When the longtime owner of the Lancer Lounge opted to shutter the neighborhood place at 233 E. Seventh Ave. after succumbing to personal financial pressures, it was no surprise that Denver restaurant mogul Frank Bonanno would take over the seedy space.
Nestled between Bonanno’s fine dining spot Mizuna and noodle house Bones, and just around the corner from Luca d’Italia, it only made sense to brand the block as Bonanno’s.
So six weeks ago, Lancer started morphing into Vesper Lounge with a limited menu, crafted cocktails, beers in cans and on tap, nightly happy hours from 4 to 6 p.m. and 11 to 1 p.m. plus all day Monday, along with savory snacks.
I checked out the place Thursday along with Bonanno PR gal Lauren Hendrick and Westword editor Patty Calhoun to see Bonanno’s interpretation of the famous dive bar.
Have no fear, Vesper isn’t a Yuppie bar, but rather a cleaned-up version of its old self with upholstered booths from the recently shuttered Ambria restaurant that were sold in auction. New kitschy touches include religious candles from Mexico scattered around the walls.
Vesper’s menu items include “Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!” (fries, no chips, with or without cheese), a potpourri of sandwiches such as a classic club, marinated fish or shaved Colorado lamb pita, Greek lamb patty, gyro, meats on stick and dips served with warm pita.
More information: http://www.facebook.com/VesperLounge.
Next up for Bonanno Concepts: a first venture into the ‘burbs with Bonanno Brothers Pizzeria, which will open early next year at The Vistas at Park Meadow in Lone Tree.
3d Printing Store premieres
I’m easily amazed by new technology – something I struggle at best to keep up with. So “amazing” is the most appropriate word to describe 3d Printing, Colorado’s first 3D printing store that just opened at 4603 Monaco St.
There is currently one location, but look for pop-up versions of the 3d Printing Store springing up after the first of the year.
On Tuesday, I had a sneak peek of the high-tech store that prints everything from machinery parts to bracelets. Here is a picture of a bracelet that company co-founder Debra Wilcox and I had printed during the open house event.
Wilcox, along with young entrepreneur David Perleberg, are some of the partners behind the new venture.
In addition to trinkets, the 3D printing process holds promise for medicine, health, inventors, artists and industrial prototyping. Wilcox and Perleberg are already working with inventors anxious to prototype their products.
And just for fun, folks can design and print their own customized iPhone of Android phone covers and other consumer items.
The store will host parties for groups of kids or adults where they can learn about 3d printing and take home something they make.
The 3d Printing Store is also negotiating a deal with a new system that takes a portrait and allows you to have a very detailed portrait printed in plastic.
For more information, visit www.the3dprintingstore.com or e-mail info@the3dprintingstore.com.
A good life lived
The public is invited to a Celebration of Life in memory of community leader and philanthropist Linda Goto at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 in the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Goto, 70, died of pneumonia recently at Sky Ridge Medical Center. She had also quietly battled leukemia for several years.
Most recently, Goto worked as an event planner for The Denver Hospice where she coordinated the biannual Mask Project, the organization’s largest fundraiser.
She was most well-known as a tireless volunteer and fundraiser for various nonprofits including the SaddleUp! Foundation in Parker, Cancer League of Colorado, Arapahoe House, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Goto was as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside, and her grace and generosity will be sorely missed.
Goodwill hunting
Join Goodwill and Denver Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Dec. 18 to help kick off Goodwill’s end-of-the-year donation campaign at the Goodwill store at 21 S. Broadway, Denver.
Fans that bring a donation for Goodwill will get a chance to meet Woodyard. And donors will receive a receipt for a tax deduction before 2012 comes to a close.
Woodyard will kick off the donation drive by donating an autographed football to Goodwill, which will be auctioned off at www.shopgoodwill.com. Proceeds from the auctioned ball will benefit Goodwill’s career development programs in metro Denver and northern Colorado, which help more than 21,000-at-risk youth, struggling adults and individuals with disabilities.
Eavesdropping on a woman to another woman after a meeting: “That meeting was so low energy that I needed meeting Viagra.”
Did you hear that I have a new column, “Mile High Life,” in Colorado Community Media’s 17 weekly newspapers circling Denver? Be sure to like my Facebook page! Also, here’s where you go to get my column emailed to you Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’m now the social-media liaison for the Mile High Chapter of the Colorado Restaurant Association, so read my latest restaurant news there. My email: penny@blacktie-llc.com.
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