All these things factor together for your vote for the Best Sushi in Denver.  I have my favorites, and I love it fresh.  I was in Japan last year and during that trip I think I spent half a day at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo because I love sushi so much.  I arrived in the wee hours of the morning, just as they were starting to set up and before many of the workers, let alone other tourists had arrived.  I was jet lagged and woke up at 3 am so this was easy.  The market is amazing and I recommend you plan to add this to your list of sights if you visit tokyo.  the fish come in, are auctioned, chopped, iced, sealed wrapped, boxed and shipped in an amazing feat of organization.  Hundreds upon hundreds of small stands line this dockside location with every possible fish, eel, or squiggley thing you can imagine.  I got a treat knowing that somewhere in the ranks of people milling about was the buyer for my local Sushi Spot and the items he picked out were going to be ending up on someone’s plate in Denver within 24 hours.  AMAZING. I finished my morning by stopping by a very small local sushi stand/restaurant (not sure how to describe this, it was a permanent temporary structure) on the outer edge of the market and had one of the best breakfasts or sushi meals ever. Talk about fresh… WOW!!! A link to my Japan Photos on Flickr is here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/theurbanbrain/sets/72157602140178957/

Anyway, let’s hear from you Denver… where do you go for your favorite sushi fix.

Today feels like Fall. It’s cold, gloomy and a constant mist seems to fall from the sky. I could swear I was back in Ohio but if that was true the weather would stay this way through March.

What the weather is doing to me is a different story. It is making me crave a sit down breakfast, a hot cup of coffee, and my newspaper. This is the kind of day that just begs for warm and cozy comforts. So I ponder… where should I go. I love Snooze and eat there almost every time I get a breakfast craving. I also love the Gallop Cafe where the warm atmosphere and huge windows make enjoying food a delight. Of course the Gallop also has my absolute favorite early morning bloody mary… and it is a Friday. Nah.

Old fashioned sausage gravy and biscuits sounds good to me too, but that is a dish that must be done very well or shouldn’t be done at all. After all, the price to our bodies for such a high fat high cholesterol dish means I don’t want to do it unless it is really a masterpiece. I can’t afford to be eating like that often so when I do it had better be worth it. There are some magnificent brunch menus out there, more than enough to keep lines of people waiting every Saturday and Sunday for their culinary delights. This poll and question is about where to go for the best breakfast on any given day of the week, but most importantly the Monday through Friday schedules. Here is the question, let’s hear your thoughts… and let me know if you find a magic spot for that Sausage and Gravy.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

DNC Update

8-18-08

Dear Riverfront Park Residents:

Last Thursday evening, the City of Denver held an open forum for local residents to discuss the move of the Tent State University (“TSU”) group from City Park to Cuernavaca Park. The meeting was positive and informative and was well attended by local residents. Also, in attendance were several representatives from the Mayor’s Office, Councilwomen Judy Montero, representatives from the Parks Department, Public Works, the Police Department, and the Secret Service. In addition, two representatives from the TSU were present.

City officials explained that TSU obtained a permit for use of the park through a permit lottery process, when a group previously permitted for the park during the DNC, decided not to use the park. TSU will be using the park from August 24-28. TSU representatives said they expect 5,000 attendees per day, although there could be more. City representatives say they plan to enforce all regular park rules and the 11:00 pm park curfew.

A representative of TSU spoke at length about their schedule of events:

TSU will occupy the park during the day and early evening up to the 11:00 pm park curfew. They will set up tents for educational classes, lectures and activities.
They will be camping at the Coliseum or the Pepsi Center protest area.
There will be a small stage (16 feet wide) for music and other activities. The stage will face west towards the highway.
There will be exhibitions by creative artists as well as ongoing seminars on “non-violent” means of protest.
They will have green teams set up working on keeping the park in order and recycling efforts.
They encouraged all neighbors to visit the park during the activities and also visit their website at www.tentstate.org
With regard to parking and access for the TSU participants and local residents, City officials told us the following:

TSU is encouraging their participants to park at outlying “park and rides” and take the bus in.
TSU participants are being encouraged to use 20th Street and then Lodo streets to access the Pepsi Center protest site. TSU concurs because they feel there will be more publicity along this route as opposed to Little Raven Street.
The City will enforce all existing parking restrictions on Little Raven Street (mostly 2 hour parking).
All streets including Little Raven, Platte Street, 20th Street, 19th Street, 15th Street, and 23rd by the Aquarium will be open. It is likely that 15th and Little Raven will be the preferred exit from Riverfront Park as opposed to 20th and Little Raven.
The Denver Police representatives could not be specific as to their plans for security relating to TSU; however, they said that they will have adequate personnel on duty.

Both the City and TSU appear to be organized and ready to move forward in a peaceful manner. Having said that, there may be some individuals that do not want to follow the plan, and, there are several protest groups coming to Denver not related to TSU whose plans have not been made known. DNC events, schedules and activities seem to be in a constant state of flux, too much at times to stay up to date with the changes. The best way to stay informed is through official websites:

www.DenverGov.org

www.DowntownDenver.com

www.DenverConvention2008.com

and 3-1-1.

The Denver Police still plan to have a command post and officer rest station in the plaza at Riverfront Park, located in suite 170 of the Riverfront Tower building. Should you have the need for assistance, please call 911 for emergencies of life and limb, or 720-913-2000 to report suspicious activity or general police questions.

I can tell the DNC is almost here. Yesterday at the corner of 16th and Little Raven I noticed the post signs with Denver 2008 boldly displayed in plain typeface just seconds before a small group of Jehovah witnesses handing me a brochure. They were very polite and non intrusive in how they approached me which may be better manners than we can expect very shortly. The signs, both literal and figurative, are showing us that the excitement is almost upon us.

The news agencies are discussing the strength of our police and emergency support. Demonstrators are complaining that they will be too far away from the real action. Residents are wondering what life in Denver will be like that week. I was simply preparing for the one night out we do have planned during the DNC with a dinner at the Capital Grill so I thought I would stop in and grab a bite last night.

To begin with, I cannot stress that I have yet to find anyplace in Denver that consistently prepares a martini to the quality level of Capital Grill. Back when I went out a bit more you might find me enjoying a couple of these when dining there. The recipe is simple, Ketel One dirty with blue cheese stuffed olives. What is not simple is the execution. For those of you who appreciate a good olive you know that most restaurants or bars either don’t offer the blue cheese stuffed olive or use an inferior blue cheese. Bad blue cheese in an olive is simply disappointing. But whatever your martini selection, the Capital Grill has one of the best. Now in the spirit of the upcoming power suit lobbyist and political spectacle we should help those visiting our city by letting them know where the best martini is. What is your vote.Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The Cherry Creek Chronicle

I didn’t expect it, but checking through the popularity logs of this site one post continually rises to the top. I had hoped it might be something about saving the planet or taking a train to the mountains… but no… it’s about the Best Cougar Bar in Denver. Unfortunately the poll tied to this post got wiped out many many months ago when the site went through a major WordPress ugrade. One of the risks of being an early adopter I suppose.

For those who seem to find this the most curious of questions I will repost the poll. Feel free to share with me any new Cougar destinations I might have missed. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For anyone who wants to read the original Cougar post click here.

Family in Commons Park on the 4th

What makes a neighborhood a great neighborhood to raise a family? Which criteria matter the most? Would you say it was the school system, the public parks and playgrounds, or simple safety. What about the value of a dollar towards your real estate, because let’s face it people usually make the transition from “There are so many great restaurants around here and check out this view” to “Yeah, but it’s got a lot more square feet” when they start thinking about families.

It’s too bad that the American way of life has created a situation that pushes people away from the heart of their cities when it comes time to think of families. Sometime during the suburban rush of the 70′s and 80′s everyone decided that you want to live in cookie cutter lots outside of the city. The money flowed there, and so did the education driven by the taxes to follow. But what did we sacrifice? That’s a great question and one that is being answered every day as the number of urban parents continues to grow. They say they don’t want their children to grow up sheltered and away from the culture, the diversity, and the education offered by living in a downtown environment. Pushing this growth along at a grass roots level are a myriad of web site forums and communities such as Urban Baby and DC Urban Mom and Dad.

But now with gas prices going through the roof and commutes becoming more painful I believe a lifestyle choice of urban living is gaining in appeal. Not to mention the financial impact this real estate market is taking on the suburbs. Downtown areas and Resort areas have, at least in the Denver marketplace, held onto their value better than most of the suburban areas. And why not, if you have a family a choice to live in the suburbs may mean long and possibly expensive (hopefully you can take the light rail) commuting and less time with your children. Will this new market mean a new financial incentive to live downtown. I think so.

Now not every urban center is the same. I was reading the LA Times blog discussion about the possibility that gas prices will drive real estate buyers downtown. One commenter made a great point in discussing the differences between such cites as Los Angeles and New York and how far apart they are in providing a family friendly environment. The commenter posts…

Downtown LA is a long way from Urban Living. I just spent a week in Manhattan with my wife and realized the many many differences between the two cities. Parks everywhere (not just Central Park), total access to everywhere through public transportation, and a market, deli, chinese, italian, american, pizza, mexican resturaunt, pharmacy, chain store, hardware store, bookstore, bakery, bar within walking distance so you actually don’t even need public transit to do anything except go to work! LA has essentially none of this. There is no comparison.

Reading this I ask myself, how do we ensure Denver becomes more like the New York scenario. The other comments on this blog point out other worries as well. Sure, the gas price increase might encourage buyers to move downtown, but it might only motivate those buyers who are sensitive to the price increases. If we don’t continue to get diversity in our downtowns we might miss out on the tax base needed to provide funding for better schools and other services. Or should the city step in and put education as a priority first and use it to draw in the audience. Maybe a developer will take that leap speculating that they just increased the price per square foot they can sell that next townhouse for. Better build them bigger then. A number of different sites offer viewpoints from parents who say they may have enjoyed their own youth in a suburb, but they were bored and felt disadvantaged in that way. Others who grew up in cities like New York talk about the education and exposure to the arts, culture, people, and activities that they want their own children to have. Which is better, are we missing out. If we look at Europe we see huge societies raising their families in cities. Are their schools better downtown?

When I look at Denver a couple new areas seem to be creating a unique opportunity for a new family focus. First there is Riverfront Park and the proposed Union Station Neighborhood in the Central Platte Valley. They have created a system that addresses one core point of parental concern, safety. Every resident in Riverfront Park pays into a master HOA. That’s a little bit of money from everyone over a very large area. This pays for their own private security in the form of off duty police officers who patrol and respond to even the smallest “I locked myself out” to the highest safety concern. It’s like an Ungated Community. There are no gates but the security stops at the property line. It’s a great idea and helps to provide the residents with security above and beyond their tax dollars. Sure it costs money, but it’s spread across the who area. This area has more than it’s fair share of what most would consider yuppies. And guess what, those yuppies are having fun together at night and making babies. So now you have an area with folks in start up family mode who have figured out safety. Now its a matter of figuring out the schools which could work just like the security does. More on that in a later post.

Just like Riverfront Park, the Highlands are has also become the starter family route. This area offers the best of downtown living plus you might actually have a yard, or a half yard. Plus you have your Mayberry style main street right at 32nd and Lowell. You can have coffee in the morning, pick up flowers for the table, maybe some wine from Mondo Vino or some cheese from next door. There are plenty of little cafes and restaurants and of course some baby or children’s clothing stores. Yep, this area is growing its starter family base. I have heard a couple stories of stolen cars but it seems theft is the biggest crime issue right now. They have nailed down community pretty well because when you walk down these streets you see a number of strollers and couples. And what is one thing parents want for their children? Someone for them to play with. The socialization might just prevent them from growing up to be the next hillside strangler and just might give the parents a reprieve during their day. Most of the other neighborhoods offer some great family communities as well. Wash Park is often mentioned for families and Cherry Creek comes up for schools. You notice pretty quickly that access to a park or green space becomes a priority. Riverfront Park has tons of strollers and children around with the vast expanse of Commons Park and the Skate Park, but I am not sure most of them live there.

So here are three poll questions for you today. Here is the first… What is the most important element of a neighborhood in a downtown for it it be family friendly. In other words, if you could sit down with the Mayor and say “I’ll raise my family downtown if you prioritize fixing this”.Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

And the second, if the city or a developer invested in an urban neighborhood such that it had the reputation of being the best school district in Denver, would you move to or buy your home in that neighborhood? Would that influence your purchase decision?Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

And finally, with how things are today, what is the most family friendly Denver neighborhood? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

For more of the polls on Denver visit the Best of Denver page.

Related Post: Babies Downtown

Congratulations to Cline and her entire Fashion Show team on putting on what may be the best fashion show yet. The weather was perfect and fortunately our hurricane style winds from earlier that day stopped. I just thought I’d share a few picks of the fashion and the models cruising the runway. The event carried on at Slim 7 (the official after hours) and Zengo (the unofficial one) after the music was turned off and the crews started doing the cleanup.

And from what I saw, quite a few people will be a little unproductive today… if they make it out of bed.

Click on thumbnail images to enlarge and see entire pic.

For those of you who have ideas of what the list should be, and there are quite a few of you, please visit the forum and make your suggestions. Your opinions do matter. The way to be helpful is to share what you think the list SHOULD be, not what it shouldn’t be. Then folks can comment back and forth and maybe we will improve the list a bit. In the meantime, here is the poll revised. Happy voting!
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

By the way, due to a couple of comments about wanting to include more areas of Denver I went to Wikipedia and used their list as of the date of this poll. I won’t do this again. I never meant to cover all the burbs of Denver and wanted to stick to the urban city area. It’s what I like. But please visit the Urban Brain forum and help me define what those city areas are.

For those of you who want all of Denver, this post is for you.

Today Oil prices jumped over $10 a barrel, although I really don’t know how big that is but according to the New York Times it is the BIGGEST JUMP EVER. Just Frakking Great.

How did I know something was up, I noticed the stock market was taking a nose dive. So now everyone’s savings, 401K, and the overall economy is taking a hit because of some black tar stuff. But don’t forget is was up a ton yesterday as well. I am not annoyed by the economy, we’re tough. What annoys me is how dependent the market is on oil price fluctuations. Wouldn’t it be nice not be so oil dependent? Isn’t say… food, more important.

So that’s it, I am going to do my best to turn my back on oil. I already don’t drive much at all so my new goal is to let my car get dusty sitting in the garage. I’ve got all the bikes, mountain, cruiser, road, beater that no one would want to steal. I’m prepared. And of course I’ll take public transportation. Light rail rocks, the 16th street shuttle does me just fine.

For speed or when I need to get somewhere quick I’ll use my scooter, that will be my indulgence. But with an average of between 70 and 75 mpg I really don’t mind the whole $3.89 it took me to fill the tank last week. It’s still a frak of a lot better than any car.

The area that I haven’t figured out yet is the occasional dressy event out where we all jump in a cab across town. But for that I wonder if I can request specifically a hybrid cab.

And of course. My feet work just fine. Pedestrian friendly all the way. So I’ll keep a tally of how many days it has been since I drove my car. Just a simple goal really. Do my part for reducing my carbon footprint and having a little fun, getting a little healthier, along the way. The last time I drove my car was on Sunday June 1st. So I’m not doing too bad. I have even researched some options for cargo trailers to go on the back of my bike. Anyone else care to cut down on their car use or share how things are going. Look at it like an improvised support group. Do you think going cold turkey on a car is easier or tougher than smoking or heroin. Let’s find out. Here is the Forum Link…

http://www.theurbanbrain.org/viewforum.php?f=6

How much can you cut down on car use and how? Share your story there. ;-)

And if you want to listen to something interesting, but not cheerful, here you go.

And yes, for those who recognize the word Frak… It’s from Battlestar Galactica.  How clever that they created this word and it STUCK but they don’t get in trouble with the censors.