Barolo Grill opened at the end of 1992 — and like many restaurants of the time, it opened on a wing and a prayer. The food has always reigned supreme, but the decor started out a tad dated.
But go inside tonight, and you’ll find a new Barolo. Gone are the plastic grapes and vineyard vines that weaved through the ceiling. So long to the signed bottles of Barolo that sat on a shelf in the front, “waiting for an earthquake,” says owner Blair Taylor.
And the Barney- purple paint is gone from the outside of the building, the logo has been redesigned, the colors inside are muted, and the back bar is relit — as is the entire room.
The transformation took place last month when the restaurant was closed during the staff’s annual trip to Italy.
“The Barolo menu changes every five weeks, except for the duck,” Taylor said Monday. “So it feels like Barolo is always changing. But this is different. And the reaction of everyone has been fantastic. It was always country Italian. Now it’s a modern, clean-country Italian.”
Smokin’.
Colorado College grabs the glory this year as the No. 1 “reefer madness” college in the country, according to rankings from Princeton Review (not connected to Princeton University). The University of Colorado at Boulder ranked No. 4 for “reefer madness” in the 2012 edition of “The Best 376 Colleges.”
Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, was also ranked No. 5 for “Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians.”
At the other end of the spectrum, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs ranked No. 1 on the “Don’t Inhale” list.
So here’s to Colorado Springs: top of the pot list and top of the no-pot list.
Change of tempo.
I was in Vail on Saturday night, and the streets were jammed with summer tourists. After a perfect prime rib at Sir Lancelot, I made my usual stop at Mickey’s in the Lodge. Or at least I tried to. The piano bar was wall-to-wall, people even winding down the stairs — because it was Mickey Poage’s last night at the piano after 35 years. Elway’s steakhouse is taking over the bar/dining scene at the Lodge and started construction Monday, so it’ll be ready for business come ski season.
There has been some talk of Elway’s retaining Mickey — but his style of show-tune standards is much different from the music that comes out of Elway’s Cherry Creek. I was unable to reach Poage on Monday — but he has said he’d be happy to talk to Elway’s. And Elway’s has since contacted Poage. So, as Poage would play on the piano, “Que Sera, Sera.”
Corn utopia!
“Start the clocks, get out the phone/ Make the dog bark with a juicy bone/ Play the piano, bang on the drum/ Bring out the butter, Olathe corn has come!” (Apologies to W.H. Auden.)
Yes, Olathe corn is on sale at King Soopers: five for $1. This is the best 20 cents you can spend in Colorado. This is our gift, our treasure, our sweet revenge for a cold winter. Olathe corn. Thank God.
City spirit.
Gayle and Ed Novak have taken over the venerable Aurora Summit, now simply the Summit Steakhouse . . . Sez who: “Marijuana is a flower. God put it here.” Willie Nelson
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
