Red Room exterior, Denver 2009

The Red Room
320 East Colfax Avenue
Capitol Hill, Denver
303-830-7050
Bus directions: take the mall shuttle from Market Street and walk up Colfax
Note: The Red Room closed in spring 2009.

Saturday night Todd and I were due for some fun, after he spent Friday night at a hotel undergoing testing for sleep apnea, while I shoveled the deck and painted my toenails. I tried to spice up the night with a little Jude Law in My Blueberry Nights, but the disc was hosed.

There’s been a lot of local buzz going on about a film called Ink, shot in Denver and produced by a couple of Denverites. The theater at Starz was packed—not a regular occurrence—and the assault began.

Good versus evil, storytellers versus incubi, that is—and the film’s effects versus my eyeballs. I’m not a huge fan of cinematography that’s hard to watch, like The Constant Gardener (How could anyone make me not want to watch Ralph Fiennes?), but Ink was definitely worth the retinal torture. (The third paragraph of this review describes it better than I can. And you can watch the trailer here.)

The first half of the movie was a nightmare version of my explorations of Denver, never knowing what you’re going to find around the next corner.denver-alley-colfax-2-2009 Why is this black-robed Druidic figure dragging this gleaming blonde child behind him? What does he want? He tells us, it doesn’t quite make sense, so we keep following along.

Like the Pathfinder, my favorite character, the movie is at first annoyingly self-absorbed and then reluctantly revealing. Most of the characters inhabit the dream world and only pop in to visit us at night, when they give us good or bad dreams. The Pathfinder was the most liminal of the characters, blinded but able to change physical reality by tuning in to the beat of life. His scenes alone were worth the price of the movie.

After all that metaphysicalness, I wanted to stay out, and we drove to the Red Room, on Colfax on the edge of Capitol Hill. I was expecting something a little gritty, like, say, Lion’s Lair—view-from-same-cafe-colfax-denver-20091it wasn’t, and it wasn’t swank, either, like the Oceanaire, although the burgundy-colored booths looked nice from the top floor. The bar itself was impressive, Red Room bar, Denver 2009but the patrons were mostly college kids or twenty-somethings, and not even enough of them to fill the place by 11, when we left.

The Red Room changed ownership a year or so ago, and I think it hasn’t quite found its groove. Or maybe the time to go there is happy hour and the drink to order is a martini, judging from the selection of vodka. The reviews on Citysearch mentioned chefs coming over from Nine75 and Epcots Living Seas Restaurant, which might account for the “tenders” (huge pieces of chicken) battered with Frosted Flakes. They looked spiky and scaryred-room-chicken-tenderss-denver-2009 but were sweet as could be, though the batter definitely didn’t want to hang out with the chicken a second longer than necessary. I ate most of the fries while arguing with Todd over whether they were hand-cut.

And then the band started channeling Stevie Ray Vaughan and we hung over the railing and swayed back and forth. Two women danced in front of the door, and the drummer had a great time.

Leave A Comment

  1. greg cerveny March 31, 2009 at 11:21 am - Reply

    Nice review. The Red Room is a tasty staple on Colfax.

  2. Beth Partin March 31, 2009 at 12:02 pm - Reply

    That’s what a lot of the reviews said. I guess I expected a little more action on a Saturday.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..Capitol Hill, Denver: Ink and Red

  3. Jonny March 31, 2009 at 3:00 pm - Reply

    I’m moving to Denver in just a few months. It’s going to be amazing! Beth, thanks for keeping me informed about my soon-to-be-home. 🙂

  4. BernardL March 31, 2009 at 3:41 pm - Reply

    The trailer was a creepy preview. The reviewer sure liked the movie. That seemed like a very unique outing at the restaurant bar.

  5. Beth Partin March 31, 2009 at 3:53 pm - Reply

    Bernard, if it ever comes to Oakland, I hope you’ll go see it. It’s creepy but not a horror movie, if that makes sense.

    Jonny, you’re welcome! Do you know what part of Denver you’re moving to? Also, if you want more information on Denver, check out some of my links.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..Capitol Hill, Denver: The All-Purpose Restaurant

  6. Catherine April 1, 2009 at 11:59 am - Reply

    I’ve been to the Red Room. We had a private party upstairs. It was nice, a little cramped but they did take good care of us!

  7. Beth Partin April 1, 2009 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    Yes, the service was definitely good. It would be a good place to have a small party.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..Crazy About Denver: Car Sharing Comes to Capitol Hill

  8. […] of course we had to spoil it by going to see a movie with incubi* in […]

  9. saint facetious April 2, 2009 at 7:59 am - Reply

    Expecting more action on a Saturday… before 11? Things don’t even start to pick up until 11, Beth! If you want earlier climes on Saturday night, start at Irish Snug or City O City. The Snug has Brian Clancy’s drunken Irish song singalongs starting at 8. Which is always fun. And always hard to find a seat.

    saint facetious’s last blog post..Languages and more languages

  10. Beth Partin April 2, 2009 at 8:35 am - Reply

    Saint, I guess I just don’t go out enough anymore. The thing was the place was getting more and more empty from 9 to 11–I thought at least a few new people would come in!

    I’ll check out Irish Snug.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..MonHaibun: Shoveling at Night

  11. Denveater April 13, 2009 at 7:16 pm - Reply

    Oh, you didn’t even mention seeing Ink! Yay for supporting the DFS (at least for the moment).

    Denveater’s last blog post..Google Search Laffy Time: "I spit up black stuff from weed only"

  12. Beth Partin April 13, 2009 at 7:52 pm - Reply

    Yeah, I forgot Saturday. I enjoyed it, for the most part.

    Beth Partin’s last blog post..MonHaibun: Ashes and Embers