BAR: BIG HOSS BAR-B-Q
Big Hoss Orwat works the room at Big Hoss Bar-B-Q and Steakhouse, 3961 Tennyson St., almost every night — making sure the parade of barbecue- and steak-loving customers leave full and happy. And there’s no reason they shouldn’t be — with a menu bursting with pork and beef, his own special sauce, 12 beers on tap and 40 whiskeys for sippin’. Twenty people can fill the bar, another hundred the wooden tables. Orwat’s proud of the ‘cue and likes the business better than the political work he used to do. “I run a campaign here every day,” he says. “Every day is Election Day.”
GRILLED: TERRANCE CARROLL
Terrance Carroll, 41, is the speaker of the House for the Colorado General Assembly. Born in Washington, D.C., to a single mother, he lived a hardscrabble childhood. His mother, now deceased, was a domestic worker. She never finished third grade but was president of the PTA at Carroll’s elementary school and stressed that education was his “out.” And it was. He spent his junior year in high school in Italy on scholarship; then on to Morehouse College to study political science; then to seminary and a master of divinity degree; then to law school at the University of Denver. Now he’s a preacher at various Denver churches and is in his eighth and last year in the Colorado House. He orders a few fingers of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, neat.
BH: You OK with this being your last year?
Carroll: It’s a difficult year to be the last year. We’re facing one of the worst budget crises we’ve ever had in this state. We have to make tough decisions. On the other hand, I am very grateful that I am speaker right now. This is a time when I use a quote from Dr. King: “The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges.” So this is an opportunity for me to see what I’m made of.
BH: Your birthday, Jan. 16, is one day after Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Carroll: As I kid, I used to say we had the same birthday. I feel a strong connection to Dr. King. Growing up in my neighborhood, everyone had four portraits on the wall: Jesus, Bobby Kennedy, John Kennedy and Dr. King.
BH: Does your divinity degree inform what you do as speaker of the House?
Carroll: Yes, in how I deal with people.
BH: You check your BlackBerry all the time. Are you very tech-savvy?
Carroll: I’m on Facebook and Twitter and I have a website (), and the BlackBerry is ever-present. In this era, politicians have to find ways to connect with their constituents on as many levels as possible.
BH: Do you preach much?
Carroll: I don’t preach regularly, but last Sunday I did. I’m a member of the First Baptist Church. I enjoy preaching, once I get started. Before I speak, I have the same angst everyone else has. But the angst keeps me humble and motivates me, and it reminds me to be prepared.
BH: How does your day start?
Carroll: I am up as soon as the sun cracks, 5:30 to 6:30, every morning. I meditate and try to focus, get myself going, do some push-ups, shower. I read the paper at the Capitol. I try to avoid breakfast meetings. Even though I am up early, I am not a morning person.
BH: What’s your personal style?
Carroll: I tend to wear a suit every day with French-cuff shirts. I pay attention to fashion, I like the whole bespoke style, the whole British look, big-knotted ties. I think it’s timeless.
BH: What about music?
Carroll: Eclectic. I like the blues and jazz and neo-soul. I also listen to a little bit of country music. My guilty pleasure. I have an iPod, but in my office I listen to Pandora (). I have a Miles Davis station, a B.B. King station, Delta blues, down-and-dirty old-school blues.
BH: Restaurants?
Carroll: I like this place. I love steak and barbecue and soul food. I live in Stapleton, so I like Berkshire and Casey’s, and Jim ‘n Nick’s. And Root Down, Capital Grille, Del Frisco’s. I like finding new places. I like dive bars.
BH: Do you cook?
Carroll: I like to cook, but my kitchen doesn’t get much of a workout. I like Italian food. I lived in Rome for my junior year in high school.
BH: How did that happen?
Carroll: I got a scholarship to go to a boarding school in Rome. I was 16. I had lived my entire life in D.C. in the same neighborhood. To be exposed to Italy was just incredible, catty-corner from Circus Maximus, down the street from the Colosseum not too far from the Appian Way. It was amazing to me.
BH: What do you fear?
Carroll: When I was younger I was sexually abused for about six years by a female relative. And one of the things she used to tell me, to try to control me was, “You’re worthless and you’re no good.” And so one of the things I have to fight against all the time is this long-running fear that people will look up one day and they’ll realize that she was right. That’s my biggest fear and I fight against that every single day when I get up. . . . I am too hard on myself.
BH: What is it you don’t like about other people.
Carroll: I don’t like needy people. I don’t like people who take advantage of other people.
BH: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Carroll: My clothes.
BH: Books?
Carroll: I’m trying to work my way through “The Shack.” I read a lot of theology, political theory. I am still a nerd/policy wonk.
BH: Do you get recognized around town?
Carroll: More than I thought I would.
BH: Who’s the great love of your life.
Carroll: My mother.
BH: When were you happiest?
Carroll: I am an Eagle Scout, and for six summers in high school and college, I would be at a Boy Scout camp in the Shenandoah Valley up against the Blue Ridge Mountains. I got to go backpacking and show kids the joys of being outside.
BH: Do you consider yourself shy?
Carroll: No one else does, but yes, I do.
BH: What is your greatest achievement?
Carroll: Getting out of the neighborhood in D.C.
BH: Do you have time to date?
Carroll: I wish I did. But I don’t think women like me anyway. I just don’t meet a lot of women.
BH: Valentine’s Day is coming up. What are you going to do?
Carroll: Avoid it.
BH: Where would you like to live?
Carroll: I love Denver, tremendously. But if I could pick any city in the world — I know this will sound odd — it would be Brussels.
BH: Brussels?
Carroll: Middle of Europe, great culture, great food, great museums.
BH: What’s your most treasured possession?
Carroll: My mother’s flask that I just found. It’s pewter, it has her initials on it.
BH: Motto?
Carroll: Don’t forget where you come from.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
