Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Rico, Co



We drove over to Rico today for lunch. We'd heard that the Argentine Grille (above) was really good. It's part of the Rico Hotel. The chef "is the former Executive Sous Chef at the world famous Hotel Bel Air in Los Angeles, California, where he had the privilege of working with the world renown Wolfgang Puck." Good thing I didn't read that till I got home, because I still hold Wolfgang responsible for the food poisoning I got at his Century City shack.

It's true the food was really good. I had gazpacho and artichoke quiche. Jon had carrot soup and a crab cake. We were the only two customers for most of the meal, and we got there at 12:30. We waited about half an hour for the soup, listening to clinging and clanging in the kitchen and alarm clocks going off. Was it nap time so soon? Then a third employee showed up. They said they were short handed. After the soup it was a long time before the big plates showed up.

Mid meal two other people came in. They couldn't order the quiche because I'd just eaten it.

The food was so good that we'd drive there again-- it's an hour away, but the chef said "tell 100 of your friends that the food's good if you want us to still be open next time." ulp.

The whole town was like that, refined but sad and empty.



This building was two doors down from the restaurant on Main Street.



The court houses in these old Colorado towns are always beautiful. The weird thing about the emptiness of the town was that shop doors were unlocked but no one was inside.



This hotel was for sale fully furnished. (Shot through window-- nice and spooky.)



Even Gary's Dog House was rather elegant, don't you think?

8 comments:

Linda Davick said...

I'm coming to the conclusion that you have to wait too long for food--good or bad--when you eat out in CO.

If you had the opportunity to live for the rest of your life in either Gary's Dog House or Asshole's Garage, which would you choose?

stray said...

Beautiful photos!

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

These half-empty towns with their old architecture sound like something out of the Twilight Zone Pre-ghost towns.

With a name like Rico, and a location in (or near) the mountains, can I guess that at one time there was a profitable mine that has since gone dry?

p.s. thanks for all the photos.

Sally said...

Linda, tough decisions! In Rico there's no market where to which they could be tripping out to buy the supplies. Must have been nap time.

Namowal, there was an eeriness to the emptiness. Rico's an old silver mining town. As real estate was heating up many store fronts got spiffy-- the town fought off a giant Molybdenum mine that a corporation wanted to start. I believe Rico also has some superfund issues with its mine tailings.

Ed S said...

That's my father in law's shed in Rico!!! How funny...I was looking at dog houses on Google, and this picture popped up.

Ed S said...

That is my father in law's shed at his cabin in Rico! We were looking up dog houses on Google and this popped up.

Sally said...

Too funny!

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