Doing Denver--The Inside View

From the center of downtown Denver, sports fans can walk, take a bus, or pay for a short cab ride to Coors Field, The Pepsi Center, or the soon-to-be-named new football stadium to root for their favorite teams. In baseball season, even my non-sports-minded friends want to attend at least one Colorado Rockies game. There's just something magical about Coors Field.

If shopping is more to your liking, you will delight in the array of eclectic stores that are spread throughout the downtown area. Transportation is free via the 16th Street Mall shuttle bus. The shuttle bus will also take you within walking distance of the Denver Art Museum, the U.S. Mint and, my personal favorite, the Colorado History Museum. A short cab ride will transport you to the Denver Museum of Natural History or the Denver Botanic Gardens. Save one night for a romantic dinner at one of a number of superb restaurants followed by your choice of one of several plays being performed at the Denver Center of Performing Arts.

If you finish dinner early, take a horse and buggy tour of downtown before the show begins.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Almost all the activities I've mentioned can be reached from downtown Denver by foot. The 16th Street Mall has a free shuttle bus service. No cars are permitted. The shuttle stops on every block and one arrives at least every five minutes during business hours. You can also call for a taxi. Except for the free shuttle bus service, public transportation in Denver leaves a lot to be desired, and parking is a major problem that is becoming worse. Parking meters in downtown Denver are also monitored until 10 P.M. and have a 2-hour limit, which is strictly enforced.

McCormick's quiet, elegant ambience is a natural extension of its location in historic lower downtown Denver. The service has been impeccable whenever we've dined here, and the food is wonderfully prepared. My personal favorite is the crabcakes, but the consistently high quality of all their menu items makes McCormick's a favorite of the locals.

I have enjoyed many good times at The Chili Pepper, one of my favorite Denver restaurants. I've met friends for festive luncheon birthday celebrations, stopped by for dinner before a Broncos game (it's just a short walk to Invesco Field at Mile-High), and lingered over a Mother's Day brunch here. The food and service have always been exceptional. The views are wonderful, and comparable to the better-known and more expensive Baby Doe's restaurant right next door. (I've only dined at Baby Doe's once and found the food to be mediocre, the prices high, and the service lacking.)

As you cross a small wooden bridge to enter the restaurant from the parking lot, the first thing you will spy is a massive stone fireplace with a crackling fire that sets the scene for the quiet Mexican ambiance to be found inside. One entire side of the restaurant is windows. The Chili Pepper sits on a small hill overlooking Six Flags Elitch Gardens, with downtown Denver serving as a backdrop. While you can enjoy the view from virtually every spot in the restaurant, you may want to call ahead to reserve a table by the windows. The view is especially pretty at night.

You can enjoy complimentary chips and salsa as you leisurely peruse the menu. My companions and I have enjoyed chicken fajitas, all types of burritos, and the chicken enchiladas with equal relish. If you like margaritas, they make one of the best I've had. Their Sunday brunch offers a wide range of dishes to choose from, not just the Mexican variety.

When an old friend called and told me she had a conference to attend in downtown Denver and wanted to meet for lunch, I took the opportunity to select the Ship Tavern restaurant, located in the Brown Palace Hotel, for our rendezvous. It was conveniently located within a block of her conference, and I had always wanted to try it. We were not disappointed.

Rather than entering the restaurant from the street, we entered through the hotel lobby so that we could view the 2,800 square foot stained glass ceiling that was part of the original decor when the hotel was completed in 1892 and enjoy the historical memorabilia displays scattered around the lobby.

The Ship Tavern decor is also a harbor of history. The restaurant displays model replicas of actual ships from America's Clipper period, and an old ship's clock hangs on the right of the doorway that passes from the restaurant to the lobby. A massive polished wood bar spans the length of one of the walls. The atmosphere is one of casual elegance.

The service and the food were excellent. My friend and I both ordered the reuben sandwich, which was served with a huge mound of fries. Neither of us was able to finish the meal. We were allowed to linger for an hour and a half, catching up on each other's news, and never once felt rushed by the waiter, even though it was the typical lunch hour crowd. The prices were very reasonable as well--less than $20 a person, including both a drink and a tip. We passed on dessert.

The Brown Place Hotel, completed in 1892, is listed on The National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a Denver Landmark. A decadent afternoon tea is served daily in the hotel lobby from noon to 4 P.M. You may select from one of three "tea" menus or choose an entree salad. Both my companion and I chose a "tea." As we sipped our "properly brewed" beverages from vintage-looking cups and enjoyed the musical talent of the pianist, we played "resident tourists," gawking above us at the stained glass celing (all 2,800 square feet of it) and also trying to spy the two cast-iron balcony panels that had been installed upside down. (Our waitress finally had to point them out for us.)

The "tea" came served on a three-tiered dish, the bottom of which held a variety of scones, with elegant finger sandwiches adorning the second teir and a selection of mouth-watering pastries gracing the third tier. (The pastries that come with the Chocolate Sensation Tea will make chocoholics think they've died and gone to heaven.) At first sight the offering seemed scant, especially given the price ($20-$22 per person, depending on the "tea" menu selected), but before we were able to sink our teeth into one of the desserts on the top tier, the waitress returned to ask if we wanted more scones and/or sandwiches. Truthfully, I was full, but the scones, served with Devonshire cream and preserves, simply melted in your mouth, and the sandwiches couldn't be had any place else, so we requested more of each as I mentally calculated how much additional exercise I would have to engage in the next day. And this before we had sampled the pastries, which proved to taste every bit as delectable as they looked.

After the dining experience, we took an informal tour of the hotel, following a pamphlet supplied by our waitress. (Free guided 45-minute tours are offered each Wednesday and Saturday from the lobby at 2 P.M. If time is available,I recommend it.) A number of changing displays of historical memorabilia surround the lobby, and the hanging lamps and arch lights on the second floor are remarkable, particularly when you consider that they are the original fixtures and were operated via the hotel's own generated electricity from its completion in 1892 to the 1930s.

Luigi's Bent Noodle is romantically cozy with some of the friendliest service you'll ever receive, and the food is superb as well, earning the restaurant plaudits from 5280 Magazine as "One of Denver's Best Suburban Restaurants." The ambience is one of quaint elegance, and if you've ever envisioned yourself at a small restaurant in Italy gazing into your true love's eyes over a glass of wine and exchanging endearments as you dine, but can't get to Italy, this is the place to make that dream a reality. My husband and I are lucky to live only a few blocks from this treasure and stop by every couple of months.

Sometimes we simply have a drink and hors d'oeuvres at the horseshoe-shaped bar and engage in friendly conversation with the bartenders and other customers doing the same. (The cremine mushroom appetizer is out-of-this world, as is the asiage artichoke dip appetizer, as is the. . .the list goes on!) Other times we have chosen to sit at one of the tables and enjoy a full Italian meal as we wound down at the end of a week (gazing into each other's eyes. . . .) As with the appetizers, I would be hard pressed to recommend a single entree; we've never been disappointed with anything we've ordered. On warm summer evenings, we sometimes choose to dine outside on the patio.

I recently took a friend to lunch here for her birthday celebration, and perhaps her comment is the most telling of all. She said that if she lived as close to Luigi's as we did, she would probably be there every evening. She continues to rave about the atmosphere, the service (the manager kept her company while she awaited my arrival), and the food. I have no doubt where we will celebrate her birthday next year.

Three additional notes: (1) Luigi's also has a restaurant in Aurora, Colorado, but we've never been there, so I don't know how it stacks up against this one; (2) Kids eat free here (although my husband and I have never been annoyed by any noisy children running through the restaurant or we'd never have returned.) (3) You can visit Luigi's website at www.bentnoodle.com

This museum is a must-see for those who want to learn more about the history of Colorado and the West. There's a wonderful diorama that depicts Denver City and Auraria as they were before they were melded to form what is now just "Denver" in 1860. Other dioramas as well as artifacts and historical documents tell the story of the early pioneers, miners, and American Indians who called Colorado their home. Visitors can view an actual sod house as well as various farming, mining, and household tools. The museum also offers a variety of temporary exhibits. The 50s, a history of the black cowboy, and a photography exhibit by renown photographer John Fielder have been some of the more recent ones. True history buffs can lose themselves in the extensive research library that is also housed here.

The museum is open seven days a week, but the library is open only Tuesday through Saturday. You can call for the current hours of operation. The number is 303-866-3682.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex occupies the equivalent of four city blocks. It is home to nine different theatres, varying in size, and is the second largest performing arts center in the nation. Broadway plays are performed in both the Buell and the Auditorium theatres, and the Buell Theatre also provides the stage for ballet productions. The Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Opera Hall performances take place in the Boettcher Concert Hall, and Denver Center Theatre Company productions take place in the Helen Bonfils Theatre. The Galleria Theatre provides still another stage for a variety of types of performances which patrons can enjoy while sipping their favorite cocktail.

The Buell provides a superb stage for musical productions, but pass on any non-musicals that are presented in this theatre unless you can get seats in one of the front rows. The theatre is just too large, and you lose the expressions on the actors' faces. However, I've thoroughly enjoyed both the musical and the non-musical productions I've seen presented at the Helen Bonfils Theatre and the Galleria Theatre. These smaller staging arenas allow you to enjoy all aspects of the performance from virtually any seat in the house.

Tickets to all the productions can be purchased at the complex itself. It's not hard to find. As you approach 14th Street, a large neon sign announcing the current production schedule will let you know that you have arrived.

You don't have to be an avid baseball fan to enjoy a baseball game at Coors Field. There's just something about sitting in the stands and chomping on a foot-long hot dog smeared with mustard and relish while watching a game that takes place in a stadium with the snow-capped Rocky Mountains as a backdrop. Oh yeah, and under incredibly deep-blue sunny skies while sipping an ice-cold beer or lemonade. If you're there for a late afternoon or early evening game, you'll also get to enjoy watching the sun set into the mountains, which will rival any fireworks display you've ever seen.

The Rockies generally put on a good performance, too. Even in some of the years that they have not finished too well in the standings, they've played with heart. I once sat next to a fellow who was visiting from St. Louis. The Cardinals were beating us in the 8th inning by double-digits. The man remarked that he found it amazing that the stands were still so full. He was even more stunned when the Rockies came up with a win in the 9th. (My somewhat biased prediction is that the Rockies will offer a stellar performance in the 2001 season.)

Unlike tickets for the Denver Bronco or the Colorado Avalanche games, tickets for a Rockies game are relatively cheap and easy to acquire. You can buy "Rockpile" tickets at the stadium on game day for $4.00. If you prefer better seats, there are always a number of sellers hawking their tickets on the street corners around the ball park--most for face value.