprehensibly damaged by the war and genocide of the 1970s. Bourdain had gone there, in his words, with a “romantic-slash-tragic, narcissistic notion of the type of place I wanted to see and experience…completely inappropriate.” He went back in 2010 to listen, spending much of his time with women fighting for social justice and human rights. He managed something that I remember fearing impossible: to weave the theme of food and travel into a program that grappled with the extinguishing power of evil. “The food that I used to find with my mother is no longer there,” one woman told Bourdain over an open-air lunch of river crabs and fresh peppercorns. “The noodles that used to be made by the Chinese…like my grandparents, are not there. Killed.” Eschewing his earlier hubris, Bourdain constructed a message of hope amid loss in the shadow of injustice. I wonder if Bourdain would remain as beloved today as he was at the time of his death, or if the Twitterati might have taken a swipe even at him. At one point in his redemptive Cambodian program, he was blessed by a man who sold him food in an outdoor market—Happiness and long life, maybe 100 years! “I don’t want to live that long,” Bourdain Find our Dining Guide, mused. That much we an extensive learned was true. But as list of area his journey unfolded, he restaurants, on page 80 made his point, and it’s and online at there for all of us to see, 5280.com/ restaurants. and act upon. m

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Steep & Deep

Learning the ropes on a canyoneering adventure in Utah’s Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument.

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OCTOBER 2020

Courtesy of Excursions of Escalante

y wife had only one stipulation for our first technical canyoneering adventure: no swimming. “I don’t mind wading,” Chris said, “but if any cold, muddy water gets over waist deep, I am not going to be happy.” So I wasn’t sure how she’d react as we peered over a chockstone—a boulder wedged between the walls of a sandstone canyon—in Utah’s Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and saw a 20-foot-long pool of undetermined depth waiting below. “Take my camera,” Chris said. “I want to get it over with.” She sat down on the chockstone, and Rick Green, the head guide of Excursions of Escalante, pointed to where she should brace her feet as she scooched toward the edge and then eased into the dark water—and just kept going, right up to her chest. “Whoa, I bet that’s deeper than you expected!” Green exclaimed. After a startled shout, Chris laughed and gamely waded toward the far end of the pool. What choice did she have? In canyoneering, moving forward is always the best way. Canyoneering is the Chutes and Ladders sport of descending steep, narrow slot canyons—which are formed by water rushing through soft rock—by scrambling over rocky Inside a slot obstacles, rappelling, wading, canyon along and, yes, sometimes swimming. the Egypt Bench The routes are generally downhill, but that doesn’t make them easy; a one-mile stretch of canyon can take hours to traverse. But anyone capable of hiking rough terrain—on a thirteener, for example—can handle a slot canyon with a trained guide. Excursions of Escalante welcomes adventurers seven and older.

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Chris and I had hiked plenty of straightforward canyons in Utah and Arizona, and we are experienced rock climbers, so clambering over rock and rappelling down vertical cliffs are comfortable for us. On this trip to Grand Staircase–Escalante, we wanted to try something more advanced, but we didn’t have the know-how to take on a technical canyon—one requiring ropework and other advanced skills— without expert assistance. On this day, with a chance of rain in the forecast, we were doubly glad we had hired a guide, considering flash floods are the biggest danger when canyoneering. The dendritic tributary canyons of the Escalante River make Grand Staircase– Escalante one of the premier spots in North America to practice canyoneering. Though reduced in size by more than 45 percent by presidential proclamation in 2017, the national monument still protects about a million acres of desert canyons and plateaus (nearly the size of Denver, Jefferson, and Boulder counties combined). A dirt highway called Hole-in-the-Rock Road extends southeast from near the small farming and adventure town of Escalante for more than 60 miles, all the way to Lake Powell, giving access to dozens of slot canyons. We’d planned this outing as the capstone of a road trip through northern Arizona and southern Utah, taking in the sacred Canyon de Chelly and the famous light show of Antelope Canyon, both on the Navajo Nation reservation, and then exploring upper Buckskin Gulch west of Page and the Cottonwood Narrows on the road to Escalante. But these all were simple dayhikes, and now we were ready for a greater challenge. ON A COOL MORNING in early May, we found ourselves at the headquarters of Excursions of Escalante, outfitting for the day along with five other clients. Rick Green, his partner and co-owner, Amie Fortin, and assistant guide Andrew Jimenez fitted us with climbing harnesses and helmets and handed us shiny daypacks constructed from thick vinyl to resist abrasion from the sandpapery rock. We’d been advised to wear sturdy, protective clothes and shoes as well—no tiny shorts, swimsuits, or sandals—but even so, two of our group would wear holes in the seats of their pants by the end of the day. Before heading out, we gathered in a circle in the company’s grassy backyard for a safety briefing. Green has been guiding canyoneering trips in Grand Staircase for

GR EAT OUTDOORS

IF YOU GO THE DETAILS Excursions of Escalante operates from March to November; most canyon tours run from approximately 7 a.m. to between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., depending on each day’s route. Tours start at $205 per person, including equipment, lunch, and post-canyon ice cream. 435-8264714; info@excursionsofescalante.com GET THERE The town of Escalante, Utah, is an 8.5-hour drive from Denver. The tiny village of Boulder is 40 minutes closer to Denver but offers far fewer services than Escalante. STAY Escalante has plentiful lodging options; the Cowboy Country Inn is inexpensive and kitschycool. In Boulder, splurge for a room and dinner at Boulder Mountain Lodge and its James Beard Award–nominated Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm. SEE Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is open for hiking and canyoneering. Take your newly acquired bridging and partner-assist skills down Hole-in-the-Rock Road to Peekaboo and Spooky canyons. Don’t miss the hike to 126-foot Lower Calf Creek Falls, the trailhead for which is off UT 12, about halfway between Escalante and Boulder. The Escalante Interagency Visitor Center is closed due to the pandemic, but a phone line is staffed Monday through Friday to assist visitors: 435-826-5499.

more than two decades; he’s led many first descents of canyons and serves on the local search and rescue team. The hazards of canyoneering range from sprained ankles and falling rocks to heat stroke and hypothermia, but the most dangerous is sudden floods, which can fill a canyon almost without warning, even when rain falls many miles away. “I’ve got 33 canyons to choose from, and I won’t decide which one we’re going to do until we get out there and I see what conditions are like,” Green told us. “There’s a pretty good chance of rain later on, so I’ll choose a canyon with many exit points and a small collection area for rainfall, so I don’t have to worry about what’s happening 30 miles away.” Seventeen miles out Hole-in-theRock Road, we turned onto a smaller dirt road and headed across the Egypt Bench to a small pullout at a bend. Bright orange scarlet gilia and yellow prickly pear flowers dotted the gravelly red soil; a raven squawked at our intrusion from a nearby juniper. As we piled out of the trucks, I wandered about 40 feet and then pulled up short at the threshold of a huge chasm. The canyon below was a narrow gash, so dark inside you couldn’t see the bottom. “Some

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5280

GR EAT OUTDOORS people start here and rappel straight into the canyon— it’s like rappelling down a 20-story building,” Green told the group. “See those grooves the ropes have carved in the edge?” Then he pointed to the shorter, gentler side of the canyon: “Don’t worry; we’re going over there.” After working our way down rock slabs to a ledge above a drop-off, Green anchored a climbing rope to some large boulders, and Jimenez demonstrated the rappel into the gorge. He walked backward down the steep, rocky slope, controlling his descent with a rappel device—a simple friction brake—and, where the wall steepened to near vertical, disappeared from view.

each new problem. There was teamwork, too: A foot braced in a slot could become a literal foothold for your partner; a bent Excursions of Escalante knee became a stepladder. began its season at the end After descending past an of May—about two months later than usual. Amie Fortin, obstacle, we pointed out co-owner and excursions hidden footholds for the director, said the company next person to come down. would keep up its rigorous There was a lot more disinfecting practices and water in the bottom than would turn away guests expected, though. These canwho had coldlike sympyons constantly change as toms. However, slot canyons are constricted; the guides a result of weather and eroprovide hands-on assission—a flood will push logs tance; and wearing a mask into the canyon and move is difficult in an environment boulders, creating new that’s often either hot or wet, dams and pools. The water meaning standard COVID-19 was cool as we waded, and safety techniques aren’t pracdespite some questions about tical. Ultimately, Fortin said, visitors need to understand quicksand (which is “not an that “there is no social disissue,” according to Fortin), tancing in this activity. There the floor felt firm. The pools will always be some risk.” glowed orange from light reflecting off the walls. NOW IT WAS OUR TURN. At a widening where the One by one, we clipped a rappel device walls were not quite as steep as before, onto the rope and our climbing harnesses Green paused and asked the group if anyone and started down. It took some trust to noticed anything unusual. Chris spotted walk backward into a void, but the descent them first: a line of shallow holes in the lasted only a couple of minutes and was relsloping sandstone, about a foot apart and atively effortless—and decidedly fun. At the leading out of the canyon. “Moqui steps,” bottom, we stepped in wet sand. Jimenez Green said. “The Native Americans who coiled the rope, and we headed down the lived here hundreds of years ago carved these canyon, walking single file. The colorful rock to access the bottom of the canyon—maybe walls curved overhead as the canyon tightfor water, maybe to trap animals they were ened to only three or four feet across. hunting. Maybe just a shortcut.” For us, they At the first big blockage, a pile of boulmight offer an escape route if a storm threatders forming a step several feet high, I was ened. If that happened, one of our guides tempted to jump to the sand below from would climb the old steps, trailing a rope for the top of the heap, but Green quickly the rest of us to use. vetoed that idea. “Think yoga, not Ninja In fact, ominous gray clouds had been Warrior,” he insisted. He showed us how building behind us. Green rallied the party to maneuver into a body bridge (what rock but resisted hurrying as the walls narrowed climbers would call chimneying), with and we shuffled sideways to proceed. back and hands pressed against one wall “Little steps, little steps,” he cautioned. of the canyon and feet braced against the Suddenly the canyon broadened again. On other wall. Scooting sideways and then a less threatening day, some groups continue down, we could maneuver past obstacles in down this canyon, but we weren’t taking any complete control. chances—just one canyon over, a California At each new challenge, Green would couple died in a flash flood in 2008. As rain demonstrate another technique: a heel began to spit from the sky, we hiked up a jammed into a crack between a rock and steep slope to reach a sheltering alcove the canyon wall or a foot bridged across below the rim. We pulled sandwiches out of a slot. At times, he’d call out “left saddle,” our packs as the storm passed and shafts of meaning we should sit with our butt on sunlight played across the wet desert. It was the left side of a ledge or boulder and lunchtime—and we had earned it. m then ooze over the edge. The idea was not to muscle past obstacles but to use Dougald MacDonald is a Louisville-based writer. Email him at letters@5280.com. gravity and creativity to find solutions to 46

5280

OCTOBER 2020

C AN YONEER ING AND C OV ID-19

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

REALTOR PROFILES October 2020

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Anne Dresser Kocur L I V S O T H E B Y ’ S I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E A LT Y Dedicated to Making Lifetime Clients, Anne had another record breaking year representing buyers and sellers in the Denver real estate market. Day or night, it is never too late to answer a call from a buyer or seller. Anne’s 30 years of experience and passion for real estate have firmly positioned her as a leader in the industry. Now more than ever, it is important to select the right broker who has a wealth of knowledge and a professional approach to negotiations. Anne’s extraordinary level of service will allow you to achieve all of your real estate goals. Her dedication to making lifetime clients has afforded her the accolades below: •

#1 Individual Producer for Denver Metro Association of Realtors

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Top Individual Broker at LIV Sotheby’s International Realty

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#1 Individual in Denver Metro Area

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5280 Excellence Award Achiever

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Years of Corporate Relocation Experience

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Extraordinary Service in Every Price Range

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Over 95% Client Repeat/Referral Rate

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Ranked #72 in North America

The Denver real estate market continues to change, but Anne remains the same – dedicated and determined to go above and beyond to meet all your real estate needs. 8000 E. Belleview Ave., Ste. 200, Greenwood Village | 303-229-6464 ANNEDRESSER.COM | ADRESSER@LIVSOTHEBYSREALTY.COM

Denver’s Top Team K E N T W O O D R E A L E S TAT E JACCI GEIGER, MARY JONES, WENDY GLAZER & SANA WOOD

As the #1 Team at Kentwood Real Estate, Denver’s Top Team had a record breaking year representing buyers and sellers. Comprised of four awardwinning realtors, the team demonstrates unparalleled negotiation skills, high integrity, a deep understanding of the community, a wealth of knowledge and EXTRAORDINARY service. In this ever changing and fluid market, they help each client achieve their real estate goals while making the process go smoothly. Denver’s Top Team is passionate and committed about helping YOU through YOUR buying or selling process. •

#1 Team in sales production at Kentwood Real Estate - 2019

•

Yearly Recipients of the Denver Metro Realtors Excellence Award

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Yearly Recipients of the Five Star Professional Award

•

EXPERIENCE TOP RESULTS with Denver’s Top Team

215 Saint Paul Street, Suite 200, Denver | 303-881-3514 DENVERSTOPTEAM.COM | DENVERSTOPTEAM@KENTWOOD.COM

OCTOBER 2 0 2 0 | 4 9

REALTOR PROFILES

JANET KRITZER

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

One of Denver’s Top 10 Brokers for the past eight years by the Denver Board of Realtors. As one of the leading real estate brokers in Denver, Janet Kritzer is dedicated to meeting your needs with the utmost level of sophistication and professionalism. She specializes in the luxury home market within all the neighborhoods of Cherry Hills Village. With skillful L negotiation, I V S O T refined H E B Ysales ’ S I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E A LT Y strategies, and expansive knowledge of the area, it’s clear to see why Janet consistently ranks in the top individual sales for LIVASotheby’s. proud Denver native, Justin leverages his extensive local network and

Justin Joseph

background in real estate law to create extraordinary outcomes for his clients.

Justin approaches every transaction with a win-win philosophy which helps Call Janet to discuss how her experience will work for you him deliver unprecedented service and results. A graduate of University of and your real estate needs. Denver Law School, Justin is a fierce negotiator. As a result of his passion

for real estate, Justin has been honored year after year by the Denver Metro TOP 10 BROKER SINCE 2007 – DENVER METRO ASSOCIATION Association of Realtors with its coveted Excellence Award. Justin believes that OF REALTORS every home has a story to tell and uses his unique skill set as an Emmy-award

v v v

winning television journalist to bring listings to life. WALL STREET JOURNAL TOP 500 AGENTS NATIONALLY

AWARDED FIVE-STAR PROFESSIONAL SEVEN YEARS RUNNING • Honoree, 2018, 2019, 2020 Denver Metro Realtor Association’s Excellence Award

LUXURY HOME PROFFESIONAL WITH GLOBAL CAPABILITIES

PHONE: EMAIL: WEB: ADDRESS:

(303) 883-2474 Janet@JanetKritzer.com www.JanetKritzer.com 8000 E. Belleview Ave., Suite 200 Greenwood Village, CO 80111

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Colorado Judicial Branch certified expert in real estate

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Member, LIV Sotheby’s Relocation Team, winner of prestigious Cartus Broker Networks Masters Cup

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Member, Colorado Bar

303-587-5757 | jjoseph@livsothebysrealty.com JOSEPHHOMESTEAM.COM

Libby Levinson K E N T W O O D R E A L E S TAT E The Golden Rule also applies in real estate: I give my clients the same customer service I would expect to receive when buying or selling a home. As a Denver native, I live and work in the same neighborhoods that I grew up in. I love the charm of historic Denver neighborhoods as well as the convenience and space offered in the numerous Metro Area suburbs. I share my love of the Denver Lifestyle via LifestyleDenver.com. Explore Denver with me via LifestyleDenver’s social media channels and #goexploredenver. •

More than 15 years of experience with over $100 Million sold

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Interior design enthusiast & staging consultant

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Yearly Recipient of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors Excellence Awards

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Designations: CIPS, CRS and GRI

215 Saint Paul Street, Suite 200, Denver | 720-935-0412 LIFESTYLEDENVER.COM | LIBBY@LIFESTYLEDENVER.COM 5 0 | O C TO B E R 2 0 2 0

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Lisa Santos + Kim Davis M A I S O N O F C O L O R A D O, W I T H C O M PA S S These two vivacious ladies joined forces in 2009, and together have become a force to be recognized. As one of Denver’s Top Producing Duos they have garnered significant accolades both locally and nationally. Kim & Lisa are urban dwellers raising families in the heart of the coolest city in America. Kim & Lisa offer a truly different experience in real estate. Authenticity, integrity and honesty are what they attribute to their referrals and relationship-based business. These ladies are committed to finding space that fits who you are... and selling space so you can move on. A continued goal is making sure you always feel at home in Denver.

200 Columbine Street, Denver | (K) 303.218.8373 (L) 720.933.3377 FINDINGYOURSPACE.COM

Ann Kerr KENTWOOD Your home should be a reflection of your life and your style. A place that’s more than four walls and an address. A place that speaks to your passions and pursuits. In a market rich with realtors, Ann Kerr stands out from the pack. And while her sales record speaks for itself, she’s anything but a salesperson, believing instead in the power of relationships. Ann’s 20-year tenure in the industry reflects the type of staying power that can only be achieved through honesty, integrity and unrelenting authenticity. Ann knows and appreciates the intangibles of a life well lived and the beauty of homes that exude quiet elegance and thoughtful details. Whether you are buying or selling, count on Ann Kerr as your partner in luxury real estate.

4949 S. Niagara Street #400, Denver, CO 80237 | 303-818-8668 ANNKERR.COM | AKERR@KENTWOOD.COM OCTOBER 2 0 2 0 | 5 1

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

New Perspective Team C O M PA S S R E A L E S TAT E JODY DONLEY, KIM KOUBA, MELINDA HOWLETT, ASHLEY HOWLETT, TIFFANY BURKE, MEGAN DAVIS, LAURA HUDGINS, MARCY EASTMAN, DANELLE MORGAN, AND DIANNA MAY

Always coming from the perspective of life long real estate advisors, we are here to guide you in this changing market regardless of your short or long term path. We’re a team of agents committed to caring for our clients with solid analysis, gracious yet persistent negotiating, and innovative and common-sense problem solving. We’re empowered by the financial and tech tools of Compass but it’s the decades of deep relationships with clients and our community that has helped us earn the Denver Metro Association of Realtors’ Diamond Level honor as one of the top producing teams in the metro area.

KIM KOUBA 303-204-8215 | KIMKOUBA@NPRECO.COM JODY DONLEY 720-290-8917 | JODY@NPRECO.COM

Colin Whitenack

Karen Levine

CO M PA S S R E A L E STAT E

RE/MAX ALLIANCE

You probably approach real estate from a combination of lifestyle and investment goals, after all that’s what most of us do. However, your specific goals and how you approach them are likely very unique. I curate your sale, purchase, or investment journey around your individual goals and lifestyle desires. I bring a decade of experience in not only real estate sales, but also several investments and projects of my own so I can deliver a knowledgeable, creative, and rewarding experience to you. Call or email me using the information below, and let’s connect about your Real Estate goals!

I am a Colorado native, born and raised. I have been a RE/MAX REALTOR for over 30 years and love helping buyers and sellers make their real estate goals a reality. My real estate business focuses equally on buyers and sellers. I work the entire Denver Metro marketplace with an emphasis on Jefferson County. I enjoy working with first time homebuyers, move-up buyers and sellers, and the empty nester move-down buyer or seller markets. I am very involved in my local, state and national REALTOR Associations, serving in a variety of leadership roles. I have hosted a fundraising luncheon, Karens for the Cure, for 12 years that benefits Susan G Komen Colorado and volunteer for the Golden

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9 Years in Denver Metro Real Estate

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Sells home 15% faster than MLS average (5 year average)

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Five-Star Professional Award 2019 & 2020 (client nominated)

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Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist

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Certified Negotiation Expert

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Denver Area Native

Retriever Rescue of the Rockies. My interests include food and wine, scuba diving, travel, golf, hiking, fishing, and golden retrievers. I welcome your inquiries about residential real estate and will provide the utmost professional service when it comes to handling your real estate needs.

5440 Ward Rd., Ste. 100, Arvada

303-912-5394 colin@colinco.com

303-877-7516 karenlevine@remax.net

COLINCO.COM

KAREN-LEVINE.COM

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Nancy Austin CO M PA S S R E A L E STAT E

Seitz Kal-Hagan Team CO M PA S S R E A L E S TAT E

As they say, home is where the heart is! A home is where relationships are developed, where kids are born and raised, and where memories are made. When I walk through a home that someone has decided to sell, I think about how new lives and memories will pick up from where others left off. Where once a baby’s cry might have filled the room, a teenager’s music can soon shake the walls. When I view a kitchen, I envision it as a place where family and friends will congregate at parties and holidays. Real estate is a home and homes are people’s lives, hopes and dreams! My philosophy is to do my best to capture the essence of what a home has meant to someone or what it can mean to someone in the future.

With over 30 years of combined real estate experience and 4 generations of living in the Denver metro area, the Seitz Kal-Hagan team has a well-earned and respected reputation. This team is committed to sharing their expertise of staging homes to sell, negotiating the best deals, earning repeat and referral business, educating buyers and sellers about the ever-changing Denver market, and supporting clients as they move throughout the stages of their lives. They are at your service in assisting with every part of the transaction to alleviate the pressure of one of the biggest investments you will make. Invest in your future. Live your dreams.

Through my power of relationships, expert negotiation skills and strong work ethic, I am proud that my clients have made me an award winning Top Producer!

200 Columbine Street Suite 500, Denver 200 Columbine Street Suite 500, Denver

L: 303-906-8455 M: 303-587-6720 K: 303-694-6720

720-371-9779 nancy.austin@compass.com

SEITZKALHAGANTEAM@GMAIL.COM

Pam Bent

Lori Abbey

R E / M A X P R O F E S S I O N A LS

CO M PA S S R E A L E STAT E

When you work with me, you’ll have the dedicated support of one of the most successful Real Estate Agents available. With an outstanding track record, I will leave no stone unturned when it comes to helping you achieve your real estate goals.

Lori Abbey lives her life with passion, compassion and enthusiasm, and those characteristics drive how she approaches her business. She operates at the top of her field and to provide her friends and clients top-level knowledge and service along with a fun, professional, full-service experience on every transaction. She is a proven expert in negotiation, problem-solving, diplomacy and relationships who prides herself in protecting her clients’ priorities and financial interests. She believes in treating every person and every transaction with the care and respect that they deserve.

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Consistent top-producing agent (Upper 2%)

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Colorado native serving all of the Denver metro area, including the Front Range foothills

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I am a Certified Residential Specialist with over 18 years experience as a successful Realtor serving buyers and sellers. •

Prior CPA, providing enrichment in all financial aspects of the transaction

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Featured in Forbes magazine as a 2018 Real Estate Market Leader

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Five consecutive years Five Star Professional, nominated by my clients for superior service

303-981-8811 | pam@pambent.com

720-840-4984 lori@theabbeycollection.com

PAMBENT.COM

THEABBEYCOLLECTION.COM OCTOBER 2 0 2 0 | 5 3

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Luke Gordon

Chad Hines

R E / M A X O F C H E R RY C R E E K

Y O U R C A S T L E R E A L E S TAT E

• “The Name That Sells Denver” • Top 2% Denver agent • Seven consecutive years Five Star Professional for outstanding customer service • Selling Denver’s finest neighborhoods • Decades of experience helping buyers & sellers

Compassionate, creative, connected and clever. Call me today, and let’s talk about your next move!

303-506-6999 | luke@denvercityhomes.com facebook.com/lukegordondenverrealestate

720-891-2197 | hineshomes5280@gmail.com

WWW.DENVERCITYHOMES.COM

GOFINDCOHOMES.COM

Olivia Casa Monday

Gina Cornelison

B E R KS H I R E H AT H A W AY H O M E S E RV I C E S

Gina holds customer service to the highest standard. It is her goal to educate and advocate for her clients in every price point.

P E R RY & CO .

With over 20 years experience in marketing, Olivia brings knowledge and excellence to her clients. As a realtor, advocate and strong negotiator, she will put her skills to work for you.

720-308-6669 | casastyle5280@gmail.com

303-520-0128 | gina@perryandco.com

OLIVIASELLSDENVER.COM

PERR.CO/GINA

# 12 # 25 #4 5 4 | O C TO B E R 2 0 2 0

The 25 Best Neighborhoods in Denver SP ONSORED BY

Whether you’re looking to buy a home or explore Denver’s vast and varied locales, we’ve crunched the numbers to bring you our exclusive list of the 25 best neighborhoods in the Mile High City.

SEE WHICH NEIGHBORHOODS MADE THE CUT! 5280.COM/NEIGHBORHOODS ›

REALTOR PROFILES

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Erica Kalkofen

Carla Bartell

R E / M A X P E A K TO P E A K

P E R R Y & CO .

Buying & Selling Real Estate • Kitchen & Bath Remodeling • Certified Mountain Area Specialist • Extensive Building & Design Knowledge • Superior Client Service

Proven experience and unparalleled service. Carla will give your Real Estate transaction the attention it deserves.

970-531-6860 | Winter Park, CO

303-884-4550 | carla@perryandco.com

MYMOUNTAINREALESTATE.COM

PERR.CO/CARLA

Jessica Reinhardt Vitcenda

Nancy Greager

RE/MAX ALLIANCE

Jessica is a Denver native and 2nd generation Realtor. With her two decades of real estate experience, she will put effort, dedication and passion into accomplishing your real estate goals. She is also on the board of directors for DMAR.

CO M PA SS R E A L E STAT E

Nancy Greager draws upon 18 years of real estate experience when helping buyers and sellers navigate Denver’s dynamic market. Award-winning. Top-Producing. Experienced. Over 90% of her business is referral-based!

303-549-1223 | jessicareinhardt@remax.net

720-938-9001 | nancy@nancygreager.com

REALTORJESSICAINCOLORADO.COM

NANCYGREAGER.COM

Jacob Gram P E R RY & CO .

Jacob believes that dedication to his client’s financial and personal needs is his utmost responsibility.

303-585-0502 | jgram@perryandco.com PERR.CO/JACOB

Myra Skinner P E R RY & CO .

Myra’s passion is helping her clients achieve their dreams of buying or selling a home. You can count on her!

ADVERTISE HERE Speak directly to the audience looking to purchase a new home. 5280’s Realtor Profiles special advertising section delivers direct access to Denver’s affluent and educated market. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ARI BEN

720-705-9898 | mskinner@perryandco.com

720.266.6240 OR ARI@5280.COM

PERR.CO/MYRA OCTOBER 2 0 2 0 | 5 5

5280

OCTOBER 2020

F U T URE DENV E R D I N ING THE

BY PATRICIA KAOWTHUMRONG AND DENISE MICKELSEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONI SCHRANTZ

Front Range culinary creatives will never allow the local restaurant scene to fade into fast-food, corporate homogeneity. COVID-19 be damned, here are 68 of the countless delicious ways that Colorado chefs, entrepreneurs, and good neighbors are nourishing us all.

Konjo Ethiopian Foodâ€™s veggie combo

REFRESH & REPEAT The owners of Spuntino have managed a rare feat: no closures, no furloughs.

You can—and should—spend your entire day eating (and shopping) at Black-owned businesses in and around Denver. Coffee at the Point Ryan Cobbins’ sprawling 10-year-old Five Points shop is a perfect place to start your day (it opens at 7 a.m.), assuming you enjoy a curated selection of looseleaf teas; house brews made with Coda Coffee Company beans; breakfast sandwiches and grain bowls; burritos from Longmont’s Burrito Kitchen; and cheerful hospitality from the moment you walk through the door.

GROCERY RUN

Dia International Market and African Grocery Swing by this tiny sundries store in Aurora—named after owner Mamadou Dia, not the airport—for pantry-builders, including Senegalese-cloveand-Guinea-pepper-spiced coffee, fufu mix (a bready accompaniment for West African soups and stews), and perfect-for-braising, meaty frozen oxtails. 58

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OCTOBER 2020

LUNCH

African Grill & Bar Specialties from across Africa are the draw at Ghana natives Theodora and Sylvester Osei-Fordwuo’s 16-year-old restaurant in Green Valley Ranch (their Lakewood outpost opened in 2019). Go for the akwaaba (welcome) plate, piled high with favorites such as fried chicken, sweet plantains, garlicky spinach, and jollof rice cooked in a fragrant, tomatobased broth.

COFFEE BREAK

Whittier Cafe Millete Birhanemaskel’s homey Whittier coffeeshop— with its sunlit side patio, expertly pulled espresso drinks, and melty paninis—is a perfect spot to linger. Friday through Sunday afternoons, you can satisfy cravings for comfort food, barbecue, and Ethiopian fare, thanks to the Black-women-owned food trucks that park there.

DINNER & DRINKS

Cabana X at Bar Helix Take a vacay without leaving Denver via Cabana X, owner Kendra Anderson’s tropicalgetaway-themed pop-up patio in RiNo. Its rotating menu delivers edible escapes to the likes of Barbados (chicken wings in rum- and passion-fruit-infused hot sauce) and Thailand (bloomin’ onion with bonito aïoli), paired with craft cocktails that are boozy and beachy.

DESSERT

Smith & Canon Ice Cream Co. Curt Peterson, owner and ice cream whisperer at Smith & Canon on East Colfax Avenue, churns small-batch flavors from scratch. His Foxy Brown (a cheesecake and cinnamon roll hybrid) and Black Coffee varieties are sublime served affogato-style with the house nitro brew. Delivery means pints and bags of beans can come straight to you.

Hours SoulNia owners Kamiya Willoughby and Tess Hurlburt simmer their vegan and vegetarian catering company’s collard greens. By cooking Willoughby’s family recipes and sharing cultural context, the couple aims to educate us all about the plantbased roots of soul food.

GOOD EATS

BREAKFAST

Sarah Boyum (Spuntino)

W HERE TO EAT N OW

Islandinspired drinks and dinner at Cabana X at Bar Helix

Chef Cindhura Reddy and general manager Elliot Strathmann, owners of nine-year-old Spuntino in Highland, feel like they’ve opened a new restaurant every few weeks since the pandemic began. Still, the couple has accomplished what few other operators have, even expanding their hours to include lunch for the first time in years to ensure no pay reductions for their staff and, in June, installing a 44-seat tented patio in Spuntino’s parking lot. “The most challenging—and important—thing for us is rolling with the punches, adjusting constantly, and being creative,” Reddy says. That includes using the restaurant’s previously retired drive-thru window to expedite the journey of food from the interior kitchen to the alfresco dining space. Has it all been worth it? Absolutely, Strathmann says. Their team is back to doing what they love: hosting and connecting with guests in person. They are also excited about heating the patio as the weather cools and using the outdoor space for popups. “It’s about remembering what’s important, and who’s important,” he says.

THE FUTURE OF DENVER DINING

G AVE THEM L EMONS

Pivot. Resilience. Creativity. This year’s buzzwords have resulted in pop-ups, concept changes, and new endeavors. ICYMI, here’s what’s new and hot—or cold—right now.

HOT PIE

Il Posto Classic iterations of deepdish heaven, in apple, peach, and blueberry

DOUGHNUTS

FRIED CHICKEN

Lil Yellow Chick Cattivella’s new Central Park truck takes on crunchy-juicy fried chicken and Louisiana-style sides

Pandemic Donuts Yeast-risen and old-fashioned pastries dunked in colorful glazes

FRIED CHICKEN

Noble Fry-It Finger-licking bird and charcuterie boards at natural wine bar Noble Riot

SANDWICHES

F. Uzzio’s Sangweech Mark Dym’s Italian-style subs at his Larimer Street pizza spot, Marco’s Coal-Fired

PIE

The Pie Queen Six-inch beauties made with local fruit from a pastry chef who often delivers in drag

BAKED GOODS

Fox Run Café Rising star bakers making banana bread, cream puffs, and briochelike buns for flawless sandwiches

DOUGHNUTS

GRAIN BOWLS

BOXED MEALS

The Doughnut Club Highly ’grammable specimens in overthe-top flavors

SWEET

SANDWICHES

Jabroni & Sons Rib-eye cheesesteaks and other Friday-only sandwiches from the kitchen at Bar Dough

Kitsune Denver Gorgeous, seasonally inspired bento boxes for delivery or dine-in at American Bonded

CAKES

GIARDINIERA & PICKLES

Lala’s Bakery Spring Fling cakes by alums of the dearly departed Market at Larimer Square

Minga Provisions Chef or Death podcast host Eric Chiappetta’s flavorbomb condiments

ICE CREAM

MyKings Ice Cream 12 rotating flavors (a few from Magill’s) and cereal milkshakes

Pint’s Peak Ice Cream Pastry chef Caitlin Howington’s from-scratch fantasy flavors (smoky s’mores, whiskey butterscotch)

CSA WITH BENEFITS

Ollin Farms Pop-Up Local fruits and veggies for Saturday pickup at Beast & Bottle, paired with recipes from chef Paul C. Reilly

BAKERY-PLUS

Dry Storage Pastries, loaves, heirloom flours, whole grains, onigiri, and booze

CHEESE PLATES & SOUP

Turtle Boat Cheese flights sourced from Rocky Mountain makers, plus free soup for souls in need

GELATO BARS

ICE CREAM

Right Cream Inventive pints (looking at you, vegan coconut pandan with sesame candy and coconut caramel), delivered

HipPops Miami-born food truck peddling createyour-own gelato or sorbet bars

Flavor Dojo Nourishing midday meals made with local heirloom grains and greens at Rioja

SA VORY

Courtesy of Tori Buehner (Pandemic Donuts); Courtesy of Il Posto (Il Posto); Courtesy of Vivian Villagrana (Lala’s Bakery); Nick Kelley/Courtesy of Fox Run Cafe (Fox Run Café); Courtesy of Vivian Ngyuen (Kitsune Denver); Courtesy of Jeff Fierberg (Minga Provisions); Courtesy of Gia Genitempo (Turtle Boat); Courtesy of Stephanie Minior (Kream Kimchi); Courtesy of Steven Guillen (MyKings Ice Cream); Courtesy of David Right (Right Cream); Courtesy of the Denver Dish (HipPops); Getty Images (fried chicken, corn ear, ice cream cone); Courtesy of Jabroni & Sons (sandwich)

2020

BAKERY-PLUS

ICE CREAM

RoseBud Ice Cream Small-batch, high-butterfat, pure and simple flavors—with or without CBD

Moxie Bread Co. Breads and baked goods, sure, but also seeds for planting, books for baking, and face masks for being responsible

KIMCHI

Kream Kimchi Spicy-tangy perfection in a jar from hospitality vet Virgil Dickerson’s mom’s recipe

COLD

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To-go is here to stay, so why not order from those who do it best? BEST EVERYTHING

Annette (Aurora) Kolaches. Biscuits. Epic burgers and fried chicken. Ice cream and hand-cranked sausages and berry hand pies sent in hand-woven picnic baskets. Caroline Glover and her tiny but mighty team at Annette in Stanley Marketplace threw everything they had at the past several months, cooking any delicious thing they could to keep customers coming back for takeout or patio dining. Glover and partnerspouse Nelson Harvey were eloquent, too, penning arguments for federal restaurant aid and sharing raw emotions on social media, all while donating food and time to charitable causes, testing 60

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Annette’s staff for COVID-19 every two weeks, and, well, working like mad to safely serve us that which comforts us most.

BEST SUSHI FIX

Sushi Den (Platt Park) What is it about being stuck in the house that makes landlocked Coloradans hanker for sushi so badly? Crave not: Denver’s original sushi masters, Toshi and Yasu Kizaki, are here to help. They’ll fix you up right with Sushi Den’s immaculate nigiri and maki, presented as a colorful array of piscine jewels, each piece and roll carefully nestled into takeout containers. (Add an order of their sleeper hit threeday broth-to-bowl ramen, too. You won’t regret it.)

BEST TECHNIQUE

Work & Class (RiNo) Since early in the pandemic, Dana Rodriguez and Tony Macaig’s casual Latin-Southern spot has delivered—not literally, but certainly when it comes to flavors, textures, and packaging. Work & Class nails the cooking—from cornmeal-fried catfish to the fan-fave tempura broccoli Massive Attack salad to lemon-butter grilled chicken— and does a bang-up job of storing its to-go orders without the food suffering one bit. All will arrive at your home table as it should: fish flaky, fried broccoli hot and crispy, fresh greens lively, and chicken plump and juicy. Rodriguez and her team are pros, and it shows.

BEST MEAL KIT

At Home With (Boulder, Denver) Whoever said that the pandemic has no upsides doesn’t yet know the pleasure of cooking an upscale dinner from a Frasca Hospitality Group meal kit (starting at $90 for two), which always comes with a bottle of wine. It’s a little like bringing the chefs, sommeliers, and producers who work with Frasca

Courtesy of Frasca Food and Wine (Frasca)

T HE BIG T AKEAWAY

Clockwise from top left: Meats, cheeses, and more from Goed Zuur; Colorado-grown asparagus and turnips from Beckon; Hop Alley’s wonton soup; Bobby and Danette Stuckey outside Boulder’s Frasca Food and Wine

THE FUTURE OF DENVER DINING

miraculously made it across town with no loss in delicate crispness, and short ribs were so tender, they yielded to a fork even at room temperature. Elegant branded stickers indicating each course adorned the compostable to-go boxes, and notations on ingredient provenance were as considerate as this new iteration of Beckon.

BEST SPECIALS

Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of Paper Laundry; Denise Mickelsen; Courtesy of Hop Alley

BE S T CHEE S Y, BU T T ERY, BEERY GOODNESS

Goed Zuur (Five Points) The first taproom in the world dedicated to sour and wild beers, Goed Zuur also happens to be one of the most underrated restaurants in Denver. Not a sour fan? That’s OK; there are trendy wines and Bierstadt lagers in addition to exceptional sours from Westbound & Down, Casey Blending & Brewing, and more. Skeptical of ramen on a taproom menu? Order it anyway; chef and co-owner Anthony Lopiccolo uses charcuterie scraps from his opulent meat boards to make the rich broth. Still hungry? Don’t miss the flight of six artisanal butters with house-baked baguette or the gooey raclette-potato “lasagna” that will put you into a dairy-carb coma in the most delightful way.

BEST SPECIAL OCCASION

Beckon (RiNo) High-end, 18-seat, chefs’counter, tasting-menu-only Beckon has pivoted to takeout with grace and skill, which is how the team behind that restaurant does everything. Fifty dollars per person is an almost criminally low price to pay for five courses of chef Duncan Holmes’ seasonal, locally sourced cooking; the first course alone comes with as many as three snacks! This summer, tender fried squash blossoms stuffed with rich blue corn polenta

NO PAIN, NO GAIN For Fetien Gebre-Michael, co-owner of Colorado’s only fast-casual Ethiopian restaurant, failure due to the pandemic is not an option.

People worldwide with multicentric carpotarsal osteolysis, the genetic disorder that three-yearold Sophie, daughter of Hosea and Lauren Rosenberg (Blackbelly, Santo), was diagnosed with in March. Through ice cream socials, silent auctions, and chef collaborations, nonprofit Sophie’s Neighborhood has raised $350,000 of its $2 million goal to fund research into new treatments.

GOOD DEEDS

Food and Wine, Tavernetta, and Sunday Vinyl (see page 65) into the kitchen with you. The experience includes the special touches you’d expect from such lauded restaurants: varying themes, from the Italian Riviera to Korean barbecue; step-by-step written instructions with equipment requirements, ingredient details, and an accompanying video; wine tasting notes and a video discussion; and food prepared so thoughtfully, even a home cook can turn out a Frasca-worthy meal with ease.

Hop Alley (RiNo) As if ordering takeout from Tommy Lee and Geoff Cox’s roster of modern, regional Chinese classics isn’t fun enough—scallion pancake-wrapped duck rolls and mapo rice cakes and Sichuan-style fried chicken with whole dried red chiles say it all—their rotating daily specials will have you checking back often to see what other tasty dishes you can score. When the likes of sticky koji chicken wings with plum hot sauce, tender har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings), and Taiwan-style shaved ice desserts are calling, you’d better pick up. (See what we did there?)

Konjo Ethiopian Food, one of 13 stalls inside Edgewater Public Market, was gaining momentum when COVID19 shut down Colorado’s dining rooms and food halls. In fact, co-owners Fetien Gebre-Michael and Yoseph Assefa had decided that opening a second fast-casual location was possible within the year. Even in late March, as sales plummeted 80 percent, the Colorado-raised duo planned Konjo’s next move. “I didn’t work this hard to have it go down the drain,” says Gebre-Michael, who started Konjo (Amharic for “beautiful”) as a catering and events company in 2014, partnering with Assefa to launch the Ethiopian Food Truck in 2015. They adapted, laying off 10 employees, moving to takeout, and preparing donation-funded meals for essential workers through Frontline Foods Colorado— a move Gebre-Michael says saved their business. By late July, sales of Konjo’s berbereinfused beef tibs, vegetarian sides, and fluffy injera were up about 20 percent and they had rehired seven staff members. Even now, a second location is still in the works. OCTOBER 2020

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E Q U A LL Y D E L IC I O U S

Every Front Range food hall has its own appeal. Our two current favorites offer very different don’t-miss dining experiences.

Y WA D OA BR RKE T MA You may think you already know Broadway Market, but since the industrial-chic hall reopened its doors (and wall of garage door windows) in June, it’s evolved into an entirely new scene. Chef Jesus Silva, who was part of the starting roster with his sushi counter, Misaki on Broadway, is now in charge of most of the food stalls, from Tora Ramen to Tacos Al Chile, where Silva makes sopes, gorditas, tacos, and salsas drawn from his childhood in Mexico’s Monterrey. Logan House Coffee is stocking Third Culture Bakery’s mochi doughnuts and muffins on weekends, and New Zealand–inspired Happy Cones Co. offers12 rotating flavors. Also new is Element Knife Company, where you’ll find Japanese blades and cutting boards, sharpening services, and exquisite handmade ceramic tableware.

Credits Tk

Options: Republik of Chiken (1), Misaki on Broadway (2), Tacos Al Chile (3), Logan House Coffee and Third Culture Bakery (4), Purgatory Pizza (5), Tora Ramen (6), Happy Cones Co., Maria Empanada, and Mondo Mini

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Hospitality meets necessity at Mango House in Aurora, where the hum of sewing machines often blends with the chorus of six bustling food-stall kitchens. Founder P.J. Parmar estimates that resettled refugees make more than 20,000 visits each year to the multipurpose space’s walk-in health clinic, shopping and community centers, sewing studio, and food court. The last is where you’ll find immigrant and refugee chefs showcasing the culinary traditions of their homelands, from comforting bowls of ono kao sweh (chewy egg noodles and chicken in a rich coconut curry broth) at Urban Burma to Rocky Mountain Sudanese Restaurant’s fatta fool, a dish of velvety, cumintinged fava beans with feta and hard-boiled eggs, served with a baguette. There’s no way to go wrong, really, when neighbors share what they love. Options: Rocky Mountain Sudanese Restaurant (1), Nepali Mountain Kitchen (2), Urban Burma (3), Golden Sky Asian Food (4), Jasmine Syrian Food (5), and Odaa Ethiopian Restaurant (6)

3 6

THE BAR STAR Angela Neri, owner of industry bar Pony Up, refuses to compromise.

200

Pounds of wild rice Tocabe, An American Indian Eatery purchases every month from Minnesota’s Red Lake Nations Foods. It’s just one of five Indigenous producers the fastcasual spot supports, all of whom will benefit even more when Tocabe’s preparedmeal and pantry-item shipment program is fully up and running later this year.

GOOD EATS

Credits Tk Courtesy of Tony White (Angela Neri)

THE FUTURE OF DENVER DINING

O NG SE A M OU H

After managing restaurants from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., Angela Neri knows how to lead. And when running Pony Up, her two-year-old LoDo bar (and French dip destination), she bases all decisions on an equilateral triangle model she’s developed over her 18-year career: guest experience at the top, employees and financials as the supporting base. That was the case until March, anyway, when she flipped the triangle to put her team and Pony’s solvency above all else. She rose to the dystopian occasion, walking her furloughed 23-person staff through applying for unemployment; feeding them with the remains of Pony Up’s pantry; applying for federal, state, and city aid; and packaging meals for out-of-work peers. All the while, Neri was devising creative ways to pay Pony’s bills, from silent auctions to custom knife raffles to selling to-go cocktails and, eventually, reopening for patio and dinein service. What’s next? “It’s hard to think that this expensive location and concept will be able to soar like it used to during baseball season, if that doesn’t come back,” Neri says. “And not every decision can be balanced right now; the triangle is upside down. It’s all about survival.” OCTOBER 2020

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B E ST NEW

RESTA U R A

DENVER’S

Daughter Thai Kitchen & Bar (October 2019) At Daughter Thai, style and substance are what’s for dinner. Under the discerning eye of chef-owner Ounjit Hardacre, the vibe at the Platte Street spot is lively and hip, and the usual Thai food menu suspects sport flavor upgrades and face-lifts. Expect twists—and lovely presentation— on everything from massaman curry (with Colorado lamb and lychee) to pla larb (a salad laced with mint, chiles, lime, and roasted rice, elevated with fried frog legs) to the urbane cocktail program.

NTS

Misfit SnackBar

(December 2019)

Chef Bo Porytko has a knack for novelty, a talent that allows him to riff on pub classics—burgers, popcorn, fried fare—through his own quirky lens. The result? Playful, edible art showcased from a 120-square-foot kitchen inside the Middleman cocktail bar on East Colfax Avenue. Exhibit A: Fried whole clusters of Worcestershire-marinated enoki mushrooms, Porytko’s take on the bloomin’ onion. If you’re looking for what’s funky and fun in Denver right now, Misfit is it. Room for Milly

Clockwise from left: Daughter Thai’s Ounjit Hardacre, Dueanphen Rungrueang, and Orrapan Bottaisong; tortellini at Restaurant Olivia; dimerolls from Dimestore Delibar; vegan plates at Somebody People

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It’s a tragic bit of irony to open a cocktail bar based on a fabulous flapper-era traveler just weeks before a no-moretrips, no-more-bars pandemic struck. But coronavirus couldn’t stop the brilliant minds behind this transportive new drinksand-small-plates destination on Platte Street. Room for Milly does everything well: Zoom cocktail classes; luxe merchandise; shaded patio brunches and happy hours; and some of the best sips, snacks, and decor in town. Restaurant Olivia

(January 2020)

Three Mizuna vets—chef Ty Leon, barman Austin Carson, and hospitality ace Heather Morrison—have transformed Cafe Marmotte on South Downing Street into a charming yet modern trattoria. Leon’s glorious handmade pastas run the

This spread: Sarah Boyum (Daughter Thai, Somebody People, Dimestore Delibar, Dave Query)

(February 2020)

THE FUTURE OF DENVER DINING burgers, beef-fat fries, and deviled eggs residing on the same menu as lobster hand pies and steelhead trout with smoked onions and pole beans. And, oh, the wine! Let sommelier Clara Klein steer you through the Old World meets New World list; she’s got a story for every pour. Dimestore Delibar

(December 2019)

Somebody People

(September 2019)

This vegan, no-waste-inspired, Miami retro Overland restaurant blows away all expectations. Omnivores won’t miss a thing when presented with chef Art Burnayev’s magically creamy almond skordalia, umami-bomb mushroom toast, and hearty semolina pastas. Of course, his vegetable plates are the true stars, each as vibrant and layered as the next. Oenophiles can romp through the natural wine list, and even those not yet ready

to dine in have reason to go, for Somebody People has turned its foyer coffee bar into a market where you can pick up vino; veggies from Oxford Gardens; dips and pickles and dried noodles; and spices, tiffins, and T-shirts. Yuan Wonton

(August 2019)

Penelope Wong is a carb whisperer—and Denverites will follow the Mile High City native’s food truck anywhere for a taste of her wontons, dumplings, buns, rice dishes, and hand-pulled noodles. She learned to fold all those perfect pleats from her Chinese grandmother and now puts her skills to use making xiao long bao; emerald-hued Sichuan eggplant pot stickers; sesame noodles; and silky shrimp-andpork wontons in chile oil. So, follow the leader to Instagram (@yuanwonton) and get ready to pay for your food the minute online pre-orders open—Yuan Wonton always sells out. Sunday Vinyl

(December 2019)

Credits Tk

THE BIG REBOOT Big Red F’s Dave Query has creative plans—and hope—for the future.

It comes as a surprise to no one that Frasca Hospitality Group’s newest baby—a Europeanstyle wine bar behind Union Station that spins only vinyl—is the coolest kid in town. The narrow space (and train-track-side patio) is elegant and attended to by best-of-the-best pros dressed in their finest kicks. There’s a high-low thing coming out of the kitchen, with pork

nuggets with slaw, blue cheese mousse, and hot honey in a Little Man waffle cone). Throw in the social-distancing-friendly rooftop patio, and it’s a new idea whose time has clearly arrived. Uncle (July 2019)

The only way Tommy Lee could have improved upon his original LoHi ramen shop would have been to expand it. Enter: Uncle’s second location in the Speer neighborhood. Not only are there more seats (these days, on a massive tented patio), but Lee added more eats, too, via tsukemen and mazemen ramen; apps like kimchi-butter-dressed fried potatoes; and Thai-style curry. Go on Tuesday or Wednesday for the 15-course yakitori tasting menu, during which grilled-chicken-bits-on-a-stick get their rightful due.

Ways to help your favorite restaurants and their workers: 1 Call directly to order delivery (it’ll save them—and you—thirdparty fees). 2 WEAR. A. MASK. 3 Tip big. 4 Be considerate and kind.

GOOD DEEDS

gamut from take-and-bake lasagna to tasting menus, all designed to go with Carson’s wild grape French 75s or fig old fashioneds. With Morrison running the floor, Olivia is the full package—a neighborhood spot where every meal feels like a celebration.

Chef Tim Dotson and partner Chris Fuentes may not have forecast the pandemic, but their deli/convenience store/bar/ restaurant was certainly stocked for it. Selling everything from hand sanitizer to house-cured pastrami, the duo has created a model that works—and then some. Dimestore is also a beautiful full-service restaurant and bar with $11 craft cocktails, dimerolls (stuffed, rolled focaccia sandwiches), and refined small plates (try the chicken

During the third week of March, the same week Big Red F founder Dave Query turned 57, he closed 14 dining rooms from Boulder to Kansas City and furloughed 710 employees. “We pivoted hard,” Query says. For the 26-yearold restaurant group that owns local favorites including Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar and Boulder’s Centro Mexican Kitchen, that meant transitioning into a business based on takeout. “Zolo Grill became a community kitchen to feed frontliners and employees,” he says, “and the Post Brewing Co. and West End Tavern carried the group.” Since then, Query has reopened all of Big Red F’s dining rooms with streamlined menus; rehired about 80 percent of the staff; paid back salary reductions through bonuses; and adopted a tippool model, in which all employees split gratuities equally. “It gave our kitchen crew a $5 to $6 per hour raise,” Query says. He’s experimenting with ghost kitchens, too, operating the Post for takeout and delivery from various Jax locations, for starters. “Now is the time to shake your shit up and get it dialed straight,” he says. “The world was given a reboot card, and we need to earn it.” m OCTOBER 2020

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OCTOBER 2020

A Book Loverâ€™s Guide To Illustrations by Nicholas Stevenson

Whether you want to trace the footsteps of authors past, explore the works of writers present, or help our literary institutions survive to see a post-coronavirus future, consider the following pages required reading.

ď ľ By Jessica LaRusso

Colorado

Literary Locales Some of these Colorado spots served as inspiration for fictional settings; others simply served nowrevered authors whiskey and beer. They all have the power to connect you to people and places you may only know through prose. Central City Opera House  CENTRAL CITY

First, follow Jack Kerouac from the ballfield at Five Points’ Lawson Park to My Brother’s Bar in LoHi, where he racked up tabs with Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady (for proof, see the framed letter that mentions the latter’s debt). Then get, ahem, on the road to Central City: In 1947, Kerouac saw Beethoven’s Fidelio at the town’s still-in-use opera house [1].

North Cheyenne Cañon Park  COLORADO SPRINGS

Once inside this 1,600-acre park, drive to the base of Helen Hunt Falls [2], named after Helen Hunt Jackson, an area resident and white advocate for the improved treatment of American Indians. Her popular 1884 novel Ramona, about a Native American–Scottish orphan in Southern California and the racial discrimination she suffers, has been reissued more than 300 times.

Ouray Vacations to this southwestern Colorado town inspired the setting for the mountain hideaway in novelist Ayn Rand’s 1957 dystopian tale, Atlas Shrugged. Like her Galt’s Gulch, Ouray is surrounded by peaks; traverse the 6.5-mile Ouray Perimeter Trail, whose expansive views of the valley [3] make it easy to imagine it could be populated by disgruntled creatives and intellectuals.

La Raza Park

 DENVER

master Stephen King visited in 1974 on a spooky fall night. King has widely cited that stay as his muse for 1977’s The Shining, set in the fictional Overlook Hotel. Ask for his room, 217, if you dare.

Strater Hotel

 DURANGO

In 1981, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales [4]—who wrote 1967’s epic poem I Am Joaquin—and other Chicano leaders clashed with police in this singleblock green space, which is under petition to have its name changed from Columbus Park to La Raza Park, as Sunnyside residents have long called it. Picnic in the Aztec pyramidlike kiosko featuring murals by local artist David Ocelotl Garcia.

For more than a decade, starting in 1966, prolific Western novelist Louis L’Amour spent each August with his wife and two children at the Strater Hotel in Durango. He penned much of his series about the Sackett pioneer family in room 222, where you can sleep and sit at the same drop-leaf table L’Amour used.

The Stanley Hotel

Thomas Hornsby Ferril House  D E N V E R

 E S T E S PA R K

This stately resort just outside Rocky Mountain National Park is a far scream from the run-down version one-time Boulder resident and horror 68

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The Queen Anne at 2123 Downing Street was home to Colorado’s first poet laureate, Thomas

Hornsby Ferril, from 1900 to 1988. His guests included Robert Frost, Jack London, and Dorothy Parker, and it has hosted more contemporary scribes, too, as headquarters for Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop from 2005 to 2011. It’s now a private residence, so snap a picture and then stroll 1.2 miles to the Capitol; Hornsby Ferril’s verses caption the murals on the first-floor rotunda.

Welton Street Cafe Home of Mona’s  D E N V E R Sadly, all the Colorado eateries mentioned in Denverite Adrian Miller’s James Beard Award– winning Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time have closed since its publication in 2013. But you can visit this Five Points restaurant, one of his current favorites, to get a taste of how Black chefs are honoring the country’s African culinary heritage today.

This spread, clockwise from top left: Brad McGinley Photography/Getty Images; Val Duncan/Kenebec Images/Alamy Stock Photo; Getty Images; Cavan Images/Alamy Stock Photo; Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, Z-8826

Book Lover’s Guide

 PA S T

A R M C H A I R T R AV E L 1

How a Centennial State author transported a young girl to different geographies and realities.

—

Central Mississippi is nearly 2,500 miles from my hometown in Oregon. But at 10 years old, I could have drawn you a map of the fictional farmlands where Colorado author Mildred D. Taylor set parts of her renowned children’s series about the Logans, a Black family in the Jim Crow South. At 41 years old, I still can. I met the Logans when my fifth-grade teacher assigned Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Published in 1976, it’s Taylor’s second novel about the family, set during the Great Depression, and she softens no language nor hides any ugliness in her portrayal of racism in the 1930s South. I was captivated by Taylor’s depiction of this faraway place and felt a kinship to the narrator, nine-year-old Cassie Logan. We were about the same age. Like Cassie, I was a tomboy who preferred dirt and sticks to dresses and dolls. Unlike Cassie, I was white and living in a predominantly white suburban city. So the burnings and lynchings and painful inequities Taylor so rawly depicts were not only horrifying, but also somewhat alien. I understood racism existed; I’d seen it in my own world, when kids made fun of my friend Johnny’s Filipino last name or chased our Vietnamese neighbor, Nguyen, off the swingset. In those cases, though, we’d get the grown-ups, because the grown-ups would punish the bullies. But in Taylor’s books, the wrongdoers were the grown-ups—a society of adults who allowed hate and harm. Taylor has said the stories in the Logan series belong to her father, who died just before Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry won a John Newbery Medal for children’s literature. Taylor herself left Mississippi at four months old for Ohio, where she graduated from high school and the University of Toledo. She eventually earned a master’s in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder; today, the author crafts her stories from a ranch nearby. Yet in her novels, Taylor displays an uncanny ability to capture the essence of somewhere she never really lived. In January, Taylor published the final book in the Logan series. I haven’t read it yet. I’m re-reading the others first. Part of me hopes Colorado makes an appearance; I want to see it through her lens. Another part of me hopes she stays away from our shared adopted state, so I can again be conveyed through Taylor’s language to a distant place, even if that place—and the hard truths it reveals—isn’t always pretty. —Kasey Cordell

Woody Creek Tavern  W O O DY C R E E K

Belly up to the bar at this cash-only watering hole [5]—a favorite haunt of journalist, activist, and author Hunter S. Thompson, who lived nearby—for a few fingers of Thompson’s favored Wild Turkey bourbon.

Yuma Fans of Kent Haruf could visit Salida, where the novelist spent his final years, or downtown Florence, where Jane Fonda and Robert Redford shot a scene for Netflix’s 2017 adaptation of Haruf’s final novel, Our Souls At Night. But to experience the sleepy vibe of Holt, the fictional setting for Haruf’s widely lauded Plainsong, head to this tiny Eastern Plains town, one of several in which Haruf lived as a child. OCTOBER 2020

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Colorado Black on White (2018)  JOHN FIELDER

The New Colorado Canon

The 50th book from our state’s unofficial landscape photographer laureate is his first in black and white. You might think Colorado would be unrecognizable without its golden aspens, pink alpenglow, and bluebird skies, but Fielder’s 230 images prove that sans color, the textures of our most beautiful places come into even sharper focus.

Fifteen recently published books by Centennial State authors to add to your collection.

Spotted Tail (2019)  D AV I D H E S K A WA N B L I W E I D E N This biography of Sicangu Lakota leader Spotted Tail offers middlegrade (ages eight to 12) readers more than an account of his negotiations with the U.S. government in the mid-1800s; it also encourages discussion about issues facing Indigenous people today. (Parents: Weiden, a member of the Sicangu Lakota nation who grew up in Elyria-Swansea, released his first thriller, Winter Counts, in August.)

Friuli Food and Wine (2020)  M E R E D I T H E R I C KS O N , L AC H L A N M AC K I N N O N PATTERSON, AND BOBBY STUCKEY

This 272-page love letter to the region of Italy that inspires Boulder’s Frasca Food and Wine is worth having on your shelf even if you never attempt the 80 recipes and wine pairings therein, thanks to stunning photography and travel notes from chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and sommelier Bobby Stuckey.

Anguish Garden (2020) Between gigs as a professor at Regis University, co-host of the podcast Mother F**ker In A Cape, and cartoonist for the Colorado Sun, Brooks self-published the first installment— out this month—of his own graphic novel trilogy. The post-apocalyptic Western’s themes are prescient; a virus and the dehumanization of those infected serve as an allegory for white supremacist movements.

Sabrina & Corina (2019)  K A L I FA J A R D O - A N S T I N E

In her debut short story collection— a 2019 National Book Awards 70

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finalist—Denver native FajardoAnstine spins poignant tales, mostly centered on Indigenous Latinx characters in Colorado, informed by her Chicanx heritage and the gentrification of her hometown. Her first novel is due to be released next year.

Julia Roberts, Swanson returned to the 1960s for her second psychological thriller, whose protagonist makes chilling discoveries about her husband’s family while confronting the limitations of being a woman in mid-20th-century society.

The Glass Forest (2018)  C Y N T H I A SWA N S O N

Tragedy Plus Time (2018)

With 2015’s The Bookseller, her New York Times bestselling debut, set to be adapted into a film starring

Best known for his comedy work (nationwide stand-up gigs, TruTV’s Those Who Can’t, a new album

 A D A M C AY T O N - H O L L A N D

titled Semblance of Normalcy), Cayton-Holland will make you laugh and cry with this tribute to his sister and his journey to navigate life after her death by suicide.

National Parks of the U.S.A. (2018)  KATE SIBER

Based in Durango, Siber leveraged her outdoor experience and passion for the environment to bring 21 of America’s grandest natural treasures

This spread: Sarah Boyum (2); Books courtesy of and available through Tattered Cover Book Store

 R. AL AN BROOKS

Book Lover’s Guide

to life in this coffee-tableworthy children’s book. Pair it with her similarly gorgeous, out-this-month 50 Adventures in the 50 States to inspire family excursions near and far.

Finna (2020)  NATE MARSHALL

South Side Chicago native Marshall, who moved to Colorado Springs a little more than a year ago to

teach at Colorado College, may be a somewhat reluctant Centennial State resident (at least, that’s what he recently told the Chicago Tribune). But we’re happy to claim him and his lyrical poetry collection, which explores issues of racial oppression and gendered language while spotlighting the Black vernacular.

The River (2019)  PETER HELLER

Unlike Heller’s dystopian bestseller The Dog Stars (2012) and crime

novel The Painter (2014), The River is not set in Colorado, where he lives and splits time between Denver and Paonia. Instead, the author depicts a stretch of Canadian wilderness where two men on a canoe trip must contend with a wildfire and a potentially more dangerous human threat.

Turtle Under Ice (2020)  JULEAH DEL ROSARIO In her second young adult novel, Boulder librarian del Rosario alternates between the first-person

 PRESENT

perspectives—impressively written in verse—of two very different sisters as their relationship evolves following their mother’s death.

The Titanic Secret (2019)  CLIVE CUSSLER AND JACK DU BRUL This book starring two of Cussler’s recurring heroes was the last Cussler published before his death at 88 years old this past February. Cussler used his commercial success—100 million copies sold of his 80-plus novels, many with cowriters—to indulge his passions for undersea exploration (he discovered more than 60 shipwrecks) and vintage cars, many of which are in his eponymous Arvada museum.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky (2020)  S A N D H YA M E N O N

The latest installment in the young adult series Menon kicked off in 2017 with When Dimple Met Rishi is another rom-com for modern times. With a diverse cast of characters, this classic opposites-attract story delves into hot topics like environmental activism, and while it doesn’t get too racy, rumor has it her first novel for adults—Make Up Break Up, due out in February 2021 under the pen name Lily Menon—will.

Deep Creek (2019)  PA M H O U S T O N From the Creede ranch she bought with the proceeds from her 1992 short story collection, Cowboys Are My Weakness, Houston penned this compendium of essays that detail everything from her escapades caring for livestock to climatechange-fueled threats of wildfire to abuse she experienced as a child.

A Deadly Divide (2019)

Credits Tk

 AUSMA ZEHANAT KHAN

In Zehanat Khan’s fifth book featuring detectives Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty, the duo investigates a mosque shooting in Quebec. Although the author’s background in international humanrights law lends authority to her incorporation of issues like online radicalization and Islamophobia, the depth of her characters carries her crime stories (as well as her four-part fantasy series, the conclusion of which is due out this fall). OCTOBER 2020

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S TO C K YO U R S H E LV E S Supporting independent bookstores has never been more important or easier. Here, a few local shops offering simple, social-distance-friendly ways you can help ensure they withstand the pandemic and Amazon.

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Mutiny Information Cafe  SPEER

Why We Love It: Between the new and used volumes and vinyl, pop culture memorabilia, poster-strewn windows, and racks of comic books, this South Broadway gathering place, which has been a bookstore of some kind since the 1980s, is indie incarnate. With its usual open mic nights and metal shows on hold, Mutiny is instead hosting food and clothing drives. Help From Home: New this spring, Mutiny’s Booty Box subscription ($35 per month) brings its eclectic offerings to your door in the form of locally designed stickers and buttons; books, zines, and comics by area authors; nostalgic treats like MoonPies; local music; and a bag of Mutiny’s new house joe, brewed in partnership with Denver roaster Glass Arrow Coffee.

BookBar

 BERKELEY

Why We Love It: Whether we’re there with our kids for Drag Queen Story Time, meeting our co-workers for book club, or by ourselves with a magazine and a glass of wine, we always feel welcome to linger at this chic, nook-filled, seven-year-old shop

and cafe. Although the interior had not reopened at press time, you can pick up coffee and preordered books through the curbside window or sip a beer and peruse specially curated shelves on the expansive back patio. Help From Home: For a $50 annual donation, you can fund the work (including construction of a community literary center in the old Regis 66 gas station) of BookBar’s nonprofit, BookGive, and score perks like invitations to a members-only Facebook group and online sales.

Trident Booksellers & Cafe  B O U L D E R Why We Love It: This shop has been a staple of Boulder’s Pearl Street for four decades. Pairing its rare books (including avant-garde selections from smaller presses) with its rare looseleaf teas is even more enjoyable now, since the bookstore spent the mandatory closure renovating its back patio. Help From Home: In late March, Trident launched a wildly popular mystery book bag program: For $50, you (or your lucky giftee) receive four to six new and used books, selected by staff based on preferences you provide, and a bag of coffee or tea.

Books Denver Public Library (DPL) had given away, as of late August, through its pandemicfriendly bookmobile program. Normally deployed to schools and older-adult facilities, DPL’s three vans are instead visiting places where families receive services, such as Denver Public Schools’ grab-and-go meal sites. Reading materials for all ages are donated primarily by DPL’s nonprofit arm, the Friends Foundation. Help the group keep spreading the written word by attending Booklovers Online: Bookmarked, a livestream event on October 24 featuring New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander reading The Undefeated, his new picture book. Free (donations are encouraged), eventbrite.com

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This spread: Sarah Boyum (4)

23,851

Book Lover’s Guide

A Home On The Range In the e-reader age, South Park’s Rocky Mountain Land Library wants to help people create more visceral connections to the page and to the land.

 FUTURE

Mountain Land Library positions for them in August). They tacked on a visit to what is now called Gladstone’s Library in Wales; the vision of late 1800s U.K. prime minister William Gladstone, the castlelike destination for authors, scholars, and everyday bookworms has lodging, reading rooms, a restaurant, and a chapel. “We thought, wow, wouldn’t it be great to have—in a state like Colorado, with so many diverse landscapes, from the prairie to the mountains—a place where people could actually stay and use the books and the land for study and inspiration,” Lee says. After a long site search, they learned the city of Aurora was looking for a partner to reanimate the buildings on Buffalo Peaks Ranch (which the municipality had purchased to mitigate public fishing access lost due to a reservoir project). Attracted to the history of the working ranch, the existing buildings, and the South Park area’s commitment to heritage tourism, the Rocky Mountain Land Library signed a 95-year lease in 2013, and Lee, Martin, and any volunteers they could  G E T I N V O LV E D muster went to work. COVID-19 complications delayed their plans To donate or learn about to debut a renovated cookhouse, volunteer opportunities, which will have a communal from painting projects at the ranch to catalogukitchen, a classroom and dining ing books at the Rocky space, a bathroom, and two bedMountain Land Library’s rooms, until next summer. Future Globeville facility and projects include refurbishing the warehouse, visit land bunkhouse into group-friendly library.wordpress.com. lodging and converting a hayloft into a large library (although books will be scattered in smaller collections throughout the property). Someday, they imagine everyone from scout troops to artists to Western history enthusiasts wandering the grounds—casting for trout in the Middle Fork of the South Platte River, sketching Mt. Silverheels as part of a plein air Nestled between two ridges in the workshop, and sipping coffee while reading bucolic South Park basin near Fairabout the area’s Indigenous inhabitants on play, Buffalo Peaks Ranch hosts more the maintenance barn’s porch. than 50 head of cattle, a few miles Right now, though, the best taste of of Gold Medal waters, and a smattering Lee and Martin’s intentions can be seen in of long-abandoned domestic and agrarian the former scale house, a metal-clad shed structures. Soon, Jeff Lee and Ann Martin they recently outfitted as a children’s library. hope, it also will be home to the 50,000-plus Colorful covers—stories about birds, bees, tomes—many about the plants, peaks, and and dinosaurs; a steam engine picture book; people of the West—the couple has amassed Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small To over the past three decades. Make A Difference—are interspersed with Lee and Martin began dreaming about animal skull replicas along the walls. By creating a residential library to house the door, binoculars and magnifying glasses their collection after a mid-’90s trip to beckon kids to take their exploration outthe London Book Fair on behalf of Tatside. “We’ve always loved the idea of trying tered Cover Book Store (where they met to break down the walls between the library and both worked until a Borgen Family and the landscape,” Lee says. “The full vision Foundation grant funded full-time Rocky of Buffalo Peaks Ranch is all about that.” m OCTOBER 2020

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THE

B L O C K Life, loss, fear, and hope in one Denver homeless encampment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BY ROBERT SANCHEZ PHOTOGRAPHY BY BENJAMIN RASMUSSEN

mid a neighborhood with homes pushing $1 million, Alan Mayfield and Sam Mills sat on the grass in a Capitol Hill park figuring out where they might spend their next night. Earlier on that mid-May day, Denver police officers had cleared them from their latest resting spot, a nearby strip along 14th Avenue, outside Saint John’s Cathedral. Dozens of their acquaintances had been forced to take down their tents and pack their belongings, as well, though no one who looked official could give a good answer as to where they should go next. The city was in its first months of the coronavirus pandemic, a growing crisis for which there seemed to be no plan. “It’s like a ghost town,” Alan said to Sam, placing a partially smoked cigarette between his lips and leaning against his oversize black bag. “The whole world stopped.” Alan was 42. He had dusty gray-brown hair, and the skin at the corners of his liquid blue eyes was creased. He wore a red sweatshirt that hid his soft, middle-aged belly. He hadn’t showered in 24 days. This spread, clockwise At one point in his life, Alan had from top: Alan Mayfield been a college student in North Carsets up his tent in August; olina who dreamed of becoming “a Alan working on phones for his friends; after happily gay Methodist minister.” He learning of his brother’s partied too hard in school, though, cancer diagnosis, Alan dropped out, bounced around a few started smoking more jobs and a few cities, had his heart broken by a longtime partner, and became addicted to crystal meth. In this, his ninth year on Denver’s streets, he seemed both younger and older than his age. He had a graying beard that ran toward his neck, and his teeth were worn nubs. Still, he smiled often, and anyone who met Alan was immediately drawn to his friendly, outgoing personality. He took a drag off the cigarette, pulled a sleeve of peanut butter crackers from his bag, and offered a few to Sam, whose knees were pressed to his chest. Sam was in his early twenties, addicted to heroin, and in the throes of withdrawal. His face was sweat-slickened; his cheeks were red. He waved a hand at Alan’s offer. “Nah, man,” Sam said. “Thanks.” The two began hanging out this past fall, when Alan was living in an alley next to a dumpster in Capitol Hill. He offered to share the space for a while, no strings attached, if only because Sam looked lonely. They both got tents of their own, and the two developed a friendship. They eventually left the alley and moved outside the cathedral, living under a canopy of old shade trees. Now they were moving again. “I can’t believe they kicked us off,” Alan said. “I barely had time to pack.” “You’ve got this coronavirus shit, and they’re pushing us around?” Sam said. “That’s not right.” “This is never gonna get back to normal,” Alan said. “I guess this is reality now.” Sam looked over at his friend. He chuckled. “I’m pretty in tune with reality,” Sam told Alan. “And reality sucks.” THE PAIR PITCHED THEIR TENTS at the corner of 14th Avenue and Clarkson Street later that evening, outside the two-story brick building that houses Morey Middle School. Their new strip of grass was near a stoplight, across Clarkson from the cathedral. It was a strategic position that allowed the men—and dozens of others who also made the move—to stay close to familiar surroundings, including the few services that remained open during the early days of the pandemic. The space was far from perfect: Drivers revved their vehicles’ engines at the corner, and some purposefully laid on their horns late at night as they sped past the block. Alan tried to remain hopeful. “There’s no reason to get down about this, because how could I get up?” he said as he charged a phone at an outlet outside St. John’s a couple of days later. Alan’s 76

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story of hardship and alienation was typical among those at the new camp. He’d come from Aurora, where he and some roommates lost their apartment in 2011. Before that, he’d lived in Thermopolis, Wyoming, where he worked as a gas station attendant; in southwest Florida, where he worked as an accounting clerk at a bank; and in Virginia and North Carolina, where he attended Catawba College for one semester, majoring in religion and philosophy. He came out as gay to his parents when he was 18, and the announcement caused a rift between him and his family. After leaving Catawba, Alan moved to Florida, got a job, met a man, and fell in love. They were together for eight years before their breakup sent Alan into a tailspin. He started partying and shooting up methamphetamine. “It was a wonderful way to mask my feelings,” he said. “That’s how I got hooked.” His mother was diagnosed with cancer a few years after Alan landed in Denver. Following her death, Alan’s father and brother said they no longer wanted to see him. Among his friends at the encampment, Alan was considered to be a tech wizard.

THE BLOCK His talent had currency, and he fixed dozens of cellular phones each week. Alan was given a few dollars here and there, sometimes drugs or rubber tubing, which he bartered for other things like pants or the holiday lights he rigged to work off a battery pack in his tent. Someone recently gave him an Xbox. For the most part, no one messed with Alan. He did his work, he paid his debts, he was an obliging and conscientious neighbor. “I have to remind myself that something good is coming,” he said, tapping on an outdated Samsung cell phone someone had given him that morning. “I can feel it.” He’d entered a housing lottery a few months earlier with St. Francis Center, hoping to get an apartment of his own in Capitol Hill. But by March, COVID19 had begun to spread throughout the United States, and Alan never heard back from St. Francis. When it came to the nearly 6,000 people experiencing homelessness in Denver, the focus had shifted to the virus and away from everything else. As fears over COVID-19 grew this past spring, shelters and other social services temporarily closed, slashed staff, and otherwise cut back. During the pandemic’s first weeks in Denver, the city partnered with Catholic Charities of Denver and the Denver Rescue Mission to create two mega shelters—one for men, at the National Western Complex, and one for women, at the Denver Coliseum—where nearly 1,000 temporary residents could get a socially distanced cot, hot meals, and showers and have their clothes cleaned regularly. Mayor Michael Hancock touted the city’s goal to “relieve some of the pressure” on the city’s shelters, but the effect was negligible. Many of the new beds simply offset the loss of beds elsewhere in the

city, at places like the Mission and the Salvation Army’s popular Crossroads Shelter, where hundreds of men once lined up each night. “People want to pat themselves on the back and say what a great job everyone is doing, but nothing is really being done,” said Terese Howard, an organizer with Denver Homeless Out Loud, an advocacy group that has been critical of the city’s response to the pandemic. “We’ve got COVID, we’ve got a continuing health and housing crisis beyond the virus. What’s getting better?” Denver secured hundreds of hotel rooms for those who were awaiting coronavirus test results, who might be more susceptible to the virus, or who were recovering from the illness. The city’s actions seemed at best disingenuous to those who were living on the street, especially as Denver continued sweeping encampments throughout the spring and summer, against Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations during the pandemic. City officials eliminated the camp outside St. John’s, and more camps were swept in Five Points, along Broadway, and in other parts of the city. Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) executive director Bob McDonald defended DDPHE’s encampment removals across the city; he explained that Denver experienced shigellosis, trench fever, and hepatitis A outbreaks among unhoused populations around the Mile High City. The situations at these camps were “significant,” he said, and created a “public health and environmental health risk that would be irresponsible not to address. We’ve got human waste, biohazards, trash. Adults and kids were going to have to pass through that. My experience is that generally, the longer you leave [an encampment unchecked], the more it goes downhill.” “When I came back to my tent, it was gone,” said a 27-year-old woman named Kay, who often visited Alan and Sam at their new site and had also been removed from another encampment in the city. “Everything in my life was inside there.” Congregation points were cut off. The bathrooms in Union Station’s Grand Hall were closed. The nonprofit Network Coffee House was forced to restrict indoor service because of social-distancing requirements. Thrift stores locked their doors. Churches stopped allowing people inside. Food pantries temporarily shuttered. The central branch of the Denver Public Library closed, and thousands of residents experiencing homelessness were suddenly cut off from decent toilets, a safe place to escape from the cold or heat, and internet access, which they used to communicate with their families. “Instead of helping us, it’s like they’re trying to kill us off,” Sam said. Each day on the street was stressful and uncertain. Now there was also confusion. “People already saw us as walking disease machines, and now we’re going around like we’re lost,” Sam continued. “What are they going to think of us now?” AS THE PANDEMIC DRAGGED from spring into summer, the sidewalks and grass around Morey became cluttered with various items: yoga mats. Bicycle frames. Blue plastic tarps. Camping tents. Pop-up tents over camping tents. Bookcases. Shopping carts. Cardboard boxes. Couches. Several times a day, every day, someone would walk past Alan’s and Sam’s tents to say hello, to ask Alan about his progress with a phone, to ask the whereabouts of others in the camp, or to bum a cigarette. Most all of them, Alan thought, had at least some form of mental illness, drug addiction, or both. A majority of the residents around Morey were men, but there were several women in the group as well. There was Kay, who hung with her boyfriend, a tall, gaunt man nicknamed Junkie. There was Gypsy, who carried a beat-up guitar across the back of her flowing red dress. She preferred folks around the block to most everybody she’d come across in Denver, if only because she thought she could trust some of them. “He knows me. I know him,” she said and pointed at Sam, who was in his tent. “There’s a mutual respect. I mean, as a woman, I know he’s not going to get up one night and rape me.” Aside from basic safety, the camp’s residents had many pressing issues. The story of COVID19 was everywhere—on news reports they picked up on their cracked phone screens and inside the building where they gathered to get clean hypodermic needles and refreshments. Governor Jared Polis was asking hotel owners to consider making more rooms available. By late May, there were 5,706 reported COVID-19 cases in Denver alone. The beds at the National Western Complex and the Denver Coliseum were near capacity some nights. OCTOBER 2020

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Yet, as work was underway to attempt to fix the big problem, lots of little problems were piling up for those around Morey. Clean water and sanitation were spotty. (The closest portable toilet was nearly three blocks away; portable plastic washing stations the city and homeless outreach groups provided also required a walk.) Publicly accessible power to charge phones was scarce. Getting an identification card for basic government resources felt impossible. Many of those without housing distrusted anyone or anything that appeared official. Ensuring the safety of thousands of people, some of whom were insistent they didn’t need it, was a Sisyphean task, and city representatives and nonprofit workers seemed overwhelmed. On top of that there was the fact that even if Colorado could flatten the curve of infections in the state, COVID-19 would not be going away anytime soon. “There’s this never-ending list that’s only getting bigger and scarier the longer this pandemic goes on,” said Lisa Raville, the executive director of the Harm Reduction Action Center in Capitol Hill, which serves around a hundred unhoused people each day. “Everything’s fucked right now.” One day in late May, Alan sat in a circle with a few friends, discussing the virus. No one was concerned about the pandemic. “It’s all bullshit,” a man with stained jeans and a T-shirt said. “When you’ve been through the shit we’ve been through...” said a man nicknamed Phelixxx. The men around him nodded. “It’s like we’ve got these super-charged immune systems,” Alan said. “Think about it. We’re outside all day, every day—sun, rain, snow. If that didn’t kill us, right?” This was the general consensus around the Morey camp. While the city and service providers talked about COVID-19 like a scourge within the homeless community, the people without anywhere to stay were significantly less concerned. By early summer, no one at the Morey encampment knew anyone who’d become sick. (Extensive testing on the block in July by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment indicated five people were sick with the coronavirus. By early September, 602 unhoused people in the city had tested positive for COVID-19.) Before moving to Morey, Alan had gone to the National Western Complex for five days, he told his friends, but the location was too far from the services he was dependent upon, and he didn’t know any of his neighbors. “Everyone was packed in there, that roof over your head,” he said. He waved a hand in the air. “And now here I am, in the fresh air. Doesn’t that seem like a better place to be?” Rumors were rampant, and theories about the virus passed from tent to tent, eventually becoming disjointed gospel. The virus was fake—one story went—and was being used as a reason to clear those experiencing homelessness from major cities. The virus was real—another went— and was developed for biowarfare but had turned on its government creators. Everyone became a medical expert: Smoking methamphetamine fortified lungs and prevented coronavirus. Masks hindered air circulation and might lead to hyperventilation or overheating. “Something’s definitely not right,” the man with the stained jeans told the group. He said he thought the virus was real but that Denver’s response was “going to be used against people like us, to say we’re a threat.” He paused. “Just watch,” he said. “This is how they make us go away.” OF THOSE WHO CALLED the Morey block home, only Sam seemed to take COVID-19 seriously. In the pandemic’s first months, he was consumed with the idea that he might get sick. “I’m scared,” he admitted. “We all should be.” Every cough or ache or slight fever sent him into a quiet panic. He cleaned his hands whenever he could. He’d been given a small bottle of hand sanitizer and applied it liberally, slathering his palms and rubbing it around each digit. His hands began to feel like sandpaper. Sam’s body was constantly rebelling. He’d been low on resources to buy or barter for heroin, which he needed to function. Many of those within the camp had gotten $1,200 federal stimulus checks by early summer, and the money was often spent on drugs. Sam tried to get his check but discovered his father was claiming him as a dependent even though the two hadn’t spoken in a year. “That greedy asshole,” Sam complained one day, long after everyone else’s money was spent. His friends seemed indifferent. The aches and fevers from withdrawal imitated the coronavirus symptoms Sam had heard about. As summer wore on, he often sat in his darkened tent, sweating away the hours, 78

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oblivious to the world outside. His days became a chemical tightrope that threatened to snap beneath him. Sam’s father lived about 10 miles away, but Sam didn’t think he would help. He’d had little stability in his early life—he told his neighbors his mother died when he was four. He spent 13 years in foster care, started using heroin as a teenager, graduated high school, and eventually wound up here, perspiring in his tent. Running into Alan the previous fall provided a modicum of stability to his life, the rare person he could actually trust. Now even Alan seemed to be giving up on him. “I worry, but there’s only so much you can do,” Alan said. As Sam suffered through withdrawal, obsessed about how his father’s selfishness had screwed him out of a government check, and worried about the pandemic, his friendship with Alan was the last thing on his mind. BY JUNE, the Morey Middle School encampment had grown exponentially larger. More than 50 tents occupied three sides of the school’s property. A superstructure of tarps, scraps of cardboard, and stained linens rose along Clarkson Street and behind the school, on 13th Avenue. Many of the new residents were refugees from earlier encampment sweeps, or they wanted to escape the nightly battles outside the Capitol during the Black Lives Matter protests. The population explosion around the school had already gotten the attention of neighbors in the townhomes and apartments nearby. They complained to police and to city leaders that the area around the school was no longer safe. There were fights on the sidewalks. Open-air drug dealing and using became common. Housed neighbors said they’d

THE BLOCK

been accosted and threatened for simply walking past the school. “This isn’t a tenable situation for anyone,” Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds said after one of his many visits to the encampment this summer. “But it’s also not an issue that can be fixed overnight.” With its decision to move those experiencing homelessness from camp to camp during the pandemic and its inability to control the booming population outside Morey, the city had unintentionally created a crisis in Capitol Hill. The camp’s original residents sensed the shift around the block as more people arrived. The newcomers at Morey appeared harder, more violent, and unafraid of confrontation. People like Alan and Sam felt themselves getting squeezed out by “aggros,” the name given to the more aggressive people experiencing homelessness who’d been pushed to Morey. “This place is fucking scary,” one of Alan’s neighbors said one night, after a scuffle over an unpaid debt spilled into the street. Alan was sure he heard gunshots some nights. Music blared from tents and kept him awake. Car horns honked. Some of Alan’s neighbors stopped walking the three blocks to the portable toilet in the parking

lot off 14th Avenue. They defecated in bushes in front of the school. They urinated on brick walls. Drug abuse was always part of the camp, but the original residents were generally mindful to keep their business inside the tents. As the camp grew, the facade of discretion crumbled. By mid-June, Alan finally had enough. He ceded his piece of grass near the stoplight. He packed his belongings and rolled up his tent. He walked up 14th Avenue, then made a right on Emerson Street, where the sidewalk was mostly empty. To the west, a tall chain-link fence separated the campers from the school’s outdoor basketball court. To the east was a cluster of modern-looking townhomes—all right angles and massive windows—some of which had sold for $750,000 over the past year. Alan unpacked his belongings. He unrolled his tent. Soon, Sam did the same, moving off the grass along 14th Avenue and setting up his tent to the right of Alan’s. Eventually, Sam added a pop-up and pulled it low toward the ground, so that it resembled a covered front patio. Soon, a grocery cart was placed between them. Another tent moved in next to Sam, and then another, and another. A couple set up their small tent, put a pop-up over the sidewalk, and tied This spread, clockwise their dog to the fence. One morning, from left: A sweep left Alan unzipped his tent and found one man with receipts for his belongings; a futon sitting on the sidewalk in Denver police overseefront of him. A swiveling office chair ing the sweep; officers was added sometime later. Shredded pepper-sprayed a man cardboard piled up in the grocery recording the incident cart. Empty food containers and torn clothing suddenly appeared. Neighbors complained. By midsummer, police had been called 252 times. Those calls resulted in 140 Denver Police Department responses on everything from assault to drug dealing to theft to arson. A Zoom meeting about the encampment hosted by Hinds drew more than 400 participants. A change.org petition asked the city to clear the encampment, and nearly 2,500 people signed. Morey’s principal asked the city whether she’d be able to open her school’s doors. No one had an answer. “The city has completely failed us,” said one townhome resident, who declined to give his name for fear of retribution from his homeless neighbors, some of whom he’d filmed defecating in front of his garage. “This is dangerous and wrong. I look out my window, and I see someone shooting up or buying drugs. I hear the screams at night. How much longer is the city going to allow this?” Emerson Street filled quickly. The new residents began to take note of their neighbors in the townhomes, who pulled into garages in their luxury automobiles and spent afternoons stuck at home. Alan could see them staring out their windows at his tent below. THE BLOCK WAS CERTAIN to get cleared. Everyone knew it. No one could figure out the day or the time, but it was a constant source of speculation. No way they let us stay. Alan preferred not to listen to the chatter. “I’ll move when I have to, and I’m not going to consume myself with what-ifs,” he’d told his neighbors. He had other things to concern himself with. He’d been dealing with a series of splotchy marks on his shins, which he scratched incessantly. The splotches eventually became bloody and then scabbed. Alan was given ointment by a volunteer at the Network Coffee House, and he wrapped his wounds with bandages. When the scabs on his legs finally began to heal, he got a text from his father informing him that Alan’s 37-year-old brother in Virginia had recently been diagnosed with kidney cancer. Alan worked on his phones, pretending the news didn’t matter, although it clearly did. He smoked cigarettes more frequently than before. He scored and used drugs. He injected other people. Others injected him. He and Sam talked with their friends: KC, Phelixxx, Doc, Junkie, Kay. At night, as his neighbors talked outside and Sam watched pirated movies on a beat-up phone, Alan would slip away. “I wish I could go somewhere and just rest,” he said from the shadows of his tent. “But where?” A few nights later, one of the townhome residents captured a shooting CONTINUED ON PAGE 94 OCTOBER 2020

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DINING GUIDE $

U N D E R $ 10

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$ 26 A N D H I G H E R.

Avanti Food & Beverage

SYMBOL KEY NEW

Indicates a restaurant featured in 5280 for the first time (though not necessarily a restaurant that has just opened).

Visit our online listings at 5280.com/ restaurants.

Highland / International Current tenants of this food collective include Lea Jane’s Hot Chicken, Brava! Pizzeria Della Strada, Meta Asian Kitchen, Quiero Arepas, Knockabout Burgers, and Bistro Georgette. 3200 Pecos St., 720-269-4778. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

25 B E S T

Indicates inclusion in our annual list of Denver’s best restaurants, released each October. These selections are at the discretion of 5280 editors and are subject to change.

B Bar Dough

Acova

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Highland / American A diverse gluten-free menu of American classics and dishes spotlighting international flavors are the draw here. Try the honey-drizzled fried chicken. Reservations accepted. 3651 Navajo St., 303-736-2718. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

African Grill & Bar

American Elm

Annette

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Arcana

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Aurora / American Caroline Glover brings a warm dining experience to Stanley Marketplace with Annette. Enjoy a family-style menu featuring seasonal salads, toasts, and wood-grilled fare. Reservations accepted. Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., Ste. 108, Aurora, 720-710-9975. Dinner, Brunch Boulder / American This charming restaurant explores the roots of American heritage through food. Pair a cider with the Colorado lamb shank or the corn and poblano hush puppies on the expanded streetside patio. Reservations accepted. 909 Walnut St., Boulder, 303444-3885. Dinner

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Barolo Grill

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Cherry Creek / Italian Dedication to authenticity translates to the food and extensive wine menu at this elegant eatery, which is focused on the cuisines of northern Italy’s Tuscany and Piedmont regions. Reservations accepted. 3030 E. Sixth Ave., 303-393-1040. Dinner Bastien’s Restaurant

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City Park / Steak House Enjoy hearty, homestyle cooking at this local favorite, which has been family-owned for over 80 years. Come for the signature sugar-rubbed steaks or veal wiener schnitzel. Reservations accepted. 3503 E. Colfax Ave., 303-322-0363. Dinner

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Beckon

$$$$

RiNo / Contemporary Chef Duncan Holmes brings an elevated, intimate dining experience to Larimer Street. The seasonal menu changes frequently, and excellent, thoughtful wine pairings are available. Reservations required. 2843 Larimer St., 303-749-0020. Dinner

Bigsby’s Folly Craft Winery & Restaurant $$

RiNo / American This chic urban winery offers more than two dozen wines to choose from, as well as small plates and meat and cheese boards in a bright, airy space. Order the housemade proscuitto sausage or the Buffalo deviled eggs. Reservations accepted. 3563 Wazee St., 720-485-3158. Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

Blackbelly

$$$

Boulder / New American Chef Hosea Rosenberg’s meaty menu focuses on charcuterie, small plates, and daily butcher specials. Try the crispy pig ears with red pepper jelly or the rotisserie half chicken. Check out the butcher shop and grab-and-go market, Blackbelly Butcher, located next door. Reservations accepted. 1606 Conestoga St., 303-247-1000. Dinner

Berkeley / New American Elevated American fare and classic cocktails anchor the menu at this neighborhood spot, where you can get $3.50 oysters and shrimp cocktail every day. Order the rib eye French dip or the roasted half chicken with smoked cheese grits. Reservations accepted. 4132 W. 38th Ave., 720-749-3186. Dinner, Brunch

25 B E S T

$$$

Lakewood / African Head to this cheery African restaurant for rich stews, fried fish, rice dishes, and friendly service. Get the chakalaka, a traditional vegetarian South African stew. Also try the Green Valley Ranch location. Reservations accepted. 955 S. Kipling Pkwy., Lakewood, 720-229-7778. Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

$$$

Beast & Bottle

Uptown Area / Seasonal A sustainable-sourcing mantra permeates a menu featuring everything from local lamb to cod collars. Look for weekend farmers’ market pop-ups with Longmont’s Ollin Farms and expanded patio seating. Reservations accepted. 719 E. 17th Ave., 303-623-3223. Dinner, Brunch 25 B E S T

Highland / Italian Tuck into wood-fired pizzas, comforting pastas, and Italian-style cocktails from chef-owner Max Mackissock at this casual gathering spot. Reservations accepted. 2227 W. 32nd Ave., 720-668-8506. Dinner, Brunch

25 B E S T

Pizza Palace Platt Park residents hit the jackpot when Joy Hill opened in March, bringing naturally leavened, localingredient-topped sourdough pizzas and a massive rooftop patio to the ’hood. Try the Hunter pie, a tasty combination of fluffy, charred crust, bison sausage from Wray’s Rock River Ranches, pickled jalapeño, mozzarella, and a drizzle of house green-chile ranch dressing.

Sarah Boyum

PRICE KEY

(Average Entrée)

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DINING GUIDE Blue Bonnet Cafe and Lounge

Baker / Mexican Killer margaritas, homemade chips and salsa, and chiles rellenos make this fun, casual spot a favorite. Reservations not accepted. 457 S. Broadway, 303-778-0147. Lunch, Dinner

Boney’s Smokehouse BBQ

RiNo/ Pizza Inspired by Italy’s roadside cafes, Cart-Driver slings oysters, wood-fired pizzas, and Prosecco on tap. Also try the Highland location. Reservations not accepted. 2500 Larimer St., 303-292-3553. Dinner

25 B E S T

Cattivella

$$$

Central Park / Italian Chef Elise Wiggins offers wood-fired Italian fare from a sprawling chef’s counter. Go for grilled oysters, seasonal pizzas, and fresh pastas. Reservations accepted. 10195 E. 29th Dr., Ste. 110, 303-645-3779. Lunch, Dinner

Capitol Hill / International This hip marketplace is home to eight food concepts, including Tacos Al Chile, Misaki on Broadway, Logan House Coffee, Purgatory Pizza, Maria Empanada, Republik of Chiken, and Tora Ramen. 950 Broadway, 720-390-7132. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Cabana X at Bar Helix

Chicken Rebel

Cherry Creek / Pub This cheery neighborhood hangout offers excellent green chile and great burgers. Also try the Ballpark location. Reservations not accepted. 2641 E. Second Ave., 303-322-7666. Lunch, Dinner

RiNo / Contemporary This playful pop-up from sommelier-owner Kendra Anderson features cocktails and bites inspired by a rotating roster of tropical destinations. Order a negroni or something beachy. Reservations accepted. 3440 Larimer St., 720-449-8587. Dinner

Boulder / Japanese Edwin Zoe, also of Zoe Ma Ma, offers ramen featuring scratch-made noodles and flavor-packed broths. Reservations not accepted. 2014 10th St., Boulder, 720-580-1100. Lunch, Dinner

Platt Park / Contemporary Chook specializes in Australian-style, charcoal-grilled rotisserie chicken and fresh veggie sides. Also try the Hale location. Reservations not accepted. 1300 S. Pearl St., 303-282-8399. Lunch, Dinner Comal Heritage Food Incubator

Globeville / Latin American You’ll find family recipes from Latin America and Syria at this restaurant, which has a rotating menu and provides job training to local women. Reservations not accepted. 3455 Ringsby Ct., Ste. 105, 303-292-0770. Lunch Coperta

$$$

Uptown Area / Italian Tuck into comforting Italian fare at this restaurant, which celebrates the cuisine of Rome and Southern Italy. Reservations accepted. 400 E. 20th Ave., 720-749-4666. Dinner

25 B E S T

Chimera Ramen

$$$$

Downtown / Asian This restaurant serves modern twists on Pan-Asian cuisine. Also try the Central Park location. Reservations accepted. 1555 Blake St., 303-353-5223. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

25 B E S T

Cherry Cricket

Highland / American The brick-and-mortar location of the popular food truck and former Avanti food stall serves up sandwiches, salads, and more starring fried chicken. Reservations not accepted. 3618 Tejon St., 720-710-6620. Lunch, Dinner

ChoLon

Chook

$$$

Downtown / Barbecue Hickory smoke lures diners to this temple of Southern-style slow-cooked meats. Order the generous sampler platter so you can taste it all. Reservations not accepted. 1543 Champa St., 303-825-9900. Lunch, Dinner

Broadway Market

Cart-Driver

Corrida

$$$$

Boulder / Spanish Housed on the rooftop level of the Pearl West building, this elegant Spanish steak house offers Flatiron views and fabulous cocktails and wines. Opt for a locally sourced steak. Reservations accepted. 1023 Walnut St., Ste. 400, Boulder, 303-444-1333. Dinner

Here for you today. And tomorrow. In this time of uncertainty, the business world is pivoting faster than ever before with new challenges emerging every day. We are grateful to our customers who have entrusted us to help them prepare and get through these challenges over the last 150 years. Whether it is today or a distant tomorrow, Commerce Bank is here for you.

5280 | OCTOBER 2020 WF663895 RUSH 9.8.20 5280 Ad Resize - September 2020.indd 1

9/8/2020 4:19:12 PM

OFTEN THE BEST T R E AT M E N T I S A HUMAN CONNECTION.

Centura Health does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, religion, creed, ancestry, sexual orientation, and marital status in admission, treatment, or participation in its programs, services and activities, or in employment. For further information about this policy contact Centura Health’s Office of the General Counsel at 1-303-673-8166 (TTY: 711). Copyright © Centura Health, 2020. ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-719-776-5370 (TTY: 711). CHÚ Ý: Nếu bạn nói Tiếng Việt, có các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ miễn phí dành cho bạn. Gọi số 1-719-776-5370 (TTY: 711).

DINING GUIDE

accepted. 1700 Platte St., Suite 140, 720-6674652. Lunch, Dinner

D’Corazon

Downtown / Mexican Known for its authentic, slow-simmered carnitas, this spot offers Mexican at its best. Reservations not accepted. 1530 Blake St., Ste. C, 720-904-8226. Lunch, Dinner

Daughter Thai

$$$$

Highland / Thai This upscale restaurant serves beautifully-plated dishes and inventive cocktails with an elegant ambiance to match. Reservations

25 B E S T

Denver Central Market

Dimestore Delibar

RiNo / International Dining options at this marketplace include Crema Bodega, Vero Italian, High Point Creamery, and more. 2669 Larimer St., Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Highland / American This restaurant, bar, convenience store, and market serves elevated deli fare in an eclectic setting. Reservations accepted. 1575 Boulder St., Unit A, 303-537-5323. Lunch, Dinner

Dio Mio

RiNo / Italian Two things you can count on at Alex Figura and Spencer White’s fast-casual Italian eatery: perfect pasta and warm hospitality. Try the cacio e pepe or the squid ink fusilli with blue crab. The house-made sourdough is heavenly. Reservations not accepted. 3264 Larimer St., 303-562-1965. Dinner

E Edgewater Public Market

El Jefe

Edgewater / International Satisfy your cravings for everything from wild game sandwiches to Ethiopian fare at this eclectic collective of nearly two dozen food stalls and boutiques. Tenants include Konjo Ethiopian Food, Lucky Bird, Lazo Empanadas, and more. 5505 W. 20th Ave., Edgewater, 303-797-9119. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

We fight hunger to give strength.

Sunnyside / Mexican Farm-to-table Mexican fare will lure you to this welcoming Sunnyside haunt. Pair a house margarita with the four-cheese queso dip, and don’t miss the mushroom tacos. Reservations accepted. 2450 W. 44th Ave., 720389-7615. Dinner, Brunch

F Famous Original J’s Pizza

W e f i g h t s h a m e t o g i v e d i g n i t y.

Five Points / Pizza Joshua Pollack’s New Yorkstyle and rectangular “Grandma” pies are totally customizable and available by the slice. Try the meat lovers with sausage, pepperoni, and diced Taylor pork roll. Reservations not accepted. 715 E. 26th Ave, 720-420-9102. Lunch, Dinner

Fish N Beer

$$$

RiNo / Seafood Kevin Morrison offers approachable, fresh seafood and a hearty beer list at this casual oysterette. Try the buffalo blowfish tails or wood-fire-grilled oysters. Reservations not accepted. 3510 Larimer St., 303-248-3497. Dinner

Flagstaff House

We fight despair to give hope.

$$$$

Boulder / Contemporary Located atop Flagstaff Mountain, this restaurant has a huge wine list and a spectacular view of Boulder. Try the decadent chef’s tasting menu. Reservations accepted. 1138 Flagstaff Rd., Boulder, 303-442-4640. Dinner

Fox Run Café

Frank & Roze

Congress Park / American This cozy cafe has simple, delicious fare including coffee, freshly baked pastries, salads, and sandwiches. Reservations not accepted. 3550 E. Colfax Ave., 303-537-4584. Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch

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Hale / Cafe This stylish cafe serves sustainably sourced coffee from South America, Africa, Asia, and beyond and all-day fare from chef Tom Coohill, including breakfast sandwiches, toasts, and pastries. Reservations not accepted. 4097 E. Ninth Ave., 720-328-2960. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

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DINING GUIDE 25 B E S T

Frasca Food and Wine

Fruition Restaurant

$$$$

Boulder / Italian Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey’s fine-dining mecca has racked up scores of accolades over the years (including nods from the James Beard Foundation). The elegant Friulano cuisine always wows. Reservations accepted. 1738 Pearl St., Boulder, 303-442-6966. Dinner

$$$$

Country Club / New American James Beard Award–winning chef Alex Seidel’s tiny kitchen focuses on seasonal dishes that are big on flavor. Reservations accepted. 1313 E. Sixth Ave., 303-831-1962. Dinner

Hank’s Texas BBQ

$$$

Highland / Italian This comfy neighborhood hangout features old-school favorites, such as chicken Parmesan. Reservations accepted. 3760 Tejon St., 303-455-9852. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Gaku Ramen

HiRa Cafe & Patisserie

Hop Alley

OCTOBER 2020

Il Posto

$$$$

RiNo/ Italian Sample Andrea Frizzi’s imaginative Italian cuisine in sleek, urban environs. Don’t miss the seasonal risotto. Reservations accepted. 2601 Larimer St., 303-394-0100. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Istanbul Bakery & Cafe

$$$

Washington Virginia Vale / Middle Eastern Inside a small shopping center, friendly owner Ismet Yilmaz prepares authentic Turkish pastries. 850 S. Monaco Pkwy., Ste. #9, 720-536-5455. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Izakaya Den

Platt Park / Japanese Ultra-fresh sushi, sashimi, and creative small plates are on the menu at this local favorite. Reservations accepted. 1487-A S. Pearl St., 303-777-0691. Lunch, Dinner

Berkeley / Pizza Craft pizza and local brews are this spot’s forte. Load up your pie with toppings such as blackberry barbecue sauce and pickled jalapeño, and wash it all down with a choice of more than 20 beers. Reservations not accepted. 3920 Tennyson St., 303-477-7000. Lunch, Dinner

Visit Us at 1147 Broadway Street

5280

$$$

RiNo / Chinese From Tommy Lee of Uncle, this neighborhood hangout serves dishes rooted in Chinese tradition with a touch of distinctive flair. Try the dan dan mian. Reservations accepted. 3500 Larimer St., 720-379-8340. Dinner

Eat Real Now

Aurora / Ethiopian Pastry chef-owner Hiwot Solomon pairs her from-scratch desserts and Ethiopian breakfast plates with house-roasted, single-origin coffee at this cheery cafe. Reservations not accepted. 10782 E. Iliff Ave, Aurora, 720-9491703. Breakfast

Hops & Pie

Boulder / Japanese This Boulder ramen shop serves three of the most traditional types of the Japanese noodle soup: shoyu, miso, and tonkotsu. Reservations not accepted. 1119 13th St., Boulder, 303-736-2879. Lunch, Dinner

Hale / Barbecue This fast-casual barbecue joint serves tender, slow-cooked meats (including brisket and hot links) in sandwiches, tacos, and salads until supplies run out each day. Try the pulled pork frito pie. Reservations not accepted. 5410 E. Colfax Ave., 720-277-3225. Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

Gaetano’s

J’s Noodles Star Thai 2

Westwood / Thai This traditional Thai spot has developed a cult following over the years. Order the tom yum soup or drunken noodles. Reservations not accepted. 945 S. Federal Blvd., 303-9225495. Lunch, Dinner

Generosity of space. Millions of twinkling lights. Hundreds of enhanced cleaning protocols. Boundless fan-favorite and brand-new holiday events, from ice bumper cars and Breakfast with Charlie Brown and Friends to our brand-new I Love Christmas Movies immersive pop-up experience featuring ELF™, The POLAR EXPRESS™, and more! November 20 – January 3 | ChristmasAtGaylordRockies.com Peanuts© 2020 Peanuts Worldwide LLC · ELF and all related characters and elements © & ™ Turner Entertainment Co. (s20) · THE POLAR EXPRESS and all related characters and elements © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s20)

DINING GUIDE Jamaican Grille

Lincoln Park / Jamaican This family-owned Jamaican restaurant serves classic Caribbean-centric dishes, like jerk chicken and plantains. Also try the Jamaican Mini Grille and International Jerk Market in Lakewood. Reservations not accepted. 709 W. Eighth Ave., 303-623-0013. Lunch, Dinner

Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar

$$$

Downtown / Seafood Enjoy sustainable seafood in an upbeat atmosphere. Specialties include the raw oyster bar and seasonally composed plates. Multiple locations. Reservations accepted. 1539 17th St., 303-292-5767. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

NEW

Joy Hill

Overland / Pizza Go for wood-fired, naturally leavened pizzas topped with local ingredients and house-made mozzarella, and pair your pie with a pint of Colorado beer or glass of natural wine on the rooftop patio. Reservations accepted. 1229 S. Broadway, 303-954-8784. Lunch, Dinner 25 B E S T

Julep

RiNo / Southern This isn’t your typical Southern restaurant. Chef Kyle Foster serves sophisticated dishes inspired by the flavors and techniques of the South, such as barbecued snails and pork and oyster sausage. Whatever you do, don’t miss

FREE COCKTAIL WITH EVERY ENTREE, BUY 1 GET 1 FREE BOTTLE OF WINE, 20% OFF ENTIRE ORDER + FREE DELIVERY!

Foster’s exemplary biscuits. Reservations accepted. 3258 Larimer St., 303-295-8977. Dinner, Brunch

K Kachina Cantina

Kitsune Denver

$$$

Downtown / Southwestern Located in the Dairy Block, this spot specializes in southwestern fare, such as Navajo tacos, enchiladas, and green chile. Pair a signature paloma with the openface carnitas quesadillas. Also try the Westminster-based sister location, Kachina Southwestern Grill. Reservations accepted. 1890 Wazee St., 720-460-2728. Dinner

RiNo / Japanese Chefs Marcus Eng and Sam Soell’s bento box delivery service is inspired by the traditional boxed lunches sold at train stations in Japan. Pick up is also available. Reservations not accepted. 2706 Larimer St., 303-868-3703. Lunch, Dinner

L La Calle Taqueria Y Carnitas

Valverde / Mexican This is a must-visit destination for taco lovers. Try the tacos al pastor, lengua, and carnitas and don’t skip the salsa bar. Reservations not accepted. 1565 W. Alameda Ave., 720-5836586. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

LeRoux

$$$$

Downtown / French Lon Symensma’s upscale, European-inspired eatery features table-side preparations and a roving cheese cart. Don’t miss the Paris-Brest dessert. Reservations accepted. 1555 Blake St., Ste 102, 720-845-1673. Dinner Logan Street

Come and experience why everyone has fallen in love with our food

$$$

Capitol Hill / Mediterranean From the owners behind Carboy Winery, Logan Street serves wood-fired fare, house-made pastas, and flatbreads that pair well with the house-made vino. Stop by the wine bar and tasting room next door. Reservations accepted. 400 E. Seventh Ave., 720-617-9410. Dinner

“BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT”

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“BEST INDIAN & LUNCH BUFFET” - WESTWORD, PAST 17 CONSECUTIVE YEARS

Magnolia Restaurant

ESTABLISHED 1998

★

Takeout, Catering & Delivery Available Gluten Free Menu

★

Maine Shack FOLLOW OUR FOOD TRUCK!

Your Neighborhood Restaurant of Choice proudly serving you for 22 years 330 E. 6TH AVE. | 303-871-9777

5280

OCTOBER 2020

$$$

Platt Park / Cajun/Southern This cozy spot, housed in a Victorian home, offers Cajun cooking at its best. Don’t miss the boudin balls and the beans and rice with house-made andouille. Reservations accepted. 1446 S. Broadway, 720476-5518. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

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Highland / Seafood New Englanders and seafood fans, rejoice: This fast-casual spot is slinging lobster rolls, fried whole-belly clams, chowder, roast beef sandwiches, and more. Reservations not accepted. 1535 Central St., 303-997-2118. Lunch, Dinner

The Denver Athletic Club

REIMAGINED

This summer, The Denver Athletic Club is undergoing a transformation. The renovated clubhouse will provide members with everything they need to eat, work, play and exercise all under one roof. Highlights include: • 5,500 square feet of modern coworking space • Indoor/outdoor dining with roofdeck over Glenarm Place • Elegant, refurbished Lobby It’s no wonder they call it A Club for Your Whole Life.

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DINING GUIDE Mango House

Aurora / International This immigrant- and refugee-led food hall is home to six outstanding culinary concepts: Urban Burma, Jasmine Syrian Food, Golden Sky Sushi, Odaa Ethiopian Restaurant, Rocky Mountain Sudanese Restaurant, and Nepali Mountain Kitchen. 10180 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora 303-900-8639. Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

Mercantile Dining & Provision

Misfit Snackbar

Narrative

$$$

Noble Riot

RiNo / French Find charcuterie boards, fried chicken, and other picnic-ready fare at this sommelier-operated natural wine bar. Reservations accepted. 336 27th St., 303-993-5330. Dinner

O Owlbear Barbecue

Five Points / Barbecue The brick-and-mortar joint from pitmaster Karl Fallenius is serving brisket, ribs, and all of the fixings. Reservations not accepted. 2826 Larimer St., 970-708-3954. Lunch, Dinner

P Cheesman Park / American A Denver landmark and a staple for late-night comfort food, Pete’s is known for its breakfasts but also serves burgers, gyros, and souvlaki sandwiches any time of day. Reservations not accepted. 1962 E. Colfax Ave., 303-321-3139. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

@NOVEISLUXURY 90

5280

OCTOBER 2020

Q House

$$$

City Park West / Chinese Enjoy a modern take on Chinese cuisine executed by chef Christopher Lin, an alum of Momofuku in New York City. Try the braised pork rice. Reservations accepted. 3421 E. Colfax Ave., 720-729-8887. Dinner

Restaurant Olivia

$$$$

Rioja

$$$$

Washington Park / Italian This cozy-yet-modern neighborhood spot from the team behind Bistro Georgette specializes in fresh pastas and Italian classics. Reservations accepted. 209 S. Downing St., 303-999-0395. Dinner

Cherry Creek / American Chef Paul Nagan serves gussied-up versions of American favorites, such as shrimp and grits with Tabasco butter, at this sleek eatery. Reservations accepted. 222 Milwaukee St., 720-571-8080. Dinner

C AT C H U S

25 B E S T

Pony Up

City Park / Contemporary This walk-up kitchen inside Middleman cocktail bar serves imaginative twists on familiar pub fare. Try the likes of kimchi croquettes with sambal aioli and shaved Spam. Reservations not accepted. 3401 E. Colfax Ave., 303-353-4207. Dinner

Pete’s Kitchen

$$$

Capitol Hill / Contemporary This family-owned restaurant specializes in fresh, seasonal food. The menu changes once a month. Dine in the back garden. Reservations accepted. 1109 Ogden St., 303-832-5788. Dinner

$$$

Downtown / New American Award-winning chefs Alex Seidel and Matt Vawter offer upscale, contemporary farm-to-table fare, including pasta dishes and family-style shared plates for the table. Reservations accepted for dinner. Union Station, 1701 Wynkoop St., Ste. 155, 720-460-3733. Lunch, Dinner

( A D U LT S O N LY )

Potager

Downtown / Mediterranean James Beard Award– winning chef Jennifer Jasinski creates high-end Mediterranean-influenced cuisine. Also try her lunchtime takeout pop-up, Flavor Dojo, which offers health-forward bowls made with heirloom grains and greens. Reservations accepted. 1431 Larimer St., 303-820-2282. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Room for Milly

Rosenberg’s Bagels & Delicatessen

Highland / New American A menu of refined small plates and killer cocktails complements jazzage ambience at Room for Milly. Reservations accepted. 1615 Platte St., Suite 145, 720-6307020. Dinner, Brunch Five Points / Deli Get your fix of New York-style bagels at this Five Points deli. Also try the Aurora location. Reservations not accepted. 725 E. 26th Ave., 720-440-9880. Breakfast, Lunch

S Safta

$$$

Ska Street Brewstillery

25 B E S T

Downtown / Pub This casual bar serves fantastic French dip sandwiches (try the smoked mushroom variety with porcini broth) and craft cocktails. Reservations not accepted. 1808 Blake St., 720-710-8144. Dinner

RiNo / Mediterranean Acclaimed chef Alon Shaya brings modern Israeli fare to Denver. Start with the creamy hummus and pillowy wood-oven pita before moving onto tabbouleh salad, charred cabbage, and halloumi. Reservations accepted. The Source Hotel & Market Hall, 3330 Brighton Blvd., 720-408-2444. Lunch, Dinner

Boulder / American This brewery-distillery hybrid from the team behind Durango’s Ska Brewing Co. and Palisade’s Peach Street Distillers offers nearly 30 beers on tap, craft cocktails, and a menu of elevated pub fare. Reservations accepted. 1600 38th St., Boulder, 720-510-9921. Dinner, Brunch

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DINING GUIDE Somebody People

Overland / Mediterranean A standout pasta program and dishes that celebrate seasonal bounty make this zero-waste vegan restaurant great for herbivores and omnivores alike. Reservations accepted. 1165 S. Broadway, Suite 104, 720-502-5681. Dinner, Brunch

25 B E S T

Spuntino

$$$

Highland / Italian Enjoy the locally sourced menu at this Italian-inspired spot. Try the seasonal pasta or any dish with Southern Indian influences. Reservations accepted. 2639 W. 32nd Ave., 303433-0949. Dinner

Sunday Vinyl

$$$

Downtown / European This stylish European-style wine bar on the Union Station platform offers the warm hospitality and exquisite cuisine the team behind Frasca Food and Wine is known for, all to the soundtrack of a vinyl-only playlist. Reservations accepted. 1803 16th St., 720-738-1803. Dinner

25 B E S T

Super Mega Bien

Sushi Den

$$$

Five Points / Latin American Chef Dana Rodriguez of Work & Class offers a combo of large-format items and Pan-Latin small plates. Reservations not accepted. The Ramble Hotel, 1260 25th St., 720-269-4695. Dinner

$$$

Platt Park / Asian Sushi Den offers fresh, vibrant seafood flown in twice a week from Japan. The artful sushi and sashimi is made by a team of masterful sushi chefs led by Toshihiro Kizaki. Reservations not accepted. 1487 S. Pearl St., 303777-0826. Dinner

T 25 B E S T

Tavernetta

$$$$

Downtown / Italian The team behind Boulder’s acclaimed Frasca Food and Wine offers the same attention to hospitality at their more casual Denver restaurant. The charming space is home to dishes from across Italy and a deep wine list. Reservations accepted. 1889 16th St, 720605-1889. Dinner

U 25 B E S T

Uchi Denver

$$$$

Curtis Park / Japanese James Beard Award– winning chef Tyson Cole combines unexpected flavors for his unique take on Japanese food. Try the sake toro aburi or the foie gras sushi. Reservations accepted. 2500 Lawrence St., 303444-1922. Dinner Uncle

Uncle Zoe’s Chinese Kitchen

Highland / Asian A sleek, contemporary atmosphere defines this bustling modern noodle house. The selective menu includes dishes such as Chinese-style steamed buns and, of course, noodles. Also try the Speer location. Reservations accepted. 2215 W. 32nd Ave., 303-433-3263. Dinner

Aurora / Chinese Handmade steamed and fried dumplings, along with a selection of Sichuan specialties, are on the menu at this family-owned restaurant. Don’t miss the pan-fried pork dumplings and the beef and celery meat pies. Reservations not accepted. 12203 E. Iliff Ave., Unit D, Aurora, 303-755-8518. Lunch, Dinner

Urban Village

$$$

Lone Tree / Indian This is a cozy seasonal restaurant serving classic and contemporary dishes from regions across India, including a great selection of vegetarian specialties. Try the three-course chef’s tasting menu. Reservations accepted. 9234 Park Meadows Dr., Ste 700, Lone Tree, 720-536-8150. Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

W Whittier Cafe

Now open | Exhibición abierta | DMNS.ORG/Brick A separate dated and timed ticket required for BOTH Art of the Brick AND Museum Admission. Se requiere una entrada con fecha y hora para Art of the Brick Y la entrada al museo.

5280

OCTOBER 2020

Whittier / Cafe This espresso bar, which supports social justice-related causes, serves coffee, beer, and wine sourced from African nations and a small menu of pastries, burritos, paninis, and more. Reservations not accepted. 1710 E. 25th Ave., 720-550-7440. Breakfast, Lunch, Brunch

DINING GUIDE White Pie

City Park West / Pizza Chow down on New Haven-style pizza right here in Denver. Pair the Porker Porkorino, topped with soppressata, mozzarella, pickled chiles, and spicy honey, with a frozen Negroni. Reservations not accepted. 1702 Humboldt St., 303-862-5323. Lunch, Dinner

25 B E S T

The Wolf’s Tailor

$$$

Sunnyside / Contemporary Basta chef Kelly Whitaker fuses Asian and Italian techniques and ingredients at this hip Sunnyside eatery. The results, such as 7x brisket braised in dashi and red wine and house-extruded mafaldine pasta with koji tomatoes, are unique and delicious. Reservations accepted. 4058 Tejon St., 720-456-6507. Dinner

Y Yahya’s Mediterranean Grill & Pastries

City Park West / Mediterranean This family-run restaurant serves silky hummus, a variety of excellent grilled kebabs, and from-scratch sweets. Try the beef koobideh or the kafta sandwich. Reservations not accepted. 2207 E. Colfax Ave., 720-532-8746. Lunch, Dinner

Yazoo Barbeque Company

Five Points / Barbecue This unpretentious barbecue joint offers a Deep South menu, featuring slow-smoked pork ribs, chicken, sausasge, and brisket. Also try the Greenwood Village location. Reservations not accepted. 2150 Broadway, 303-296-3334. Lunch, Dinner

Z Zeppelin Station

RiNo / International This industrial-chic food hall, located near the 38th and Blake light rail station, is home to seven globally inspired food and drink vendors. Options include Vinh Xuong Bakery, OK Poke, La Rola Urban Columbian, Dandy Lion Coffee, Ya-Ye, Thai-Kun, and Soy Pinoy. 3501 Wazee St., 720-460-1978. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Brunch

Zocalito Latin Bistro

$$$

Downtown / Latin American Formerly located in Aspen, chef/owner Michael Beary’s upscale Oaxacan eatery found a home in the heart of Denver. Try the pork tenderloin with red mole sauce. Reservations accepted. 999 18th St., Ste. 107, 970-920-1991. Lunch, Dinner

Zoe Ma Ma

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Downtown / Chinese This cozy, counter-service spot offers Chinese home-style cooking. Order the Szechuan braised beef noodle soup, which features homemade noodles. Also try the Boulder location. Reservations not accepted. 1625 Wynkoop St., 303-545-6262. Lunch, Dinner

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you find that a restaurant differs significantly from the information in its listing or your favorite restaurant is missing from the Dining Guide, please let us know. Write us at 5280 Publishing, Inc., 1675 Larimer St., Suite 675, Denver, CO 80202 or dining@5280.com.

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OCTOBER 2020

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along Emerson, near Alan and Sam, on video. No one was hurt, and no one was talking. The residents of the encampment suddenly felt fear that hadn’t existed before. ONE DAY in early July, Alan was walking with Phelixxx to the food pantry that had recently reopened at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Rockies, four blocks from the encampment. It was a rare moment of hopefulness—a sign, Alan thought, that the rest of the city would be reopening soon. Maybe his housing application would get another look. Alan and his friends subsisted mostly on handouts, which had become scarce in the era of COVID-19. After shooting up most mornings, Alan would light a cigarette, work on some phones, and figure out where his next meal might come from. There were the breakfast burritos at the Harm Reduction Action Center, where Alan disposed of used needles, and he enjoyed his coffee with cream and sugar at the Network Coffee House. But that was it. Sometimes a do-gooder would pull up on Emerson with a truck bed or car trunk filled with a mishmash of foodstuffs: a chocolate birthday cake, frozen chicken nuggets, crackers, whole red onions, apples, uncooked cheesy bread. The sweets generally went first. The uncooked food was left behind to rot in cardboard boxes. A few blocks from the church, Phelixxx spotted a blue tarp ruffling in the breeze. It was attached to some metal poles in the place where cars would usually park on the street. A brunette woman wearing a white T-shirt and shorts was on her back, eyes closed, motionless. Phelixxx took a few steps past the woman, then stopped. He called over his shoulder at Alan. “Please check to see if she’s breathing.” Alan stopped, bent at the waist so he could get a better look the woman’s body. He studied her for a moment, saw her chest slowly rise and fall. “We’re good,” Alan said. Alan and Phelixxx were handed tags with numbers on them. Alan’s friend, a tattooed man named Jason, showed up a few minutes later and got in line behind them. Jason’s dog, a mixed breed named Muttley, sat obediently under a shade tree. Alan playfully squeezed the dog’s face between his hands.

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THE BLOCK Alan moved in a half-circle, from right to left, picking up a loaf of bread, a halfgallon of chocolate milk, frozen pears, and small bags of Cheetos. A volunteer dumped some oranges and bananas into the box. “You need anything else?” the volunteer asked. “Peanut butter?” “No, I’m good,” Alan said. “I’ve got pop-top lids of soup,” the man told Alan. “I’ve got a six-pack of crackers.” “Yes!” Alan said. “I love crackers.”

“Muttley buttley!” Alan laughed. “Who’s the best doggie? You? I know it’s you.” The food pantry was in the parking lot out back. Worn laminate tables were filled with cans of Supreme brand brown rice, split peas, dried fruit, nuts, cans of cream of mushroom soup, sliced peaches, and tomato sauce. A volunteer in a black face mask handed Alan a cardboard box. Another volunteer held up a small bag of pretzels. “No, but thanks,” Alan said. “No teeth.”

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Alan stopped at the last table and grabbed three plastic bottles of Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry and two cans of Dr. Dynamite Soda. “Well,” Alan said as the volunteer at that table handed over the cans, “I guess this is one of the good days.” On the way back to Morey, Alan was sweating through his short-sleeve shirt. He stopped several times to adjust his box of food, which he’d set on his shoulder. He’d been thinking a lot lately about his time in Denver and his relationships with the men and women surrounding Morey. Over the months, he’d become increasingly disillusioned. Sam was becoming more hopeless, Alan thought. He didn’t know if he could trust his other neighbors. He’d gotten high a few nights ago with a guy who’d punched him across the side of his head. Sam got hit with a baseball bat. A man accused Alan of taking a phone that wasn’t his, then came back later to beg for drugs. As the summer wore on, Alan understood that some people hung out with him simply because he was useful. He had a big tent and allowed pretty much anyone inside. He fixed phones. He was a good listener. “I feel empty,” he said. “I’m being used. I know it. In some ways, I guess everyone out here is using someone for something.” He paused for a moment. He was abusing the drugs to numb himself, he admitted, to mask the emotional pain he was feeling. His brother was sick. His shins were scabbed. There was blood on the hem of his shirt. He’d probably eat crackers for dinner and then nod off in his tent. “I don’t want to be alone,” he continued. “I want to feel like I’m helping, or that maybe I can make someone’s day a little better. I have to get to the next day. Maybe then everything will be different.” ALAN’S BROTHER DIED two weeks later, early on the morning of July 31. Alan got a text from his father that night. He stared blankly at the phone’s screen. A light rain fell, the drops plinking against the outside of his tent, which Alan had left unzipped. Someone passed by and tossed a cell phone inside. Can you fix it tonight? “The phone needs a charge,” Alan said. Sam heard about Alan’s brother. He called from his tent, but Alan didn’t answer. Sam finally pulled his tent screen open, stepped into the night, and saw Alan, cross-legged and silent. Sam climbed inside the tent and sat down. He patted Alan on the shoulder. “He was so young,” Alan whispered. “I know, man,” Sam said. He pulled

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THE BLOCK a broken cigarette from his pocket and handed it to his friend. “You’ll get through this,” Sam said. “Thanks,” Alan said. One of their friends, a young man named KC, came over. “Got room in there for me?” he asked. “If you want,” Alan said. KC sat down and studied Alan for a moment. “It’s OK to cry,” he said. “I know.” “I’m going to give you a hug now,” KC said. “But no funny business, OK?” Alan laughed. KC wrapped Alan in his arms, and Alan began to sob. “I know, man,” KC whispered to his friend. “I know.” ALAN WOKE UP on his back a few days later to the sound of garbage trucks driving past his tent. It was Monday. Time to go. Sometime during that week, the city planned to clear the Morey block, forcibly removing yet another homeless encampment during the pandemic. The mayor and the City Council had openly discussed finding property for temporary encampments, but a decision on that seemed months away. Morey’s soon-to-be-former residents would be made to find another neighborhood, and the daily challenges and battles would begin anew. Denver Homeless Out Loud helped coordinate an early dispersal of the Morey camp after realizing it was going to be cleared. The city and the police had clashed with homeless advocates at multiple sweeps during the summer, including ones in Five Points and near the Capitol. In Morey’s case, advocates wanted the message to be unequivocal: The people living along the sidewalks were peaceful, decent human beings who simply needed a safe place to stay. They didn’t want trouble. Sam was hobbling along the sidewalk, an abscess on his hip feeling like it might burst. His tent was down, and his blankets were piled on the ground in front of him. “I can barely move,” Sam complained. KC helped load the blankets into a plastic storage bin. A few neighbors from the townhomes across the street stood outside and watched. A television news camera showed up, then another. A reporter stepped over Alan’s trash. Some volunteers came by with bags. Alan was on the futon outside his tent assuring everyone he could be cleared out in 30 minutes. The volunteers asked Sam if anything was available to be thrown out. He pointed to a spot near the shopping cart. “You gonna have everyone do your work?” one of the neighbors called to Sam.

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THE BLOCK Alan laughed. “Fucking funny,” Sam said. “When’s the last time you cleaned up anything?” “Over the weekend,” Alan shot back. “In my tent.” “Yeah,” Sam yelled. “In your tent. That’s all you fucking did. It’s all about you.” “Shut up, Sam,” Alan said. “Look, this isn’t fun for any of us.” The volunteers tried not to make eye contact. Sam looked up at them. “I apologize, ladies,” he said. Alan folded his blankets and piled a couple of pillows onto the futon. He pulled out a broken dresser someone had brought him a few weeks earlier. He took down his tent and shook the contents onto the sidewalk. One of the volunteers swept up the pile. “Told you I could pack fast,” he said. A van pulled up after 3 p.m. Denver Homeless Out Loud organized the pickup; the driver would take the men wherever they needed to go, provided they knew where they were going. They settled on a site off Marion Street, across East Colfax Avenue, a triangle of grass next to a fire station.

A new friend, a 38-year-old man named Joe, joined Alan, Sam, and KC on the sidewalk. They watched the van’s driver silently load their belongings into the back: worn bags, Sam’s plastic container. The four piled into the van. A television cameraman pointed his camera at the group as they sat. A few moments later, the van pulled away from the corner. No one looked back. WHEN THEY ARRIVED at the destination, they found it was wrapped in orange plastic fencing. The city had cleared the area earlier. There was a brief argument among the men. KC wanted to go to the South Platte River. Sam wanted anywhere but here. Joe was indifferent. Alan said there was another grassy triangle on the other side of the fire station. No one could make up their minds. Alan’s plan won. The van’s driver dropped the men’s belongings on Lafayette Street, then jumped into the vehicle and hustled away without saying a word. Sam and KC put their stuff near a fence that separated the park from a three-story brick building. Another man experiencing homelessness

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was across the park, headphones on, dancing. A woman in yoga pants stared as she walked a dog along Lafayette. A man and a woman exited their home across the street and stood on their patio. “Don’t tell me they’re coming from Morey,” the man said. Strips of cardboard were scattered along a nearby fence, a telltale sign of a recently cleared campsite. “Damn it,” KC said, loud enough for Alan to hear. “We needed to go to the river.” Alan ignored him. Joe looked for a place to pitch the tents. Sam stood over his container. “That’s trash,” the man with the headphones called to Sam. “What did you say?” Sam asked. “I said, ‘You need to move your trash.’ That shit’s trash.” “Hey,” Alan called out to the man. “That stuff is his. It’s not trash. You need to learn some manners.” “You want me to fuck you up?” the man yelled at Alan. He took off his headphones and walked toward the men. He started swinging his arms. Neighbors across the street stared. “This is not the kind of attention we need,” KC said. The man pointed. “I’ll beat all you motherfuckers!” he yelled. “I’ll take all of you motherfuckers down. You heard me, motherfucker! I’ll fight all of you!” Just as quickly as he began, the man turned away. He slipped his headphones over his ears and began dancing again. Joe went to the 7-Eleven to grab some sodas. Sam and KC disappeared. Alan sat on the grass, alone under a cluster of maple trees, and lit a cigarette. He was hunched forward, tired. He had desperately wanted peace this past month, but now it felt too quiet. He felt vulnerable and sad and frustrated. His mind wandered. He worried about this new campsite— police would be coming any time to move them. He wondered whether this group would continue to stick together, if he and Sam would be able to stand by each other for much longer. Without Sam and a regular place to sleep, the little stability Alan enjoyed would evaporate. Alan thought of his brother. He sighed. Alan put out his cigarette in the dirt and looked at the sky. He had to set up his tent. The overhead clouds were turning gray. He stood up. Alan needed to work fast. The rain would be coming soon. m Robert Sanchez is 5280’s senior staff writer. Email him at letters@5280.com.

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Denver | PRICE UPON REQUEST This 3br/4ba home has been meticulously restored including new bathrooms and updated kitchen in Congress Park. It features hardwood floors, original wood-beamed ceilings, gas insert fireplace, library and heated sunroom with windows that provides light for year-round enjoyment. The primary bedroom is the full width of the house allowing for a sitting area and an en-suite bath with heated floors.

Robb Green 303.885.2924 robb.green@coloradohomes.com | RobbGreen.cbintouch.com

Boulder | $997,000 This RARE gem FEELS & LIVES like a detached home! Located in the heart of Boulder w/a Master perennial garden & lush patios. Over $90,000 of new renovations. Upper level has Flatiron VIEWS. Lower level w/ entry. Walk to open space & grocery stores.

MacDonald-Weathers Team 303.898.6564 Brooke@boulderproperties.net | BoulderProperties.net

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Denver | $990,000 Stunning, modern 5br/4ba townhome in trendy Sloans Lake/Highlands! Enjoy city and mountains views from the expansive rooftop deck, w/hot tub and handy wet bar to entertain in style. Open floor plan offers family room w/fireplace, powder bath, flex room, gourmet kitchen and dining room. Master retreat w/a balcony, walk-in closet and 5-piece bath w/steam shower. Finished basement and upgraded backyard.

Jewel Brown 303.886.9441 Jewel@JewelsOfColorado.com | JewelsOfColorado.com

Arvada | $950,000 This stunning custom West Woods Estates home is on almost a 1/2 acre, 5 beds, 4 baths. First time in 36 yrs. this remarkable home is available. This is your opportunity to purchase one of the most spectacular homes located on tree lined parkway.

Lisa Gaona 303.257.2350 gaonarlte@msn.com

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Castle Rock | $635,000 5br/5ba home sits on nearly a 3/4-acre lot including a grand staircase, dark hardwood floors, kitchen with granite countertops, tile backsplash, center Island, built-in desk & pantry, 2-story family room with floor to ceiling fireplace, formal living room, dining room, office, mud room with laundry, master with bath & walk-in closet, finished basement & patio with pergola.

Michael FuhrmannÂ 303.709.5570 michael.fuhrmann@coloradohomes.com

STAR POWER. The real estate brand that shines like no other. Through extraordinary times and remarkable moments in history, the Coldwell BankerÂŽ brand has stood strong for over 114 years. Let us guide you home. Contact us today.

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Denver | $1,350,000 5br/5ba w/$125k+ in upgrades w/a great room, fireplace, completely updated kitchen, main floor master w/ hardwood flooring & remodeled bath, and refinished basement w/ wet bar.

Golden | $1,195,000 SOLD - 4br/5ba Spacious Home w/Stunning Views, Remodeled Kitchen, First Floor Master Suite, Walk-Out Finished Basement, Second Floor Loft for Study or Flex Space, Sunroom & Fantastic Outdoor Spaces w/Decks, Patio & Soothing Water Feature.

Ron Buss 303.808.5390 ron@btdproperties.com | BTDProperties.com

Anne Pielage 720.939.2680 anne.pielage@coloradohomes.com | AnnePielage.com

Evergreen | $1,050,000 5br/5ba home on 2 acres. Great room w/a fireplace and hardwood floors. Kitchen w/an island, a pantry and SS appliances. Main floor master suite w/5-piece bath. Complete w/finished lower level, finished garage, 2 covered patios and amazing yard.

Littleton | $985,000 4br/4.5ba home w/hardwood floors. Kitchen w/quartz island and walkin pantry. Master suite and two other main floor bedroom en-suites. Partially finished basement with bedroom, bath, entertainment area and bar. This home backs to open space.

Kevin Freadhoff 303.803.6949 kevinsellshomes@yahoo.com | MountainHomeForYou.com

Debbie Joseph 303.842.8331 debbie.joseph@coloradohomes.com

Boulder | $875,000 Bright & spacious 4br/3.5ba featuring: fully remodeled kitchen w/white custom cabinets, new SS appliances, quartz countertops, hickory hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, open floor plan, master w/deck & finished basement. Numerous updates throughout. The Sartell Bliss Team 303.885.8334 jessie@sartellblissteam.com | SartellBlissTeam.com

Broomfield | $850,000 4br/3ba home w/hickory hardwoods and plantation shutters. Kitchen w/granite counters, an island and breakfast nook. Master bedroom w/custom walk-in closet, dual sinks and soaking tub. Finished garden level basement. In maintainence free neighborhood. Mary Oskay 303.415.3604 mary.oskay@coloradohomes.com

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Denver | $769,900 SOLD! This immaculate five bedroom, four bath, two-story Lowry home with over 4,200 square feet offers a fantastic front covered patio, an open floor plan with a welcoming two-story entrance, a private study with French doors, and updated kitchen.

Evergreen | $769,000 The Mountains meet Urban Contemporary! Unbeatable N. Evergreen location. 4 bedroom, 5 bath, open floor plan, multiple decks. Outstanding quality and craftsmanship throughout, just unpack, and enjoy the carefree life that awaits you!

Kimberly Austin 303.360.6400 Kimberly@AnotherJustSold.com | AnotherJustSold.com

Susan Trindl 303.710.2411 susan.trindl@coloradohomes.com

Lone Tree | $769,000 5br/4ba corner lot home overlooks open space w/ views! Newly renovated with new flooring & fireplace. Kitchen w/ granite countertops, ss appliances, island & breakfast nook. Master suite includes sitting area w/ fireplace, walk in closet & 5pc bath.

Denver | $725,000 Gorgeous 4br/4ba features a main floor master suite w/5pc bath, walkin closet, fireplace & access to the patio! 3,000 SQFT, dining room w/ wood burning fireplace & custom kitchen w/island, high-end cherry cabinetry, granite counters & ss appliances.

Sonya Peterson 303.587.7969 SonyaKPeterson@gmail.com | SonyaSellsDenver.com

Jennifer Bub 303.253.4969 jennifer.bub@coloradohomes.com

Conifer | $715,000 Breathtaking views of Mount Rosalie and backs to Staunton State Park. The entire home has been upgraded and remodeled with timeless mountain contemporary high-end finishes. 3 beds, 3 baths, plus 3 car OS detached garage + RV parking. Welcome home!

Highlands Ranch | $688,000 4br/5ba home. Family room w/fireplace opens to kitchen w/SS appliances, island and breakfast nook. Main floor study. Upstairs the master bedroom has dual walk-in closets. Three more bedrooms & 2 more bathrooms up. Complete w/ large finished basement.

Susan Trindl 303.710.2411 susan.trindl@coloradohomes.com

Kristine Smith 303.882.9887 kristinesmith.co@gmail.com | KristineSmith.cbintouch.com

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Denver | $650,000 2br/2.5ba Condo. Kitchen w/42-inch upper cabinets, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and a massive center island. Living room w/built-in shelves and a gas fireplace. 2 en suite bedrooms w/walk-in closets. Complete w/a private balcony. Gail Wheeler 303.726.7202 gail.wheeler@coloradohomes.com

Lakewood | $625,000 5br/4ba home on a park-like .31 acre lot. Chef's Kitchen w/Commercial Grade Appliances. Living room w/cozy gas fireplace. Custom Wood Inlayed floors. Stunning Master Suite and to many features to list make this A Must See Property! Stephanie Freadhoff 303.589.3777 Austin Freadhoff 303.829.8324

Denver | $590,000 Cornerstone Denver home offers a living room w/ hardwood floors, formal dining room, updated kitchen w/ss appliances & granite countertops, family room w/ fireplace & new carpet & Master w/bath. 2 guest bedrooms w/shared bath & finished basement.

Morrison | $585,000 4br/3.1ba home on a 2-acre lot w/new roof, newly stained siding and newer composition decking. The timeless floor plan offers vaulted ceilings, an open kitchen, a fireplace w/high-efficiency wood burning insert, a large attached greenhouse and more.

Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 YourFreshStartRealty@gmail.com | YourFreshStartRealty.com

Vicki Wimberly 303.674.6667 vicki.wimberly@coloradohomes.com

Franktown | $585,000 3br/2.5ba home on 5 acres. Enjoy a new wrap-around deck with a peaceful view of the gently sloping landscape. This home features an abundance of windows, a formal dining room, a family room with a wood burning stove and gorgeous wood floors.

Parker | $580,000 5br/4ba home w/hardwood floors on main level. Office w/a closet. Kitchen w/large island and granite. Family room w/gas fireplace. Master bedroom w/5-piece bath and walk-in closet. Complete w/ partial unfinished basement and flagstone patio w/firepit.

AnnMarie McKelvey 720.955.4423 annmarie@denverlistingagent.com | DenverListingAgent.com

Donna Jarock 303.718.6285 thanksdonna@gmail.com | HomesAndCondosColorado.com

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Parker | $579,000 Open floorplan w/walkout basement, features a kitchen w/quartz counters, ss appliances, dining area & family room w/fireplace, hardwoods, study & covered deck. Upstairs is 4br, loft & master retreat w/rustic barn door, 5pc bath & walk-in closet. Sean and Janet Willcox 303.903.5255 willcox2@comcast.net | SeanAndJanet.com

Conifer | Price Upon Request Private 3br/2ba includes a new kitchen w/ss appliances, farm sink, breakfast bar & quartz countertops. Beautiful tile floors. Wrap-around deck, play set, fire pit & newer hot tub on private deck. Paved driveway, detached garage on an acre of land. Susan Sharnas 303.475.3096 Tyler Westcott 303.619.4817

Broomfield | $535,000 Beautiful 4br/3.5ba features custom cabinetry, new paint, granite counters & subway tile. Open floor plan seamlessly flows between the kitchen, dining & family room. Master suite w/5pc bath & walk-in closet. Custom finished basement & oversized yard. John Grandt 720.351.8488 John@RefRealty.net | RefRealty.net

Aurora | $550,000 3br/3ba ranch-style, end-unit, patio townhome with a finished basement backint to the 8th Green of Saddle Rock Golf Course. Over 3,200 sqft of living space that has been totally remodeled. Don't miss your opportunity to own this great home. Illona Gerlock 303.809.1235 Illona@GerlockHomes.com | GerlockHomes.com

Highlands Ranch | Price Upon Request Beautiful 3br/2.5ba includes master suite w/retreat, partial finished basement, formal living & dining space, kitchen w/slab granite, ss package, glass backsplash, 40" cabinetry & nook, stamped concrete patio, fresh ext paint & new water heater. Kathleen Swartz 720.560.1218 kathleen.swartz@coloradohomes.com

Castle Rock | $530,000 Beautiful 5br/5ba backs to open space on a cul-de-sac, 2 office spaces, kitchen w/ granite counters & island, formal dining room & family room w/ fireplace & high ceilings. Upstairs master suite w/5pc bath & dream basement w/home theater & wet bar. Jill & Greg Svenson 303.522.0631 Jill@JillGreg.com | JillandGregHomes.com

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Littleton | $500,000 Beautifully updated brick ranch with an open floor plan complemented by solid hardwood flooring, shaker style cabinets, stainless steel appliances & marble countertops. Newly finished basement, perfectly manicured landscaping & outdoor living space!

Arvada | $495,000 Traditional two-story 4br/3ba has so much to offer, adorned with beautiful plantings, trees & flowers. Enjoy features like outdoor dining on a covered patio and a formal living room with a fireplace and hardwood flooring.

Matt Brinkhoff 303.324.0241 matt.brinkhoff@coloradohomes.com | MattsColoradoHomes.com

Donna Jarock 303.718.6285 thanksdonna@gmail.com | HomesAndCondosColorado.com

Lakewood | $490,000 Rare Investment property. All Brick 4br/2ba features over 2,000 SQFT of living spaces divided into 2 separate units. Main level of kitchen is updated including slab granite counters & new hickory cabinets. Separate entrance for guest house.

Donna Jarock 303.718.6285 thanksdonna@gmail.com | HomesAndCondosColorado.com

Joanna McKinney 303.505.4523 joanna.mckinney@coloradohomes.com | AspenVerde.com

Aurora | Price Upon Request 3br/3ba home w/3 car garage on a corner lot in Sterling Hills. Family room w/ gas fireplace, renovated kitchen w/ light grey maple cabinets and granite countertops. Main floor has laminate flooring and new paint. Backyard perfect for relaxing! Jacqui Brown Schmidt 619.733.8822 Marcyndah Cosner 303.881.1876

Thornton | $465,000 Beautiful 3br/2ba ranch style home offering an open floorplan, natural light, master suite w/ 5pc bath & walk-in closet, 2-car garage, unfinished basement & covered back porch. Landscaped & fenced yard, fresh wall paint & new window coverings. Heidi P. Martinez 303.717.1870 Heidi@HPMColoradoRealEstate.com | HPMColoradoRealEstate.com

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Englewood | $460,000 Stylish 3br/2ba home boasts beautiful hardwood floors throughout, a lovely kitchen with quartz counters, stainless steel appliances and breakfast bar seating, a master with natural light and a second bedroom with large closets and custom organizers. Cybyske Home Team 303.635.1100 bryan@cybyske.com | Cybyske.com

Loveland | $410,000 4br/3ba home w/hardwood floors, a formal dining room, a living room and a family room w/gas fireplace. Kitchen w/SS appliances and a bar top. Master bedroom w/walk-in closet and full master bath. Complete w/fenced backyard and concrete patio. Gus Bergs 970.308.4733 gus.bergs@coloradohomes.com

Aurora | $405,000 4br/4ba home offers a kitchen w/ granite & newer ss appliances, family room w/ fireplace, finished lower level & covered deck. Complete w/ hardwood floors, newer carpet, windows & roof, fresh paint and a 2-car garage!

Colorado Springs | Price Upon Request Lovely 3br/2ba ranch nestled on a corner lot offers an open floor plan, generously sized family room, kitchen w/ gorgeous hardwood floors, newer appliances & eating area w/ access to the backyard, master w/ adjoining updated bath & 2-car garage.

Stephanie Freadhoff 303.589.3777 Austin Freadhoff 303.829.8324

Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 YourFreshStartRealty@gmail.com | YourFreshStartRealty.com

Litteton | Price Upon Request Charming 3br/2ba home with updates throughout. Vaulted ceilings enhance the family room. Generously sized kitchen with mosaic glass backsplash, butcher block counters & ss appliances. Private backyard with a covered patio, garden boxes & fenced yard. Shannon Byerly 303.919.2611 YourFreshStartRealty@gmail.com | YourFreshStartRealty.com

Commerce City | $390,000 Updated 3br/2.5ba tri-level home w/ multiple living spaces inside and out! Kitchen w/granite, cherry cabinets, new SS appliances & pantry. Complete with oversized west-facing 2-car garage, this home sits on an oversized corner lot a block from park! Elisabeth Nelson 303.916.5859 elisabeth.nelson@coloradohomes.com | ElisabethNelsonRealEstate. com

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Longmont | $365,500 Stunning open concept modern Prospect condo.Kitchen w/concrete counters, island, and SS appliances.Spacious loft could be 2nd bedroom.Numerous balconies to enjoy coffee, reading & mtn views. Community pool.Steel beams.Cathedral ceilings.Sun lit.

Northglenn | $340,000 Move-in ready 4br/2ba home w/1-car garage, original wood floors throughout, recessed flat screen mount w/ matching recessed shelving, kitchen w/solid surface countertops, fully finished basement. Nestled within one of the first planned communities.

Mary Hill 303.808.7796 mary.hillgroup@gmail.com | MetroBoulderLiving.com

Carla Knight 720.626.9747 Carla.Knight@Coloradohomes.com | CarlaKnightHomes.com

Colorado Springs | $290,000 4br/2ba home w/wood floors and a wood burning fireplace. The garage includes a built-in tool box and shelving. Fenced backyard w/2-tiered refinished deck with mountain views. Complete w/security system throughout and an attached 2-car garage.

Ward | $250,000 Mountain hideaway, on 6.6 acres, is located up James Canyon just 30 minutes above Boulder in Sky Ranch Estates. The A-Frame cabin is perfectly situated to take in the spectacular Longs Peak & Continental Divide views. Your new lifestyle awaits!

Rob Thompson 719.337.7254 rob.thompson@coloradohomes.com | RobThompsonHomes.com

Deborah Pixler 303.917.6771 deborah.pixler@coloradohomes.com

Evans | $175,000 Great low maintenance 1br move in ready condo! This unit has a 3-sided fireplace & deck. The open floor plan is on the second story and has a vaulted ceiling for an expansive feel. Nice views overlooking a greenbelt. All appliances are included.

Pine | $155,000 1 bedroom cabin surrounded by the Pike National Forest and minutes to the Buffalo Creek trail for hiking, mountain biking or horseback riding. Prefer water sports like kayaking, fishing or tubing? The North Fork of the South Platte river is nearby.

Jason Kingery 970.310.9660 jason@jasonkingery.com

Janet Ronneng 303.919.3096 Janet.Ronneng@coloradohomes.com

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Denver | $999,000

Denver | $950,000

Westminster | $735,000

Updated 4br/2ba Victorian features hardwoods, living room w/fireplace, kitchen w/ custom cabinetry & marble counters, family room w/ fireplace, sunroom & tiered deck in Platt Park.

3br/2ba only 2 blocks to Wash Park featuring original craftsman exposed wood trim, gorgeous hardwood floors anchored by a fireplace that flows into completely remodeled Chef's kitchen.

Stylish 6br/5ba w/open floor plan, 110K upgrades, 3-car garage, finished basement, kitchen w/quartz counters, family room w/fireplace & master w/walk-in closet, 5pc bath & sitting area.

Ron Buss 303.808.5390

Yalin Zhang 720.346.8681

Louisville | $725,000

Erie | $725,000

Parker | $679,000

4br/3ba home at end of a quiet Cul-de-Sac near Heritage Park. Kitchen w/granite countertops and wood floors. Huge master suite, finished basement and large private backyard.

5br/4ba home w/crown molding, vaulted ceiling, wainscoting & stone fireplace. Kitchen w/Viking oven/stovetop, stainless steel appliances, granite and quartz counters. Finished basement.

5br/4ba on .43-acre lot offers a master suite w/ sitting area, fireplace & bath, kitchen w/newly surfaced cabinets & island, dining room, formal living area & family room w/fireplace.

Carol Powers 303.859.1278

Brie Fowler 303.882.8672

Tod Franklin CRS GRI SFR ISS 720.999.5553

Parker | $625,000

Wheat Ridge | $589,000

Westminster | Price Upon Request

Wonderful 3br/3ba w/family room w/fireplace, remodeled kitchen w/tile flooring & ss appliances, remodeled baths, new Trex deck, newer hot water heater/furnace/AC/roof & 2-car garage.

Beautiful 5br/4ba w/3-car garage, vaulted ceilings, hardwoods, family room w/fireplace, kitchen w/birch cabinets & black ss appliances, finished walkout basement, master w/5pc bath.

Corinne Clower 720.771.0508

Sally Scaman 303.564.7767

Debbie Cooper-George 303.944.8494

Westminster | Price Upon Request

Broomfield | $520,000

Evergreen | $517,000

Lovingly maintained 3br/2ba ranch across from the park w/ hardwood floors, kitchen w/ slab granite counters & family room w/ fireplace. Updates: carpet/water heater/garage door/roof.

6br/4ba â€“ 3-car garage, finished basement, vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, eat-in kitchen & family room w/ fireplace, master w/ 5pc ensuite & patio w/ retractable pergola.

Sun-Kissed 3br/3ba Contemporary Home w/Great Views, Eat-In Kitchen, Wood-Burning Stove, Expansive Deck w/Retractable Patio Awning & Finished Basement in Great Location.

Jennifer Hebert 303.929.9044

Bre Burgesser 720.295.3794

Karen Weidner 303.506.8244

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guiding you home since 1906

Frederick | $510,000

Aurora | $485,000

Fort Collins | $464,900

Beautiful 4br/4ba home in Wyndham Hill offers hardwood floors, open floorplan, updated kitchen with granite counters & professionally landscaped yard with a stamped concrete patio.

Turret style entry & vaulted ceilings give this 4br/3ba home a grand feel. Kitchen w/ss appliances & maple cabinets. Neutral paint, handscraped wood floors & back yard w/paver patio.

Spacious 3br/3ba ranch west of CSU, near West Campus, main level 1700 sqft, finished basement 1300+sqft, living room, dining area, updated kitchen, family room, sunroom & 2-car garage.

Christy Hepp 303.910.5393

Jennifer Oldham 720.234.3863

Tod Franklin CRS GRI SFR ISS 720.999.5553

Greeley | $445,000

Thornton | $425,000

Lakewood | $425,000

Incredible 3br/2ba Stucco Ranch Home w/Open Floor Plan, Cathedral Ceilings, Large kitchen w/Breakfast Bar, West-Facing Deck, Unfinished Basement & Landscaped Yard w/2 Water Features.

Thornton remarkable ranch in the popular Sage Creek neighborhood with large open floor plan, vine-covered patio, huge basement and close to shopping, restaurants and highway access.

Gorgeously remodeled 3br/1ba ranch on almost a 1/3-acre corner lot! Remodeled kitchen w/ granite counters, upgraded appliances & dining area, sunroom, den w/ wood stove & solar system.

Michelle A. Nelson 303.748.5247

Kimberly Ryan 303.523.8333

Jeanette Johnston-Starc 303.520.9425

Littleton | Price Upon Request

Denver | $400,000

Aurora | Price Upon Request

4br/3ba w/finished basement, vaulted ceilings, laminate wood flooring throughout & kitchen w/ ss appliances & updated cabinets. Newer windows, siding, furnace, A/C & hot water heater.

2br/2ba 2-story townhome w/ covered front patio, open floor plan, hardwood flooring throughout, quartz gas fireplace. The spacious kitchen w/ huge farmhouse sink & maple cabinets.

Updated 3br/2ba tri-level. Saddlerock Ridge NBHD. Modern kitchen w/granite countertops & a butcher block Isl. Garden level basement w/laundry room. Located in Cherry Creek School Dist.

Jillann Turnwall 720.839.1260

Kimberly Ryan 303.523.8333

Lindsey Garske 720.316.9587

Denver | $389,900

Denver | $389,000

Aurora | $385,000

Don't miss this ground floor corner unit w/2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and 1 reserved parking space in the heart of Capitol Hill. In-unit laundry, private storage, and covered porch.

2br/1ba brick ranch home w/original wood floors throughout the main level. Kitchen has the charm of 1955. Full basement is waiting for your updates. The yard is beautifully maintained.

3br/2ba home. Kitchen w/new SS appliances. Main floor w/family room, bedroom, bath and laundry room. Upstairs w/additional bedrooms and full bath. Complete w/backyard and 2-car garage.

Illona Gerlock 303.809.1235

Karen Isaak Valdez 303.886.4545

Nikki Quinn 303.909.5648

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Frederick | $379,500

Commerce City | $379,000

Denver | Price Upon Request

3br/3ba on corner lot home w/open floor plan living that extends into the large patio, hardwood floors, a fenced yard & finished basement.

Fantastic 3br/2ba ranch features kitchen w/ss appliances & island, dining area & family room w/gas fireplace, master w/ 5pc bath, fenced yard w/deck & unfinished basement.

4br/2ba ranch style total remodel with an open, light & bright floorplan, chefâ€™s kitchen w/ concrete counters & ss appliances, finished basement w/ wood stove & newer windows/roof.

Laura Cimino 808.366.0980

Sean and Janet Willcox 303.903.5255

Rebecca Fine 303.913.3802

Littleton | $350,000

Westminster | Price Upon Request

Northglenn | $344,900

2br/2ba condo featuring a kitchen w/breakfast bar, family room w/fireplace, dining room & master w/bath & walk-in closet. Washer/dryer incl, 2 parking spots & storage cage.

Hyland Creek 3br/2ba home features an open kitchen w/ss appliances, upstairs laundry & master w/ walk-in closet & bath. Newer furnace, A/C, water heater & PELLA windows & 1-car garage.

Great 2br/3ba townhome features newer wood plank flooring, updated kitchen w/ granite countertops and white cabinetry, great room w/ fireplace & updated bathrooms.

Sean and Janet Willcox 303.903.5255

Debbie Cooper-George 303.944.8494

Norma Adair 720.291.3300

Lakewood | $342,000

Aurora | $335,000

Colorado Springs | $330,000

2br/3ba townhome! There is a new furnace, new A/C and new back patio. Both master suites w/own baths. Complete w/2-car covered carport, a full basement, a dining area and a living room!

Charming 2br/2ba duplex boasts a loft, vaulted ceilings, laminated floors, family room w/stone gas fireplace & kitchen w/granite counters & ss appliances. Private yard w/deck & hot tub.

Pam Smith 303.550.6446

Jennifer Hebert 303.929.9044

CC Signature Group 719.550.2547

Denver | Price Upon Request

Broomfield | $329,900

Denver | $325,000

3br/3ba townhome. Main floor w/a bedroom, a 3/4 bath, a kitchen, a dining area and a fireplace. Master bedroom w/generous closets and full bath. Complete w/basement and private patio.

Open floorplan w/lots of light, vaulted ceilings & backing to the greenbelt. Great neighborhood, golf course community & location! Home needs updating - true sweat equity opportunity!

4 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom, fixer-upper home on a full-sized lot in Globeville. Less than a mile from RiNo Arts District. 1.5 miles to Light Rail. Easy access to I-70 & I-25.

Marci DeMott 303.319.3177

Lindsey Sampier-Baker 970.214.9715

Dan Gerlock 303.755.7373

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guiding you home since 1906

Westminster | $325,000

Boulder | $319,000

Commerece City | $300,000

4br/2ba w/garage - New carpet & paint - Living & family room Main floor bedroom - Big kitchen w/ new linoleum - Newer double pane vinyl windows - Large covered patio - Storage shed.

2br/1ba 2nd-floor condo w/vaulted ceilings, large windows and a wood-burning fireplace. There is an attic accessible through the 2nd bedroom. Complete w/a balcony facing a courtyard.

2br/2.5ba home w/keyless entry and kitchen backsplash. 2 master suites w/spa like baths and walk-in closets. Kitchen w/an island and eating area. Complete w/private patio and deck space

Cybyske Home Team 303.635.1100

Trisha Krystman 303.328.5786

Sandra Wieber 303.902.6637

Commerce City | $295,000

Denver | $285,000

Arvada | $285,000

2br/3ba condo w/granite countertops and newer appliances in the kitchen. There are 2 master suites upstairs w/own baths. Complete w/a balcony from the master bedroom and family room.

Perfect DU Condo w/garage parking! 2br/2ba across from Ritchie Center! Kitchen offers new cabinets, granite counters, & SS appliances. Updated paint, carpet, baths & HVAC.

Updated 2br/2ba condo w/ open floorplan, vaulted ceilings, slate flooring, kitchen w/ ss appliances, granite counters, island & pantry, master suite w/ walk in closet & bath & balcony!

Norma Adair 720.291.3300

Nita Kolarsick 303.250.8280

Team Fontyn Realtor Extraordinaire - Teresa Wood 303.564.6407

Longmont | $285,000

Wellington | $265,000

Arvada | $250,000

Nestled in Lashley Village 3br/2ba townhome-style condo is open & light w/ vaulted ceilings, wood floors on the main level, new plantation shutters, finished basement & 2-car garage.

Charming 3br/2ba home freshly painted kitchen w/ eating bar, gas stove & scratchless flooring, roomy master suite w/ own entrance & walk-in closet. 2-car garage, fenced yard & new roof.

3br condo w/1403 finished square feet. Living room w/a fireplace. Dining room w/front patio. Master w/a vanity and fenced covered patio area. Complete w/a finished basement and carport.

Brie Fowler 303.882.8672

Christina Larson 970.443.4111

Lori Vialpando 303.324.5731

Denver | $175,000

Arvada | $165,000

Colorado Springs | $159,000

1br condo in Woodside Village w/wood burning fireplace. Living room is adjacent to the kitchen and the dining area. Complete w/covered balcony and a deeded reserved parking space.

Charming 1br/1ba condo w/vaulted ceiling, skylights, views, washer/dryer, storage locker & A/C. HOA covers water, sewer, trash, grounds maintenance, clubhouse, pool & tennis courts.

2br/2ba maintenance free living in 55+ community includes 1,000+ SQFT, 2 reserved parking spots, locked storage unit & kitchen appliances & W/D included. Amenities: pool & clubhouse.

Donna Jarock 303.718.6285

Jeanette Johnston-Starc 303.520.9425

Jenny FieldÂ 719.330.1664 Julie MatalusÂ 719.330.7798

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DENV ER WES T 14 1 Unio n Blv d . #2 0 0 Lake wo o d , CO 8 0 2 2 8 Not intended as a solicitation if your property is already listed by another broker. ©2020 Coldwell Banker. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker logos are trademarks of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. The Coldwell Banker® System is comprised of company owned offices which are owned by a subsidiary of Realogy Brokerage Group LLC and franchised offices which are independently owned and operated. The Coldwell Banker System fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

Local family gets help to buy adaptive bicycle for their son with rare disability.

Aurora VFW opens doors, receives another check from Denver7 Gives.

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Family receives new van and restored hope after contacting Denver7 Gives.

Colorado family finishes home for son with disability with help from community.

BACKSTORY Diggin’ It A decade is an insignificant span for the remains of ice-age-era mammoths, mastodons, and ground sloths dug up at the Snowmastodon site near Snowmass Village in October 2010. For Homo sapiens, however, the anniversary is the perfect time to celebrate ancient discoveries made within Colorado’s borders. —ANGELA UFHEIL

MOTHER LODE

DINOSAUR DOCTORS

AFTER LIFE

FOSSILS OF A FEATHER

A HUMAN TOUCH

Joe Sertich, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s curator of dinosaurs, says Colorado boasts no dino site more significant than Cañon City’s Garden Park Fossil Area. The first remains of several species emerged from this spot, along with some of the most complete skeletons of Jurassic Park classics like the Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

Bones scattered around the Fruita Paleontological Resource Area have been changing the field of study for a century. The plot of land even birthed a new discipline: Paleopathology, the study of injury and disease in dinosaurs, was invented there in 1900, when scientist Elmer Riggs found an Apatosaurus with broken bones that had healed during its lifetime.

Fossils found near Corral Bluffs in 2016 revealed the missing link between dino extinction and mammal superiority. After an asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, the remains show that small mammals and their progeny, suddenly free of their dinosaur overlords, were able to grow in size and abundance, eventually repopulating the planet.

No disrespect to The Land Before Time franchise, but actual dinosaurs looked different from the scaly “longnecks” and “threehorns” in the movies. How do we know? The discovery of the Ornithomimus, or ostrich-mimic dinosaur, in Lakewood in 1889. The uncanny similarity to birds was the first hint that at least some dinosaurs had—gasp—feathers.

Sure, the several dozen mammoth skeletons at the Dent excavation site near Milliken may be fewer than Snowmastodon’s haul, but arrowheads alongside these bones yielded new information about our ancestors: They lived among the beasts as the most recent ice age drew to a close and are the earliest known example of prehistoric humans in Colorado.

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I L L U S T R AT I O N BY V I D H YA N A G A R AJ A N

OCTOBER 2020

CLOSE TO HOME, A WORLD AWAY.

Has there ever been a time when we were more in need of an escape? To hop in the car and be transported to a land that’s timeless and grand? That’s why The Broadmoor is offering the Unlimited Golf Package with rates starting at $595 per night*. Because a whole world of unencumbered freedom is exactly what we need right now. Learn more at broadmoor.com. *based upon availability, some restrictions apply

844.875.9882

BROADMOOR.COM

1 L AKE AVENUE, COLOR ADO SPRINGS, CO 809 0 6