For those who don’t know, Cherry Creek is a Denver neighborhood—a very, very nice one. In the early 2000s, I worked about two miles from Cherry Creek, near the capitol building in Denver. Although we aren’t there often anymore, we have a history with Cherry Creek.
One of the first places Ryan took me when we moved to Denver in 1999, was the Cherry Cricket. Ryan grew up in the Denver area, and this place was old school, even when he was young.
When we got engaged, it was in Cherry Creek. The Fourth Story Restaurant, one of the finest in Denver, was atop the Tattered Cover’s Cherry Creek location. A romantic type of place, it featured a wall of windows looking out on 1st Avenue. Best of all, to get to the restaurant, a guest had to wander through the bookstore. Sadly, both businesses are long gone.
When I got the invite to stay at Hotel Clio, I couldn’t pass it up. After all, not only is it located in Cherry Creek, I had stayed there before when it was a JW Marriott. It’s still a Marriott, under the Luxury Collection.
Perfectly located around the corner from the Cherry Cricket and just a stone’s throw from the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, it’s an excellent spot to crash. And, a very posh place to crash.
We arrived on a cold Saturday, very cold. The high was 12 degrees. Even though Hotel Clio is dog-friendly, and I had been welcome to bring Fritzi, we took her to boarding, because we had rodeo tickets and didn’t want to leave her at the hotel all evening. That’s right, the hotel had hooked us up with National Stock Show rodeo tickets for Saturday night.
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We had to drop her off by 10 a.m. so this meant we were arriving early, but no matter. If there is something Ryan and I excel at, it’s wasting time and I mean wasting time in incredibly great ways!
We decided to go to Bull & Bush Brewery which opens at 10 on weekends (11 on weekdays). This was a good idea for many reasons, but the number one reason was that we’d never been there. For real. I have no idea how that has happened as the restaurant has been there since 1971, so we’ve had plenty of time.
Entering Bull & Bush is like stepping into 1971, I think. I wasn’t born yet and neither was Ryan. This bar oozes nostalgia and there’s nothing we love better in a watering hole. All dark wood and moody shadows it feels British in an American bar sort of way.
The guy at the next table declared to his wife, “This is the best breakfast I’ve ever had!” A brown ale and an order of eggs benedict later, I concur. Bull & Bush has above-average food and below-average prices. We need to take Ryan’s parents, who lived in the United Kingdom when Ryan was a kid. They’ll appreciate the pub-like atmosphere.
With more time to kill we walked through the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. There aren’t many real malls left in Colorado, but this is one of them. However, there’s no Orange Julius, these two GenX kids looked. There was a Cinnabon but we didn’t see Saul Goodman working there.
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A visit to Cherry Creek Shopping Center is brought to you by the word “fancy.” There is a Neiman Marcus. There’s a Gucci store. There’s a Doc Marten store (the 90s kid in me wanted to go in and buy all the things).
It’s a fun mall in which to window shop. We went into a fancy watch store and the salesman was terrific. He knew we weren’t in the market for a $10,000 Broncos watch (we told him), but he insisted Ryan try it on anyway.
We checked in early at Hotel Clio and headed out to wander around town. But it was cold, real cold. Cherry Creek is an incredible place for shopping, especially gallery browsing. However, after just a bit of wandering around in the snow, we ducked into the Cherry Cricket.
As I wrote earlier in this article, Cherry Creek has been around for a long time. Since 1945, in fact. It’s not just a Cherry Creek institution, it’s a Denver institution, and dare I call it a Colorado institution. It’s right there with Gray’s Tavern in Pueblo (1934) and The Fort in Morrison (1963). The restaurant now has other locations, but this is the original.
After a beer and watching some football at the bar, I resisted the urge to indulge in a bowl of green chile, something it seemed everyone around us was having on a snowy Denver afternoon. After all, we had a 5:30 pm dinner reservation at Toro, Hotel Clio’s restaurant.
Eating at Chef Richard Sandoval’s Toro Latin Kitchen & Lounge is an adventure. High-end, there were couples dressed up, but you don’t have to be dressed to the nines to eat here, but you won’t want to wear an old stained t-shirt either. By the way, we’ve eaten at many Sandoval restaurants over the years, and are fans.
The menu items and decor reflect both Latin and Asian influences, and we indulged in both during our meal. We started with a smoked fish dip served with plantain chips and shared the sweet corn empanadas. Ryan ordered a flight of Mezcal—he cannot resist this if it’s offered.
What I love about dining here is that everything is shareable. They will split salads and entrees. Oddly, the best thing I ate at Toro was the wedge salad served with a six-minute egg. Ryan and I are both particular about wedge salad. This is hands down my absolute favorite.
We split the Lomo Saltado, a beef filet served on a bed of jasmine rice. The sesame oil gave it an Asian flair and the filet was melt-in-your-mouth. Although we were stuffed, we ended our meal with a dessert I can’t seem to find on the online menu, but it was amazing. Some sort of boozy concoction poured over ice cream.
Ordering a Lyft, we were picked up in front of the hotel and dropped off at the doors of the National Western Stock Show. I’d recommend getting to the stock show like this. No worries about parking!
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Rodeo is my jam, and we loved every minute. As it turns out, unfortunately, I am allergic to rodeo if it’s held inside. I have had no problems with Cheyenne Frontier Days, which is held outside, but by the end of the National Western Stock Show rodeo, I was wheezing. The only other time that has happened is at a draft horse show that was also held in an inside arena. Note to self!
I took a hot bath when we returned to Hotel Clio, thankful for the deep tub, swanky bathroom, and cozy bathrobe.
We slept in the next morning. The beds and pillows at Hotel Clio are incredible. And by the way, you can buy a Marriott pillow and I’m ordering one. They have the feather/down combo at Hotel Clio.
In addition to sleeping in, we enjoyed brunch at Toro, which starts at 11 a.m. on the weekends. Again, diners are encouraged to share it all with the table. The fresh fruit with honey gave me Mexico-vibes despite the snow outside. Also, I shall dream about the bison skirt steak with charred corn.
Service at Toro is special and the restaurant even has a busser, a position we haven’t seen at any restaurant lately. Diners are treated well, and again, dining at Toro, for any meal, feels like an event.
And when it comes to events, be sure to visit Relévant Galleries, next door to Hotel Clio. We spent nearly an hour here chatting with the gallery director, Courtney Olson. The gallery represents photographer David Yarrow, among others.
We have seen Yarrow’s work before on our mountain town visits, and indeed just two days after this gallery visit, we were sent a photo by CARTER, Inc. where we show our furniture in Denver. It was of one of Ryan’s consoles beneath a Yarrow photograph.
Currently, the gallery has curated works by their artists that fit nicely with the National Western Stock Show. Works by David Yarrow and Geoffrey Gersten grace the walls and bronzes by Gib Singleton are also thoughtfully displayed around the gallery.
Cherry Creek is bursting with art, and if you’d like an artsy weekend at a fancy hotel, check out Hotel Clio. Throw in some nostalgia by interrupting all that gallery browsing with a beer at the Cherry Cricket. I don’t think you can go wrong with a little old and a little new in Cherry Creek.
Thank you to Hotel Clio for hosting our stay.
