It was a night of cheese – no, make that extra cheese.
You need a reason to trek south to Colorado Springs, and John Waters was our calling. The perverse filmmaker was speaking at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and some friends and I were all about catching his musings, all of which brilliantly veered between cheese and camp.
Afterward we needed a nightcap, and my Springs-based friend Ben suggested Tony’s down the street. A few blocks later we realized Tony’s (311 N. Tejon St. in Colorado Springs, 719-228-6566) is quite the hot spot, even on a weeknight. The crowd poured onto the street and a band called Nerdbomb was rocking a fine selection of covers inside to the beer-swilling masses. (“It’s the owner-manager’s band, and all those guys are his brothers,” the door guy confided.) Best of all: Green Bay Packers memorabilia littered every available inch of wall space in the shotgun bar.
Cheeseheads unite.
While John, Becky and I are devout Broncos fans – and thus we relish Jan. 25, 1998, and the Broncos’ 31-24 victory over the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII – we still adore everything about Tony’s. From the ridiculously fast and attentive service to the severe table crunch on a Thursday, Tony’s is the kind of bar where you feel comfortable sipping cocktails and eating burgers from a precarious shelf amid a busy walkway.
It’s just part of the experience – that and the Leinenkugel’s beer, the killer grilled cheese sandwiches, the comfortable room, the generously-poured cocktails and the friendly folks at the bar.
Tony’s is the kind of place you call home.
And the cheese continued – though at one point it went bad on us. John ordered his favorite dish to see how Tony’s mac & cheese held up to his vaunted best-of list. It arrived in a shapeless glob of yellow-orange-jonquil, scaring us all. After a spoonful, John pushed the bowl aside. The waiter got the hint, refunded the dish on the bill and brought us another grilled cheese.
Staff writer Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Funky: The bar celebrates its sixth anniversary on Dec. 17. Buy the bartender a Leinenkugel’s!
Skunky: A word to the wise: Steer clear of the mac & cheese.