The Co-Host for the December Denver Happy Hour is Hiram Licea (Agent, State Farm). I met Hiram through a neighborhood group and my office landlord. He and I are partners in a building and he is also a client :) Super nice guy! Come meet him! The 9th Door is always a great time. Let's have one more networking happy hour toast in honor of 2015! Hope to see you on the 28th!
The 9th Door (1808 Blake, Downtown)
Monday December 28th
Denver Happy Hour is the way you want networking to be. Here's the Concept. A New Co-Host(s) & Bar/Restaurant Once a Month. Free Appetizers and Happy Hour Cocktails from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. A Great way to meet new people, catch up with friends, help local businesses and Explore Denver. It's the Best Excuse to mingle during the week. www.denverhh.com
The 9th DoorHappy Hour Specials from 5:30p to 7:30p
Networking 5:30p to 7:30p
1808 Blake Street, Denver, CO 80202
+More About the Co-Host
Agent, State Farm
Hiram E. Licea, Agent 3682 Morrison Rd
Denver, CO 80219
Office: 303-935-7475
Office: 303-935-7475
Mobile: 720-280-3474
Fax: 303-935-7512
"Everyone chooses one of two roads in life - the old and the young, the rich and the poor, men and women alike. One is the broad, well-traveled road to mediocrity, the other the road to greatness and meaning.”
—Dr. Stephen R. Covey
I am a local State Farm insurance agent and a native Coloradan. I opened my agency just under 3 years ago and have been able to grown my office at a rate 3 times faster than average agencies in the market. Our growth has been generated from a 100% grass roots effort largely concentrated in the Denver area. We are passionate about our office location, the Morrison Rd corridor has been incredibly welcoming to my business and we are very connected to the heartbeat of our neighborhood.
We often participated in the local community events such as school supply giveaways and Christmas gift giveaways as well as the local festivals. We aim to align ourselves with positive community organizations that share our vision for improving the community that we live and work in. I am deeply involved with the local business and culture organization (BUCU West) that helps local business with development and support.
My area of expertise is as a risk advisor applying insurance of all lines as well as financial services. This ranges from the basic property and casualty insurance to more complicated commercial and business owner type risk as well as life insurance. I have been with State Farm for over 5 years and been in agency for 4 years.
More about The 9th Door
Old Spain has exported its culture to the New World for more than 500 years, with results that spur emotional debates about the merits of what's being shipped: conquistadors (bad), sherry and wine (wonderful), Miguel de Cervantes (ditto), Julio Iglesias (see aforementioned "emotional debates.")
But there is one relatively recent stateside import that everyone seems to agree on: tapas, the small, shared plates that showcase the depth and breadth of the Spanish table.
These are the bar snacks, hot and cold, that travelers crow about when they visit Barcelona and Madrid. And because the dishes are compact, they are also a perfect antidote to Americans exhausted by supersizing.
Chuletitas de Cordero, grilled rack of lamb. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
The Ninth Door in LoDo offers a beautiful array of them in a dark, romantic room that, while perfect for club-hopping friends, is particularly inviting to couples.
Two recent visits found an appealing staff and a kitchen with far more game than the team that plays just two blocks down the street.
On weekdays, the doors open at 4:30 p.m. (5 p.m. on weekends), which makes for an odd juxtaposition: During the summer, if the Rockies are in town, the sidewalks are thronged with folks coursing to Coors Field. Across the street, two Irish bars — the Celtic Tavern and Delaney's — pulse with thirsty fans.
But inside the Ninth Door, the atmosphere is dark and cool.
The walls are exposed brick, the deep room holds a bar that seats two-dozen people, and the booths are upholstered with a paisley brocade in muted tones of maroon and gold. Photographs and paintings evoke the Iberian Peninsula. A long series of mirrors behind the bar opens up what is already a capacious room.
The only thing intruding on the spell is the pulsing Euro-pop from overhead speakers; it sounds like a soundtrack to a National Geographic special on the love life of locusts.
Still, it's a lovely place to unplug after a long day.
Sherry is the traditional accompaniment to tapas, but the Ninth Door largely forgoes that for wine, offering 50 varieties, including some reasonable by-the-glass prices in the $7.50-$10 range. There is also a smart cocktail list, which includes the El Pepino, a refreshing number made with Cerén vodka, cucumbers and simple syrup.
But to the food.
The menu is divided into cold and hot dishes — tapas frias (12 choices) and tapas calientes.
Prices range from $4-$14, with most in the $7-$8. Nightly specials, such as a paella for two, can run more, but this restaurant is no wallet killer.
Flavor and textural contrasts abound, and this effect is heightened when you order tapas in waves.
One evening started with a duo of cold tapas.
Fire-roasted piquillo peppers, a broad-shouldered crimson fruit, were packed with creamy goat cheese and rosemary. The contrast? Chopped pears, arugula and Idiazábal sheep's-milk cheeserolled in Serrano ham.
Savory, sweet and salty vied and blended at once, and you had the instant soft give of the cheese-packed peppers against the toothsomeness of the ham packets.
The Pimientos del Piquillo Salteados, fire roasted peppers. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
Ditto for a pair of hot tapas.
A generous plate of flash-fried calamari, rings and tentacles, came with three dipping sauces: a tomato sofrito, a garlic aioli and a romesco. The latter was the star, driven by roasted red peppers and ground toasted almonds. Two tender pork ribs came glazed in a pineapple brandy sauce, the meaty bones laid across each other like a pious man's hands in repose.
The Marzana salad made for a refreshing — and at $3, cheap — start to another meal. This was a small bowl of diced green apples, goat cheese, walnuts and a splash of sherry.
Calabacitas was a variation on the Mexican version. This soup is typically a brothy stew of zucchini, corn and onions topped with cheese. The Ninth Door blends roasted spaghetti squash, asparagus, piquillo peppers, basil and manchego cheese. Different, but still a bowl of summer.
A tomato salad was a Spanish take on the Italian caprese. You got the fresh tomatoes and basil, but Tetilla cheese subbed for mozzarella, and there was a dash of sherry instead of olive oil.
Do save room for the jamón Iberico, one of the world's great hams, imported from Spain and shaved thin. At $14, it's the menu's priciest item. Or you can cast a wider net and get the chef's meat-and-cheese platter.
This is food for all seasons.
Bartenders know their wines and will recommend something off the grid, minus the annoying upsell where you're talked into a glass of Chateau de Whatever and find that two glasses have set you back $36.
The Ninth Door delivers on all counts.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
THE NINTH DOOR
Tapas. 1808 Blake St., 303-292-2229, the9thdoor.com
