Strings restaurant turns 19 on July 22 – so it’s celebrating the end of its teenaged years.
Owners Noel and Tammy Cunningham remember dinners for Mick Jagger, Michael Jordan, Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Bono. Ashley Judd and her dog at the Diana DeGette luncheon. The late and loved Doug Fleischmann at the door before leaving to open Mizuna.
Oh, and I got married at Strings.
But what we all remember most is the Dinner to Die From in 1996. Cunningham parked an ambulance outside with lights flashing, in case someone actually had a heart attack. Then he served up a dinner to clog the cleanest artery: sautéed foie gras, cream of mushroom soup, Roquefort salad with hearts of palm, untrimmed extra-thick New York steak with sauce béarnaise, creamed spinach and potatoes au gratin – washed down with red wine. And don’t forget the bread and lotsa butter. The meal ended with crème brûlée, tiramisu, coffee, cognac, port and cigars.
I still have indigestion.
Vows
Former Reivers boss Billy Jones married newspaper columnist Sharleen Wilson Carr in Bermuda last month, as she details in The Royal Gazette.
Getting hooked wasn’t that easy. Carr’s brother did his Mark Twain impersonation at the rehearsal dinner. It rained buckets before, during and after the ceremony. When the rector asked if anyone objected, a cellphone went off. And the couple’s fingers were so swollen that the rings would not slip past the first knuckle.
But married they were. Congrats.
Family flix
Film on the Rocks screened “Shrek 2” after a performance by Chris Daniels and the Kings last Tuesday night. Very family friendly, but John Waite of Golden does not approve of the entire sked, especially tonight’s screening of “Unforgiven.”
He wrote Mayor John Hickenlooper and lotsa other people to complain that the city is allowing the venue to hold a series that includes “Unforgiven” and “Thelma & Louise.” Films, he writes, that “repeatedly contain most questionable content, inappropriate for family viewing.” Don’t get him started on the “American Pie 2” screening two summers ago. He also complained that the promotional materials for the series do not include MPAA ratings. (BTW, The Denver Post is a sponsor of the series.)
Britta Erickson at the Denver Film Society told Waite he had a good point with the ratings and would add them to future materials. But she insists that the series is NOT (her emphasis) a “family-only film series.”
Waite says it certainly is promoted for the family, what with its 4-Star Film Fun Pack equaling 4 admissions, 4 hot dogs, 4 popcorns and 4 Pepsis for $44 deal. “I guess I just disagree,” he says.
City spirit
Insiders are going to the Weber Inn in Cherry Creek for its off-menu peanut butter cheeseburger … Spotted rafting through the Grand Canyon last week: marketeer Steve Sander, Rocky biz editor Rob Reuteman, city attorney Cole Finegan and Sculptured House-boy John Huggins … Denver seeking a poet laureate, call 303-640-6952 with your couplet … Sez who: “Work is much more fun than fun.” Noel Coward
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears on Fox 31 News. You can reach him at 303-820-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com.
