Janie Master, wife of Mel and mother of Charles, is taking the Pisco’s space at 1120 E. Sixth Ave. and hopes to open a restaurant there before Christmas.
This is the space where in 1978 Mel and Janie and Thom Wise and Blair Taylor all opened Dudley’s. Those were Denver’s salad days, the late ’70s and early ’80s. It was one wild ride, bottles of Champagne at lunch, God knows what after dinner. My head still hurts. And my wallet. And my reputation.
Could it? Would it? Should it be another Dudleys?
“No, no,” says Mel. “It’ll be moderately priced – fun and clean and fresh and upbeat. We moved back (from Long Island), and we got a call from a broker about the place, and we looked at each other and thought this was too weird. We just had to do it. To end up where we began is fitting.”
Janie says it’ll be called Montecito, serving up Provence/
California cuisine. “The only two things we know anything about. And it will be cheap. Nothing over $20. It’ll slant toward the French and slant toward the Californian so our chef can do something wacky. It’s going to be lovely.”
Colorado classy
What do you wear when the invitation reads, “Dress Over the Top! Cocktail. Couture. Colorado Classy.”
Colorado Classy? Sounds like a Ron Burgundy outfit.
“I was testing Denver with that dress code,” said Natalie Rekstad-Lynn, event chair for Hot DAM: Party on the Edge, Friday night’s $150-head shindig to welcome the new Hamilton Wing of the Denver Art Museum. More than 2,500 peeps showed up, dressed in everything from ball gowns to jeans.
“I would never say Colorado Classy, it’s so lame,” said Jessica Harvey, a non-profiter who nevertheless understood what it meant. She wore bell-bottoms.
Architect Daniel Libeskind stepped through the building in his signature cowboy boots. “I have four pairs,” he told me. “I love the West and this is the most comfortable shoe I have ever worn. I have worn them since I first came here. All the time. I wear them everywhere, London, Hong Kong, Italy. I don’t take them off on planes. I guess I was meant to ride a horse.”
Sounds like form following function.
Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly asked Libeskind if the building had a nickname yet, like “The Can Opener.” Libeskind said he’s hoping for something more like “The Crystal.”
Spotted in the gang were artist William Matthews, architects Sara Brown and Peter Dominick, collectors Kirk Brown and Jill Wiltse, Dena Pastorini, Wayne and Leigh Dale, Rich and Holly
Kylberg, Lisa Herzlich, Steve Sander, Sylvia Atencio, Nancy Rasmuson – and other Colorado Classy Classics.
City spirit
“Hats” opens Wednesday – and Kathie Lee Gifford and Melissa Manchester, who wrote songs for the show, are confirmed to attend the premiere at the New Denver Civic … Matt Wood from Fort Collins is one of Cosmopolitan’s 2006 Hottest Bachelors … Sez who: “I should have the courage of my lack of convictions.” Tom Stoppard
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears Tuesdays and Fridays on “Good Day Colorado” on Fox 31. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Get a peek at Husted’s next column at denverpostbloghouse.com/husted
