Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Suburban Venture

Saturday night we took 25 South to Greenwood Village. It was the new-ish Landmark Theatre that inspired the trip. We wanted to see Bottle Shock* without the discomfort of the Mayan. The theatre and screen were pretty modest in size (compared to a mega plex). The room smelled strongly of Dillards- enhanced by the over perfumed couple sitting next to us and perhaps a side effect of the overall demographic attracted to a 3pm showing of a wine theme movie in Greenwood Village. Tickets were $12 a head (flat weekend rate) which included the movie and self serve popcorn and soda. (Bonus: They have the fountain machines that include the secondary club soda option.) There is a full bar and they serve things in real glass. There is also a $3/tix VIP upgrade with better seating and wait staff who will bring you things from the self serve free selections or from the bar. (Most of the folks our age in the movie had shelled out the VIP charge and kicked back while bottles of wine were delivered to their seats.) Even the "cheap" seats are much more comfy than the Mayan. It is an interesting experience which I encourage you to try out next time there is a flick you really want to catch and it is only showing at an uncomfortable Landmark spot in Denver. It is quite a hike from NW Denver so I don't see it becoming a frequent destination but it is all rather intriguing.

*The movie, Bottle Shock, was solid and enjoyable. The plot is not as dark as Sideways and some appreciation of Napa Valley may be required. There are some subtitles which made me wish I hadn't left my glasses in the car. It is set in the late 70s and based on a true story. I would give it a B+.

Dinner at Pappadeaux rounded out the evening. It has pretty good food but less than 5 star service (example: when the host walked us to our seat- there was a tote of dirty dishes sitting in one of the chairs). It is always strange to me when chains have good food and bad service. It seems like something they could address in a universal training program- like Starbucks has. I have eaten at Pappadeaux in other cities and the food was very consistent (also pretty good).

Other dining options near by include Ted's Montana Grill and Hapa. (In a different time we would have planned our trip around Hapa Happy Hour where they have awesome cocktails and yummy raw fish.)

One of the downfalls of spending time in Greenwood Village- and eating at chains- is the increased likelihood of seeing evil characters in real life. In our case: Tancrazy. (Jeepboy quote of the week: "It's like seeing Hitler in person.")

3 comments:

rebeckspe said...

JB's quotes have me rolling on the floor these days.

Anonymous said...

More from the files of "I am ridiculous" ... I ventured into Englewood, more specifically, The Reserve last night to go to a party at Rod Smith's house. He is the former Bronco running back. And a really nice guy. That was the most I have done in the burbs lately.

Anonymous said...

Oh, also, he is a Democrat and so is Jay Cutler. Eat that John Elway!