BAR: PALETTES
Palettes is Kevin Taylor’s elegant luncheon spot in the Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway. Taylor’s eating empire includes Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, Limelight, Prima and Rouge — all beautifully appointed, all organized just so. Palettes seats 278 people, with no sit-down bar. It faces the Hamilton wing at the museum and is a perfect stop before or after visiting the King Tut exhibition (Palettes is extending its hours during Tut’s run Tut). The linens are crisp, the furniture modern; Palettes gives off an open, artsy vibe. It’s a Denver destination that makes you feel sophisticated simply for choosing it.
GRILLED: TIM AMLAW
Tim Amlaw, 56, is vice president and director of Denver-based American Humane Certified — a farm-based agency that puts its seal of approval on products from animals that have been humanely raised. Born in upstate New York, he followed his family into a growing business, going to the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill to study beef cattle science. He came to Colorado to teach high school and college agriculture. He entered the cattle business here and in Italy, retired early, then was lured back to work at American Humane three years ago. He’s single, no kids, lives in LoDo. He orders an Amstel Light.
BH: People say animals live good lives — until their last day.
Amlaw: Yes. My friends say we take good care of them and then we kill them, and then we eat them. But you can’t make the end-of-life process a pleasant experience or dress it up. There is a way to create immediate insensibility so that the animal suffers the shortest amount of time. But it is the end of life. I don’t know if I can give them an answer that would reconcile their argument. You just have to say that this is in the process of producing the food that we eat, and a lot of us eat it.
BH: Do you think most people would be taken aback by entering even the best- operated slaughterhouse in America?
Amlaw: When you go to Europe, you go to buy a protein and you probably see a pig’s head, so you have a direct correlation that it came from an animal. We sanitize things over here a lot. We used to sanitize the kitchen activity because it wasn’t very attractive; it was more about function. Now (he points to the display kitchen) we watch the kitchen prepare your food.
BH: But at one time, there is a lot of blood.
Amlaw: As I said, it’s the end-of-life process. You’re assembling a product in its life process and you disassemble it at the end of its life process so people can enjoy a different element of it.
BH: Before this job, did you treat your farm animals humanely?
Amlaw: I think I did — but I have learned a lot from being here.
BH: Do you advocate treating animals day to day in a kind way, like a house pet?
Amlaw: No. It’s really a rigorous set of operational practices for all animals that are raised for protein. Animals that we are going to eat. Food choice is not an issue at American Humane. We want people to have more choices, but we want that food to be humanely raised.
BH: So we’re not talking about free-range chickens here?
Amlaw: It doesn’t make any difference if chickens are inside or outside. The inside dimensions are important. It’s the battery cages that most people talk about. We don’t certify that environment because there is no room for the animals to exhibit any of their natural behavior.
BH: What’s the smallest enclosure you would approve?
Amlaw: Probably 50 square feet.
BH: That’s pretty big for one chicken.
Amlaw: That’s 50 square feet for 60 birds.
BH: What’s your idea of happiness?
Amlaw: When I am busy, mentally engaged.
BH: Greatest extravagance?
Amlaw: Yachting.
BH: Where do you do that?
Amlaw: San Diego. Ultimately, my dream is to have a 120-foot power boat or catamaran and sail it around the world.
BH: You had better save your money.
Amlaw: It’s just a pipe dream.
BH: What’s your greatest fear?
Amlaw: Ending life too early.
BH: Really? That’s what you do to all these animals.
Amlaw: Yes, but I enjoy eating those.
BH: What do you dislike about yourself?
Amlaw: My weight right now.
BH: What trait don’t you like in yourself?
Amlaw: I am too particular. I am somewhat of a perfectionist.
BH: What’s your current state of mind?
Amlaw: Pretty content.
BH: What’s an overrated virtue?
Amlaw: Exercise.
BH: On what occasion would you lie?
Amlaw: I would lie by omission. I would never lie directly to anybody.
BH: What word or phrase do you overuse?
Amlaw: It’s a word that’s reasonably vulgar.
BH: Who was the greatest love of your life?
Amlaw: There have been so many.
BH: When and where were you happiest?
Amlaw: Denver. I’ve been here 30 years on and off.
BH: Where would you like to live?
Amlaw: Here. I live in the SugarCube Building. It’s the best place I have ever lived. And I loved Italy. I was there for eight years.
BH: What talent would you like to have?
Amlaw: I’d like to play the violin. I tried many times. Mastering it would take your whole life.
BH: What would you change about yourself?
Amlaw: I would have been wiser earlier.
BH: What’s your most treasured possession?
Amlaw: Art. I have a 2,000-year-old chicken. A sculpture. It’s unbelievable.
BH: You ever want to wring its neck?
Amlaw: No! It’s beautiful.
BH: What’s your favorite thing to do?
Amlaw: Go out to dinner and have cocktails.
BH: What’s your most marked characteristic?
Amlaw: I have a great personality. People seem to like me.
BH: What historical figure do you identify with?
Amlaw: Benjamin Franklin. He was a scientist, but he understood life.
BH: What’s your biggest regret?
Amlaw: We’d have to go back to how many love affairs I have had. I probably could have pursued a couple of them a little bit more. But I am who I am.
BH: How would you like to die?
Amlaw: Immediate insensibility.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
