I have feelings about the Denver food scene.
I have feelings about Denver as a whole despite the fact that I was born and raised (on and off) here.
A million years ago (more like 12) I started a blog on Blogger? I think? Blog Spot? Do any of y’all remember that? Goddess bless. With the hope that I would be “discovered” as the next food writer in Denver. LOLZ. It was short lived, needles to say. I think I made a handful of posts and quickly realized that wasn’t quite how that worked and that perhaps I just be the hairstylist that I was.
I’ve been eating for a long time, obviously, and I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time eating in Denver. There have been times in my life as an adult where I was able to, and had access to, keeping up with the restaurants and the scene as new things rolled in and others rolled out. I kept tabs on what was new, worth visiting, the gems I didn’t gatekeep because why are people doing that? This shit is hard. Owning a restaurant is harder. If it’s good, tell your people. You’ll be okay if you have to wait a beat or two to get in, I promise.
At any rate, and if you’re a Denverite, or even a former, or even a Stan, I respectfully ask you to put your seatbelt on because-
The food scene here is not (that) great.
There, I said it.
To backup a bit, I was recently chatting with a human being that is launching a new/local magazine here in Denver. We briefly discussed food writing/freelancing and admittedly there are parts of me that feel a little bit yuck saying this but the conversation didn’t go very far because I don’t have a whole lot of nice things to say and the nice things I do have to say for the most part have been covered. This also gives me the ick, because who am I? What are my credentials? It’s very much giving Karen-in-the-drive-thru-telling-the-cashier-that-she-doesn’t-like-her-soft-taco-supreme-because-there-isn’t-enough-sour-cream-on-it vibes, know what I’m saying? At the same time I champion critical thinking and lifting the veil to see what’s underneath is necessary. Why is it that Denver has become the fastest growing city, has pricing comparable with much larger and much more well-known metropolises a la LA or NYC and yet we miss the food mark over and over? I don’t think that it is fun or funny or admirable to drag places or people. I don’t think that it’s “cool“ to be the contrarian in the group. To be the naysayer, to disagree for the sake of disagreeing. That bit is very much giving the dude in high school that would immediately quiz you on the band you just said you loved. You know the one. Telling you that you have 3 seconds to name where the band was originally from, what the fuck they were doing in 1975, know their set list from 1982, or insist you confess the number of albums you own… Are you picking up what I’m putting down? Do you see the vibe that I am not here for? I have a very small group of folx that I can frequently discuss and languish over the realities of Denver’s food scene. Here being this newsletter and it feels a bit safer. Like, if you’re reading this it’s because you care about the things that I say, what I write about, the recipes I share that you make for yourself and your family. This isn’t some op-ed. It’s just that as most of these newsletters go these are partially just my feelings sprinkled amongst the facts, and lord knows I’ve got a lot of feelings to go around.
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