BAR: MAGGIANO’S LITTLE ITALY SOUTH
Maggiano’s Little Italy South, 7401 S. Clinton St. in Englewood, isn’t little by any standards. With two dining rooms, a huge bar, an outdoor patio and four banquet rooms, this place can hold more people than all of Tuscany. It opened in October 2002, four years after the downtown location at Denver Pavilions started packing them in for steak and spaghetti. Yes, Maggiano’s is a chain with 45 locations, and Denver is lucky to have two of them. Sinatra sings from the overhead speakers, the food comes out family style, the servings are mountainous, the walls are filled with pictures of Italian families. Maybe yours. Mangia!
GRILLED: JOSH PEEK
Josh Peek, 31, is Colorado’s hometown cowboy. Born and raised in Pueblo, he’s a family man these days with a set of twins, a wife, a corral of horses and more trophy buckles than you can shine on a cattle drive. He’s one of the world’s top all-around rodeo cowboys, bringing home impressive prize money and sponsorships that settle in the upper six figures. Last year, he was the Timed Event World Champion, a very big deal. He’ll be at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo this year, where he’ll compete in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, his two main disciplines. He’ll compete in both events at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and at 2 p.m. Wednesday. He orders a Crown and Coke.
BH: Tell me about rodeo.
Peek: Well, I just love rodeo because of the lifestyle, the people, the ton of opportunities. We travel a lot; that’s about the only downfall. I have a motor coach so my family can go with me a little more. I’ll go to 70 to 100 rodeos a year. We take four or five horses everywhere we go. We can drive more than 70,000 miles in a year.
BH: What do you tell someone heading out to the National Western for the first time?
Peek: If you’re a first-timer, you’re going to see one of the hardest sports on the planet because there are so many adversities you’re dealing with. Animals you can’t control on several different terrains. You’re talking about dirt, rocks; nothing is level; nothing is flat. It’s not a prepared field like a basketball court. There are lots of opportunities for injuries. You’re going to see a way of life.
BH: A lot of people see rodeos as abusive to animals.
Peek: They just don’t see what takes place or how valuable those animals are. Like calf roping. It’s a well-maintained event. When the rope goes around a calf’s neck, it doesn’t hurt the calf. I’ve roped students in schools and they say, “That doesn’t hurt.” The spurs that I ride with help the horse go. It’s like a motivator; they don’t hurt the horse.
BH: You won the world championship last year.
Peek: That was in timed events. You head five steers, you heel five steers, you rope five calves, you bulldog five steers, and you trip five steers. So that’s 25 head total, and you win for the fastest average on all 25. It’s probably the biggest event next to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo).
BH: How many horses do you have at home?
Peek: We have eight at home. Horses do different things. Cody is my main calf horse, my good horse. I have a calf horse named Nitro. Smoke is my backup calf horse. I have a bulldogging horse by the name of Gus and another bulldogging horse named Road Trippin’.
BH: What’s it like to lose a horse?
Peek: Terrible. We ride them every single day. You feed them twice a day, you take care of them, you comb their hair; you become so close to them they are a family member. We take better care of horses than most people care for their dogs or even themselves. So when you lose a horse, it’s devastating. You lose a companion, and you also lose a tool worth a lot of money. In the rodeo world, a good horse pretty much makes your career.
BH: What’s your favorite event in rodeo?
Peek: I started roping as small as I can remember. I had a rope in my hand before I could even talk. I just grew up around the Western way of life. I love everything about rodeo. In my sophomore year in high school, I started getting into it. I wasn’t into any other sport. I had to give up basketball because of childhood epilepsy. But it’s gone now. I’ve been seizure- free since I was 17.
BH: That must have been tough.
Peek: It stunk because I loved basketball. But the rodeo picked up for me. I went to college on scholarships. I won the college finals in 2000. It was the first title I won. It just landslided from there. I had a passion for it, and I was good at it.
BH: Sounds perfect.
Peek: Yup.
BH: How long can you keep doing this?
Peek: As long as my body will let me. I take care of myself. I’m 31 and there are guys still making finals at 48. I mean, I have a very good 10 years ahead of me. The way rodeo works, you go until you don’t have a passion for it anymore.
BH: Do you have a good time at the National Western?
Peek: Oh, I love it. It’s a great rodeo and one of the top 20 rodeos of the year. And it’s my hometown rodeo.
BH: A lot of city slickers come out to the National Western.
Peek: Yes, but there is still a lot of Western heritage in Denver, especially south of town in Cherry Hills and Parker. But it’s definitely a time when Denver can feel Western.
BH: Do you dress Western every day?
Peek: Not always, but I’m usually wearing jeans and boots. I enjoy the Western look. It catches everybody’s eye. Cowboy is the one icon that stands alone, that will never be lost. It’s the hat, boots and pants. It’s the guy who stands with confidence and composure, the guy who doesn’t say much and does more. You can spot a real cowboy standing anywhere even without his hat on. They walk different, with integrity and life.
BH: How do you compare the legend of the American cowboy, say John Wayne, to today’s cowboys?
Peek: They compare right alongside. The cowboy way of living is the Western way of living, which is a code. You live by courage. When you make a promise, you keep it. It’s all part of the 10 Codes of the West, Cowboy Ethics. It’s a guy walking out and standing up for a damsel in distress. If someone is trying to rob someone you go in and stop it. You pick up a piece of trash, or go get the cows if it’s snowing. That’s what you do in rodeo. If someone is broke down on the side of the road in a truck with a trailer, you stop and help them. If a neighbor needs a pickup, you let him borrow your pickup. If you have to go out and doctor some calves, you go do it.
BH: What about buckle bunnies, the girls who follow cowboys around?
Peek: There are these women in every professional sport. I was never into that. I always was into the sophisticated kind of girls. It’s not like buckle bunnies are dumb or anything, they were just kind of flaky.
BH: Do you like country music?
Peek: I like all kinds of music. Country music, pop, opera.
BH: What traits don’t you like in others?
Peek: Cocky and arrogant.
BH: On what occasion would you lie?
Peek: I wouldn’t.
BH: Well, your twins are going to ask you about Santa Claus.
Peek: OK, maybe I would fib a little for the kids.
BH: Who and what are the greatest loves of your life?
Peek: My wife and roping.
BH: Do you like the beach?
Peek: We love the beach. We never got the chance to take a honeymoon, so we’d like to go to Bora Bora.
BH: What would you change about yourself?
Peek: I would have a better memory. I am a real short-term-memory guy.
BH: What’s your most treasured possession?
Peek: My good horse, Cody.
BH: What’s your favorite thing to do?
Peek: I love hunting and watching movies.
BH: What are your favorite cowboy movies?
Peek: You can’t hardly beat “Open Range” for a straightforward, right-and-wrong movie. And “Lonesome Dove” is one of the best. But I like all kinds of movies, even chick flicks and kids’ movies. “Jonah VeggieTales.” We have every “VeggieTale” ever made.
BH: What’s your most marked characteristic?
Peek: I am a man of my word.
BH: What do you most dislike?
Peek: I am a meat man, but I don’t like sausage.
BH: What do you like here at Maggiano’s?
Peek: I love penne pasta with Alfredo sauce.
BH: Motto?
Peek: Wake up each day with success in your eyes.
BH: So it’s good to be a cowboy.
Peek: It’s pretty incredible to get up and go out on 100 acres or 10,000 acres and ride a horse across it, grass and trees and deer in the pasture and ducks in the river. That’s what cowboys do every day. They ride the range.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
