Once a week over the past year, I’ve made the drive from the south end of Havana Street in Aurora north towards Sixth Avenue to visit a different restaurant along what has been called the most diverse street in Colorado for Westword’s Eat Up Havana series.
On my last trip up this stretch to visit the final stop in this culinary adventure, shortly after Hamden Avenue turns sharply north to become Havana Street, I passed the same Olive Garden near the intersection of Havana and Iliff as I have every week. Its parking lot full as always, people entering and exiting with the same regularity.
I used to shake my head at them with disappointment and judgment as I drove by on the way to my next adventure. But today, I can only feel sorry for them. For they do not know what they are missing.
Over the course of this assignment, I’ve had the opportunity to visit nearly fifty restaurants serving the cuisines of over a dozen different countries, all packed into a four-mile stretch of busy road, neglected parking lots, and potholes…