La vie de mon chien

If you have a dog in Denver it’s almost as if you are a member of an exclusive club, and inner circle so to speak. I call these people the café group. On Saturday and Sunday mornings they are found filling up every street side café, coffee bar, breakfast joint, and restaurant scattered across Denver. Dogs are unofficially welcome on most restaurant patios and many downtown boutiques.

I take my little dog, Oscar, nearly everywhere with me. On Sunday mornings we walk across Auraria Campus, along the Cherry Creek path to Confluence Park and back to Larimer Square. It takes about an hour and by the time we get to The Market we both need a drink. I have a cappuccino and Oscar takes part in the communal doggie water bowl. He doesn’t really like to share his bowl with other dogs.

Larimer And Writer’s Squares, between 14th and 16th on Larimer Street, are the prettiest areas in downtown Denver. They are lined with original buildings dating back to the birth of Denver in the 1800’s. The squares are filled with cool restaurants, boutiques, galleries, and the occasional nightclub.

The Market has been on Larimer Square for nearly 30 years. It is a European style café and deli with a great coffee bar. The food is kind of like the food your grandmother would have prepared for your summer family reunion…the ultimate comfort picnic food. They have a large sandwich board and the baristas make cappuccinos with the swirly foam art on top. Very pretty. There are always stacks of New York Times or magazines to read, and the people watching is fantastic. There is an intellectual cosmopolitan edge to the clientele. Now that downtown is brimming with residents the Market has a more prenentious slant that comes with baby boomer wealth, than it had in the past. It used to be intellectual and artistic seedy. I loved it, and I still do…but, it is different.

Oscar and I walk the by Market a few times a week for a coffee and on Sundays we sit and watch the people and watch the world go by.

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