The Denver Café Chronicles—Carbon Café and Bar

Mission: Every weekend I will visit a new café/coffee shop in Denver. The daunting part of this plan is that I intend to write, blog, at each one. My idea is to have 2 segments. The first part, “the facts,” of the blog will be my experience at the café, a review if you will, how I’m feeling, what I see, etc… The second part, “the fiction,” will consist of a fictional story that I come up with while at the café. I’ll be grabbing onto my surroundings, the vibes, and my feelings to inspire a short story.

The Facts

I’m in a part of town I haven’t spent a whole lot of time in, and walking to this new café I stop to take a picture of a cool looking bridge. Turning back around, a very close and bright bike light shines in my eyes. I gasp and jump out of the way, probably to an exaggeration, but I’m surprised by this oncoming bike and think I’m about to be hit by this bicycle man. It’s dark out now, so all I can see is the bright light from this bike swerving around me. I can’t tell if the guy saw me there and was planning on swerving past me like he did, or if he was just as surprised to come that close to a pedestrian standing in the middle of his path.

Walking up to Carbon Café and Bar I am distracted by a large doughnut hanging above the door of the shop next door. I walk past the café and peer into the window of this alluring doughnut shop, with an even more alluring name, the Habit Doughnut Dispensary. I’m a big fan of pastries that are covered in glaze, so I keep this late night snack option in mind as I turn around and walk into Carbon Café and Bar. To my excitement, there is a connecting opening to the doughnut shop inside the café, how convenient.

First impression. Impressed. Beat heavy house music welcomes me as I walk into the dark yet glowing room of the café. It’s a long room with tall brick walls and open HVAC. Clinking glasses and footsteps on the wood floor make me instantly feel at home. At the front counter I’m greeted by a beautiful display of doughnuts I’m assuming are from the shop next door. There’s a long bar with tall beer taps and cool bar stools. There are taller tables along the walls, and walking to the back I realize the room extends to the right with a long tall table surrounded by shorter booth style tables. There are lamps in the corners and the ambiance has a dark brown golden glow. There is another room straight to the back up several stairs. This room, brighter, has an entire white wall full of graffiti and the wall opposite of it is painted with chalkboard paint. There’s a giant “happy birthday Erin and Cody” surrounded by several tic tac toe games and other various things people have drawn. This room seems to be the “business room” as there are several people talking pretty loudly on their phones with laptops opened in front of them. I choose to turn back around and choose a seat in the darker room at the long tall table.

I sit down and pull out my laptop. I’m greeting by a lovely woman who sets down a very full cup of water in a mason jar. “Here is the hydration,” she says. “Your server will be right with you.” I very much enjoy this greeting, smiling, I take a sip of my hydration. Looking around I see one wall is made up of these large old wooden barn doors with an arrangement of empty picture frames hanging on them. Everyone around me seems to be working on a computer with a beer or wine in front of them. Unfortunately, I am sitting next to a couple of slightly obnoxious guys who are talking loudly about a startup they are working on while complaining to the server about the high priced beers they realized they just drank. Having been a server for 7 years, I don’t have much tolerance for the types of remarks these men are making toward her. I almost laugh out loud when she replies to them with “well, I hope it was worth it,” and walks away. I’m glad to see them leave after a good 30 minutes of their spats full of loud startup lingo.  But, now that my table is free of the business talk, and I am able to enjoy more of the ambiance.

It feels like there’s a lot going on in this place, and I like it. The decorations are pretty mismatched yet put together, and the vibes of the place change as you walk through the café. Every seat seems to offer something a little different, comfortable and trendy. This is definitely where the cool people come to do work.

I notice I can hear a muffled voice of a woman speaking, almost like she’s right in my ear. I look around thinking maybe somebody is playing something on their computer behind me. Then I look at a table up in the “business room” and see the woman who is talking. She’s farther away and I ponder for a moment on why I can hear her so well, she’s not talking loudly, but I can hear almost every word. It reminds me of the room in the US Capitol building where John Quincy Adams would listen in on the discussions of his international guests from across the room due to a phenomenon caused by sound waves reverberating off of the ceiling. Thinking of this, I feel like I’m sitting in John Quincy Adams’ seat—I’m smiling as I write this.

I order a pasta dish recommended by my server. I’m sipping on a very good, very spiced chai. When I order it she asks me if whole milk is ok. I enthusiastically reply, “Oh, yes.”

Also, the goonies just started playing from a projector onto the brick wall directly in front of me. I very much like this place.

 

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The Fiction

The competition ended a couple hours ago and already Charlie’s muscles are starting to ache. He’s been snowboarding all day and came back to his room with a 3rd place trophy. Not ideal, as he thought he had a good chance of taking home 1st. Blake, his childhood friend and also his biggest competition won 1st. He felt a little peeved about this since he was the one who helped Blake become the boarder he is now. Charlie sunk into the leather sofa as the glow of the local news filled his room. There was a huge snow storm brewing and it was expected to shut down all roads until the morning. He wished he would have taken his parents up on their offer for dinner, but since he didn’t place 1st he wasn’t in the celebratory mood. He settled on a room service burger. His parents left town before the storm hit, and his only other friend in this competition was Blake, who he was in no mood to party with tonight. Embarrassed that he let a rookie boarder take 2nd from him in the last round, he knew Blake had some clever remarks to say about that. Charlie slowly lifted himself out of the deep imprint from the chair. His back ached from the fall that inevitably cost him 2nd place. He went over to the tall winders and opened the curtains. It was getting dark now, and the moon was rising just below the thick dark clouds above. It glowed through the darkening sky as the white snow glimmered. Thanks to his parents, he had a nice room with a walkout deck and a hot tub.

When room service came around, he ate his burger quickly and changed into his suit. The snow was already getting deep on the deck and his footprints sunk at least a foot. He opened up the hot tub with some force, steam quickly released and then floated above the tub. Charlie swung his legs into the burning water and his body coiled for a moment while he got used to the heat. He extended his legs and stretched his arms over his head. He cozied up in a corner of the tub facing the now darkness, the moon disappeared above the clouds. It was so dark now. The flakes were coming down big and chunky, falling quickly and melting as they hit the hot water. He liked the quiet sizzle and the stillness of the night. Relief is what he now felt. Relieved that his training was over, for now. He could relax and take it easy on the slopes. Charlie liked competing, but he also liked riding the mountain without the pressures to makes points. Sometimes he just wanted to glide. He closed his eyes, stretched his legs out farther so his toes were floating on the top poking out of the water. He always thought it was strange the way clear crisp air has such a distinct smell.