Three Questions (and a half) with
KEVIN TAYLOR

Chef, restauranteur and native Coloradan Kevin Taylor has been cooking since he was 14. He started as a chef's apprentice and worked his way up, opening his first restaurant when he was 25. Today, Taylor and his five restaurants continue to garner numerous awards. For this very special Dining Guide, Go-Go caught up with the personable Taylor to gab gourmet.

What is unique about the Denver dining scene? You have not only survived here, but done quite well. How?

Really, absolutely nothing is unique about the Denver scene any more. It is inundated with chain restaurants, all these huge-grossing restaurants from somewhere else. Any local flavors have been drowned out, and Denver has lost its identity to a "California point of view." These chains offer no originality, and, for those of us who do, it has become increasingly difficult to survive. Still, my restaurants continue to have a reputation for super-high quality. I almost don't advertise; people find us. And location is prime; I locate where my clientele hangs out ... for instance at the Denver Art Museum [Palettes]. And, actually, despite the [weakening] economy, we're experiencing great growth. The restaurants that will be hurt are those that went after the hip 30-year-old clientele [without focusing on quality food]. We actually do better in a bad economy because there is less competition. There are always people willing to pay for a truly outstanding dining experience. And I've been lucky. If I were going to quit tomorrow, I'd be very satisfied. I have more recognition than I ever hoped for. Twenty-five years ago, chefs were not appreciated; but in the mid-'80s, that changed. Still, in some ways, I feel it's all a fluke. The right critic has to walk in the door on the right night.

I've read that you eat (well!) in your own place [Restaurant Kevin Taylor] every night. But tell me: do you ever eat fast food or the like?

I try not to; well, I don't eat it, really. [Laughs] Well, I do like potato chips. Though I really do usually eat at my own restaurant, at least locally, I try new restaurants when I travel. And I travel a lot: to New York, to Europe. To be avant-garde, you have to go where the wealth of [culinary] knowledge is.

Okay, so if you weren't a chef and restaurant owner, what would you do?

I'd open a scuba shop in Costa Rica, and I'd set up a little taco stand right outside and sell tacos and beer. Maybe I'd have a little tiny 10- room hotel. All people want after they dive is a good taco and a cold beer. And I'd offer that. That's my dream.

Will it happen?

[Laughs] It will happen.

--Kimberly MacArthur Graham

Local Media

The "feature presentation" intro at Englewood-based United Artists movie theaters-- including 122 Colorado screens-- is getting an overdue makeover. The existing intro shows a futuristic (for 1990) vision of UA moviegoing: computer animation zooms through Blade Runner-esque skyscrapers and popcorn poppers on the way to a theater-in-the-round populated by alien stick people.

The new intro loses two of the creepier scenes. Gone is the reverberating "Welcome" from a brunette projected on a skyscraper. And gone is the inexplicable image of a man's head rising through popcorn. Maybe UA realized the image of hair mixed in food might not be best when making a last-ditch pitch for concessions.

The updated intro is already playing at Denver Pavilions downtown. Other theaters, such as Colorado Center 9 at I-25 and Colorado, may still offer a peek at Popcorn Head.

. . .

Deep Sixed: The Sporting News released its Best Sports Cities 2001 list, placing Denver, which ranked first in 1995 and 1997, at sixth this year. The magazine recognized Denver's Stanley Cup hockey and a promising Broncos quarterback, but penalized us for the Rockies' struggle at the bottom of baseball. No mention of the Denver Nuggets, naturally.

The top 2001 city was New York, home of last year's Subway Series and entries into other sports playoffs. Rabid fans may (or may not) be consoled by the list where Denver still ranks #1: Hennen's American Public Library Ratings.

. . .

Denver International Airport might look like a Boy Scout Jamboree tent, but is it really a control center for the new world order? Two web pages have evidence-- Masonic symbols, apocalyptic murals, even Nazi imagery-- to support the latter.

Does a DIA sundial depict secret symbols of world dominance? Are the runways arranged like a swastika? What does a mural's sword-wielding warrior have to do with infants and women in caskets? The conspiracy lives on at www.geocities.com/Baja/5692 and www.anomalousimages.com/christo.html

--Eric Beteille

Local Music

Local female instrumentalist Lynn Patrick is one of the nation's top five independent New Age music artists according to a panel of Independent Music Awards judges that included Tom Waits, Ricky Skaggs, Meshell Ndegeocello and Wilson Pickett. Patrick's acclaimed guitar work has been played on National Public Radio and Direct TV's Music Choice channel. Ms. Patrick will preview her third CD, Winnie's Guitar, August 17 at the Chautauqua Community House with E-Town bassist Chris Engleman. Show starts at 7:30 pm For more info, check www.lynnpatrick.com

. . .

Denver's Boa and the Constrictors is squeezing all of its efforts into one huge upcoming European tour. After introducing its booty-shakin' jump blues to the French at the annual Nice Jazz Festival last year, the band decided to go back on a more expanded level this fall. Twenty-three dates in 27 days! Get out that Eurail Pass! Gigs include Paris, Brussels, Nice, Cannes, and Athens. Mark Bell, harmonica player and organizer of the Euro-tour, feels the European market can open up a lot of opportunity for unsigned U. S. bands. "There is an age-old struggle in the United States that if you don't have a record label, manager, agent, you can't do anything big," Bell said. "We decided to do it all. We hope to utilize the independent market in Europe ... and it's fulfilling to perform to audiences that have such a deep appreciation and response to American music." Find out the details and the know-how at www.boablues.com Bon voyage!

. . .

Let's hear it for Denver's own Rocket Ajax and Sick, who have been plucked from our local scene to play in highly glossy and hair-sprayed Cruefest at Hollywood's infamous Whiskey a Go-Go August 26. This all-day musical extravaganza will pay tribute to rock vets Motley Crue. Call 213-534-1826 for more info.

. . .

DJ Dad from New York City's WSIA 88.9-FM radio picked Denver band Love. 45 and its single "Beautiful Suicide" as one of five tunes for his new radio game show called DJ Dad's CD Baseball contest. Will Love. 45 get a hit off of him and be launched into national radio land? Maybe Denver radio stations should take the hint and start listening to (and playing) some of the great unsigned music in this town. Or maybe we'll just take Manhattan?

--Judy B. with Sally Miller

photo by sean hartgrove