COLORADO EXPLORER

Contributors include Brad Weismann, Linda DuVal and Claire Walter.

City: Denver dazzles with nocturnal delights
Dining: Four and Five Diamond Restaurants
Shopping: Ski country coffee and books
Shopping: Tea time
Activities: Ride, skate and climb


Colorado Explorer

Denver dazzles with nocturnal delights
By Brad Weismann

That Denver is a thriving, cosmopolitan city is not exactly news. It first sprang to national prominence during the Democratic National Convention of … 1908, at the present site of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

The city’s old Theater Row on Curtis Street between 15th and 18th Streets was crammed back then with vaudeville theaters, movie houses, pool rooms, bars, arcades, and even houses of easy virtue. The marquees of the area were all studded so thickly with illumination that Thomas Edison, visiting in 1915, called it “the best-lighted street in the world.”

Nowadays, vibrant night life has spread beyond the confines of the city’s diagonally skewed downtown street grid.

The downtown theatre scene’s centerpiece is the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, which contains an opera house, concert hall, a cabaret and several stages, including the voluminous Buell for touring shows. The Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company presents several productions in repertory from fall through spring.

A perfect adjunct to its mammoth neighbor to the north, the Curious Theatre Company on Acoma Street has made a disproportionate impact on regional culture since it opened in 1997. This acclaimed troupe, which operates out of a renovated 1895 church, brings audiences the best in regional- and world-premiere productions, along with a slew of innovative collaborations and special projects with visiting artists and local luminaries.

The key to the success of this enterprise is the support of knowledgeable and enthusiastic audiences from across the region. Denver’s arts have benefited greatly over the past 20 years through the influence of a growing number of patrons whose time and money lift the region into one that can boast being in the top 10 per capita for cultural spending in the nation.

The cheeky upstart among performing groups is Buntport Theater at 717 Lipan Street. For 10 years, its sextet of collaborators has crafted challenging and satisfying seasons of original works and wry adaptations of classics (“Titus Andronicus! The Musical” and “Kafka on Ice,” for instance), as well as hosting children’s theater and special events. A strong sense of humor, linked to a profound familiarity with culture high and low, make this group’s creations a paradise for the educated observer.

This is theatre in the raw. The space, a former warehouse that has seen only minimal renovation, is simply a big box with a concrete floor and metal-and-brick walls. The group has turned this seeming negative into a positive. A movable tier of comfortable seats faces a performing area that’s reconfigured for each production, from the standard proscenium to the suspended catwalk complex that served as the stage of “The 30th of Baydak.” Curtain walls soften echoes and help define each show’s shape.

Denver’s comedy scene spawned such nationally known talents as Roseanne Barr and Josh Blue. Ground Zero is Comedy Works, a basement-level den that’s featured every significant standup comic of the last two generations (the club’s Susan Collyer reminds us that the club celebrates its 30th anniversary this year).

The intimate seating and superior sightlines make this club a performer’s favorite. Although the days of smoke-laden atmosphere are long gone, the low ceiling, clatter of drinks and chatter, and raucous interactions makes this one of the liveliest evenings out in town. (“Remember, the more you drink, the funnier we are!” is an emcee’s frequent mantra.) And if you sit down front, the odds are good you’ll get singled out and sucked into a comic’s routine.

Fans of improvisational comedy have two sterling outfits from which to choose. Bovine Metropolis (1527 Champa Street) is the decade-old brainchild of mom-and-pop founders Eric Farone and Denise Maes. Future shows include “Makeshift Shakespeare” and the competition “Denver’s Next Improv Star” weekends through the spring.

At the top of a steep flight of stairs, Bovine hosts its audience in the closest proximity to the action of any theater in town. A step or two puts you stage center. Improvisation is no spectator sport; the humor (and, occasionally, insight) is prompted by continuous interaction with, and sometimes participation by, the customers.

In the depths of the Wynkoop Brewery building, Impulse Theater keeps things humming on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. They offer classes as well.

For those who prefer a true nightclub atmosphere, Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret is a little slice of heaven. Denver chanteuse Lannie Garrett holds sway over a swanky lounge at the base of the historic D&F Tower. Not only does Lannie perform regularly, but her stage features other musical acts, comedy, burlesque, magic and even talent searches.

This venue wins the award for Most Likely Place to Be Subsumed into a Bachelor/Bachelorette Party. The New Burlesque movement of the past decade has liberated risqué entertainment from its chauvinist background, enabling its performers to combine naughtiness with a wit that’s, well, nice.

Music is the primary motor of the night downtown. The recent profusion of clubs makes it difficult to pick and choose, but here are some recommendations, by genre, from seasoned partying campaigners:

  • Jazz is healthy at this elevation. Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge (930 Lincoln Street), rated one of the top 100 jazz clubs in the world by Downbeat magazine, is the undisputed showplace for it. Its warm, acoustically fine-tuned main room also features a top-notch menu. Stellar touring artists and local legends such as Rene Marie, Ellyn Rucker, Rob Mullins and Ron Miles can be found there. Jam sessions take place every Tuesday night.
  • Herb’s (2057 Larimer Street) is owned by area saxophonist Laura Newman and features funk, R&B and jazz nearly every night of the week.
  • El Chapultapec (1962 Market Street) is perhaps the last living link to Old Denver. In business since the repeal of Prohibition, the cracked vinyl tile floor, well-worn banquettes, lovingly aged bar and elbow-bruising confines make it a confounding but fascinating place to hear live music.

Dining: Colorado’s AAA Four and Five Diamond rated restaurants
By Linda DuVal

The Penrose Room, Colorado Springs
Colorado’s only AAA Five Diamond restaurant. Chef Bertrand Bouquin, 40, a native of Burgundy, France, began his culinary training there and came to The Broadmoor five years ago.
Guiding philosophy: Exceed expectations.
Signature dish: Halibut Poached in Black Olive Oil with fingerling potatoes.
Most popular item on the menu: The Colorado Lamb Five Ways tempts the most guests: a rack with pistachio crust, loin with tomato confit, and roasted leg with petite carrot fricassee.

Alpenglow Stube, Keystone
Chef Daniel LaChance trained at the Colorado Mountain College Culinary Institute in Keystone and stayed on to work in restaurants there. He’s been at the Four Diamond Alpenglow Stube for three years.
Guiding philosophy: Serve the freshest High Country Colorado Cuisine.
Signature dish: Ragout of Jumbo Lump Blue Crab with leek fondue and shiitake mushrooms.
Most popular item on the menu: Horsera-dish encrusted Filet Mignon with a morel mushroom cream sauce.

Grouse Mountain Grill, Beaver Creek
Chef David Gutowski, 31, attended the Culinary Institute of America in his native New York, and has worked for a year in this Four Diamond restaurant.
Guiding philosophy: A memorable experience.
Signature dish: Coffee-braised short-rib lettuce wraps, with Colorado beef and local coffee.
Most popular item on the menu: Pretzel-Crusted Pork Chops.

Shopping: Ski country coffee and books
By Claire Walter

Skiing and snowboarding may be the top winter attractions in Colorado resorts, but the non-skiers who join their friends and family on the ride into the high country will find plenty to do.

  • Aspen: Explore carries volumes of all kinds on two floors in a century-old Victorian home with overstuffed leather chairs and Kashmir, the grey, green-eyed, spoiled “boss” cat.
  • Breckenridge: Weber’s Books & Drawings, the only bookstore in town that offers new releases, features local art and history books, an eclectic selection of fiction and non-fiction, and five or six resident dogs who wander in and out of this mall location.
  • Durango: Maria’s Bookshop is a locally owned, independent store with handmade bookshelves, hardwood floors, and high ceilings decorated with antique snowshoes and skis. Durango Coffee Company offers its signature drink, Pumpkin Pie Chai, as well as a gourmet kitchen shop, with espresso machines and unique tea pots.
  • Steamboat Springs: Off the Beaten Path offers the Grasshopper, with mint and chocolate, a salted caramel latte, with syrup and a dash of salt, homemade Cowboy Cookies—chocolate chips, nuts, raisin and oatmeal—and in the books section, the Treehouse welcomes small children to explore and read.
  • Telluride: Between the Covers Books and Espresso Bar offers several uniquely good reads, Historic Telluride in Rare Photographs by Christian J. Buys, and Tomboy Bride by Harriet Fish Backus, about the life of a local miner’s longsuffering wife, along with a good drink, the White Rabbit — caramel and white chocolate.

Shopping: Tea time
By Linda DuVal

Next time you sit down with a steaming, fragrant cup of Celestial Seasonings tea, think about visiting the place where it was born. You can smell the herbs a mile before you get to the factory! At the tea shop, buy teas you never see in the grocery store. (800) 434-4246 or www.celestialseasonings.com.

Activities: Ride, skate and climb

Whether you strap on a pair of blades, mount a horse or board a snowmobile, a thrilling time awaits you in the high country this winter.

  • Aspen boasts three skating rinks, the immaculately maintained indoor Aspen Ice Garden, the Silver Circle outdoor rink at the base of Aspen Mountain, and the Lewis Ice Arena with its NHL regulation ice surface on the outskirts.
  • Steamboat Springs’ Howelsen Ice Arena offers a regulation rink and public skating. Steamboat Horseback Rides give views from the saddle range across the Flattops, Mt. Werner and Sleeping Giant. Grizzle-T Dog Sledding guides you on a groomed trail in nearby Stagecoach State Park. And Steamboat Snowmobile Tours rides use the renowned trails of Rabbit Ears Pass and the Upper Elk River Valley.
  • The fabled Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad’s magical Cascade Canyon Winter Train chugs through the snow-covered landscape, with a memorable fireside picnic at the steam train’s turn-around spot. It runs daily through Jan. 5, Thursday to Sunday from Jan. 6 to Mar. 9, then daily to mid-April.
  • Telluride Horseback Adventures, aka Ride With Roudy, offers trail rides and sleighrides, daily except Sunday, from a winter base in Placerville. Telluride Snowmobile Tours’ options include half-day guided rides to the ghost town of Alta and full-day tours to Dunton Hot Springs. Ice skate on a regulation-size rink in Town Park or a new outdoor rink at the Capella Hotel in Mountain Village.
  • In Vail & Beaver Creek, there’s a choice of ice — Dobson Ice Arena and the outdoor rink at a luxury resort hotel called Arrabelle at Vail Square, both at Vail, or the charming outdoor rink in the heart of Beaver Creek Village. Vail Snowmobile Tours provides jaw-dropping views of the Gore Range and the Continental Divide.
  • What do mountain climbers do when ice and snow cover the Rockies? Ice climbing in Ouray! Not only are the surrounding mountains full of ice-climbing routes, but there’s a mile of “farmed” ice available free to climbers right in town. And don’t miss the annual Ice Festival, Jan. 6-9, 2011.

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