PARKER: Cabaret ups stakes, adds sizzle to DNC
By Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published April 24, 2008 at 11 p.m.
Javier Manzano / The Rocky
Troy Lowrie, owner of the Diamond Cabaret, has added steak to the club in time for the Aug. 25-28 DNC at the Pepsi Center.
Diamond Cabaret owner Troy Lowrie is betting that attendees at the Democratic National Convention will be wanting some skin with their steak this August.
That's why he's invested $100,000 to turn the strip club's steak place back to what it was in the day when Bobby Rifkin ruled the roost, and it was called the Diamond Cabaret Steakhouse.
When restaurateur and developer Jim Sullivan leased the space from Lowrie's Lakewood-based company VCG Holding Corp. in December 2006, out went the strippers and the sleaze and in came Sullivan's chef son-in-law Troy Guard's upscale menu in a snazzy setting.
Sullivan renamed the restaurant Oscar's, and he separated it from the Diamond by boarding up the entrance between the two spaces and creating a separate entrance on Glenarm and jazzing up the joint with the hopes that it would appeal to women as well as the traditional male audience.
Not so much. "It was a beautiful room, the food was great, but I just couldn't build a clientele there," Sullivan said. "I don't know if it was the proximity to the club or in spite of it. I had the opportunity to sell it back to Troy, and I did."
The new version of the Diamond Steakhouse, which opened to the public Thursday, brings back strippers centerstage with poles along a runway in the middle of the room and large windows that allow diners to peer at the peelers.
Smoking is still allowed because of its historically high percentage of tobacco sales, and the menu prices have been downsized slightly, Lowrie said. There's a glass door between the club and the restaurant, and luxury suites have been added.
"If we want to compete with Elway's and Sullivan's and everybody else, that's fine," he said. "But we had to get back to what made (the Diamond) successful. I imagine the Democrats will like that much better. We expect to be very busy during the convention, and I imagine they will like our type of entertainment."
GET NAKEY: Rioja chef/owner Jennifer Jasinski and wine whiz Christopher Rowe are asking diners to blind taste-test naked bottles of wine that will be stripped of their labels during a Blind and Naked wine and five-course food feast, beginning at 6 p.m. May 19 at Rioja, 1431 Larimer St. Cost is $85, not including tax and tip. Reservations: 303-820-2282.
THAT'S LIFE: Snowmass made the cut of 100 cities named in Dream Destinations: 100 of the World's Best Vacations, a new coffee-table book from LIFE, hitting bookstores May 1. Little old Snowmass, named among the best destinations for families, is included with such exotic locales as Ireland's Burren; Montezuma, Mexico; Giverny, France; and Denali, Alaska. The book will sell for $29.95 at bookstores or at life.com/dream.
EAVESDROPPING on a man and a woman in the bar at The Burnsley Hotel: "I've got to go home to see my wife."
"Why are you being so selfish? For once why don't you think about her, not yourself."
Penny Parker's column appears Tuesday through Saturday. Listen to her on the Caplis and Silverman radio show between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-AM (630). Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail parkerp@RockyMoun tainNews.com.
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April 28, 2008
5:06 p.m.
Suggest removal
peteSmith writes:
I respectfully suggest that Mr. Lowrie consider sponsoring a "Judge's Night" at the Cabarèt. See April 25, 2008 entry (entitled "Reinstate Grafton Biddle") at: http://www.knowyourcourts.com/News/ne...