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Monday, November 26, 2012

Guest Blog - CB and Potts Colorado


 This is a guest blog that came in today.  Awesome because it's true.  I suppose it depends on where you live, but in Colorado, places like CB & Potts just don't cut it.  So, thanks for writing in.  And thanks for not settling for mediocrity!


Years ago, I went on my first trip to Manhattan with a man who, as a merchandise manager for the old Neustedter company in Denver, was an old veteran of the New York scene. He couldn’t decide which restaurant to take me to for my first Manhattan dining experience, but remarked, “They’re all good here. A mediocre restaurant in New York won’t last twenty minutes.”

I found this to be pretty much true in San Francisco and other cities. In Oregon, I developed a fondness for microwbrews, and in trying to sample every establishment in Portland, I can pretty well conclude there aren’t any bad ones. Nor are there any mediocre ones, which is more to the point. Who needs it?

The Colorado microbrew scene seems to me to be as vibrant as Oregon’s—ever moreso, in its own way, reflecting a population that tends to be more competitive than Oregon’s. But as in Oregon, the beer in Colorado is simply outstanding.

Imagine my surprise at finding a place that challenged the definition of mediocrity! Needing a quick meal close by our temporary apartment home last night, my wife and I stopped at CB & Potts. While looking forward to a homefoody kind of meal after a long day of moving, a good, hearty stout or holiday brew was definitely the order of the moment.

To call the beer list unimaginative is an understatement.  It contained some of the usual suspects.  Nothing wrong with this, I guess. Not everyplace can sport an Oskar Blues list. But at least you didn’t have to spend a lot of time on it, with so few choices.

My wife ordered the Total Disorder Porter, while I sent for the holiday release, S’no Angel weizenbock. Billed as chocolate in color with a creamy, complex body. It was really the color of a sunbleached cardboard box with a body about as complex as Hawaiian Punch. The porter, tasted more like chocolate/coffee-flavored club soda. These weren’t bad, mind you. Just boring and uninteresting.

The menu rotates around a very creative list of hamburgers. They all looked pretty good, including my wife’s Reuben hamburger. The salad list could have come from Anywhere USA. Steak and backribs also made an appearance, along with typical pub fare. While acceptable—not great or memorable—the food items struck me as being a dollar or two overpriced.

The point being, why go to CB & Potts? The locals apparently had cottoned onto that conclusion already, since at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night, the help almost outnumbered the customers. And while it took an inordinately long time to get our food, I have to say the waitstaff was really good.

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