What Jasinski does off the bike.

by Mollie Chen

Scheduling meetings on Fridays is usually anathema for me, but last week I made an exception because Denver chef Jennifer Jasinski was in town. The Santa Barbara native has two of the city's most popular restaurants: Rioja and Bistro Vendôme.

Jasinski and co-owner Beth Gruitch didn't disappoint, filling me in on all the preparations for Denver's upcoming Democratic National Convention, plus their favorite hometown spots from Japanese izakaya dens to sleazy dive bars. (FYI: Some of those spots? Sushi Sasa, Duo, Wazee Supper Club, and Izakaya Den.) With Obamafest about a month away, the city is scrambling to pull things together. For Jasinski and Gruitch that means planning parties, fielding calls from desperate reservation-seekers, and figuring out how they're going to get to work once the DNC effectively shuts down the city center. The last part is simple: bike.

The two are already devoted to two-wheel transport, logging six-mile bike commutes every day and planning a cycling (and eating) tour of Spain in 2009. They're big fans of Mayor John Hickenlooper's "Freewheelin" initiative, which will place almost 1,000 bikes around the city for anyone to use. "It's the most practical way to get around," says Jasinski, "and Denver has beautiful rides along the river and through town." After hours, however, the chef and her crew have been known to do bike bar crawls--margaritas being their poison of choice. (You might find them at Lola, Pour House, Red Square, or Lancer Lounge.) Stay tuned to Daily Traveler for an August post on more Denver restaurants and drinking holes--and the best way to experience them, wheels or no wheels. 

Further reading:
* Or viewing, rather: Jasinski's recent CBS Early Show appearance