A few weeks ago, I posed a very important question to our readers: What are some restaurants and bars in Denver worth visiting not just for the food and drinks but also for the bathroom?
And readers, you did not disappoint. Inspired by this story in the New York Times, Kevin and I went around the city asking restaurant hosts, "No, we don't want a table for two. This might sound weird, but can we just check out your bathroom?"
So, without further ado, here are some of the most interesting places in town for bathroom mirror selfies and toilet entertainment:
Three Saints Revival
The theme of the restaurant is "bohemian dreamscape," according to manager Jesse Valdez. A local artist created the prints that fold from the wall onto the ceiling, and the wallpaper featuring a kaleidoscope of teeth is custom.
The Crypt
This bar might be one of the first to put trigger warnings outside a toilet, given the framed images of dead bodies taken by a homicide detective that cover the walls inside (there are less graphic, graffiti-filled bathrooms next door). Much of the horror- and death-related decorations in the bar come from co-owner Priscilla Jerez's personal collection, which she's been collecting since she was a teenager.
"The bathrooms, it's kind of special," Jerez said. "I really wanted to have a bathroom that was just kind of raw, brutal... it's all types of different ways to die, and what better place then when you're sitting around on the toilet, instead of playing on your phone, to stare up and look at some weird stuff on the walls, right?"
Middleman
If you needed a long sit on the toilet, this bar is the place to be. You could stare at the walls for hours and still notice new elements in the wallpaper, which were hand drawn by a friend of co-owner Jareb Parker.
"My theory on it is, you should always be leaving a bathroom wanting to tell your friends, 'You should go check out the bathroom," Parker said. "I've always appreciated that about spaces... it's a good opportunity to hide something fun, something catchy or something weird."
Molotov
Down the street from Middleman is this brand new Eastern European restaurant, co-owned by Parker and Ukrainian chef Bo Porytko.
"We wanted it to feel like your grandmother's kitchen," Parker said. The flowers along the walls outside the bathroom are inspired by vinok, a traditional Ukrainian flower crown, and the framed art above the toilet is a contemporary interpretation of Ukrainian folk art.
Somebody People
Owner Samuel Maher drew inspiration for the restaurant's name from David Bowie's song "Five Years." So it's only fitting that the bathroom came to match:
Bang up to the Elephant
Owner Kevin Delk wanted to build his Caribbean inspired restaurant with a low carbon footprint and recycled materials, which is how he wound up with portable toilet-style bathrooms, using reused doors from real portable toilets.
City, O' City
City, O' City staff members Frank Pomes and Emma Rose painted the restaurant's bathroom walls, with the goal of making them "feel Denver-y," according to Pomes.
Knowing that patrons often deface restaurant bathrooms, Pomes and Rose created the murals with collaboration in mind, inviting people to add to the walls while respecting the artists that came before. "People's drawings are all over the bathrooms, it's become a cool little interactive piece," Pomes said.
The Oxford Hotel
While many of the aforementioned bathrooms are rather new, the final stop on our tour took us way back, to the Oxford Hotel built in 1891. Check out the bathrooms in the basement to be transported to a past era of fancy bathrooms (and, for some reason, weirdly large urinals).
But visit at your own risk. This company that does ghost tours in Denver claims some of the bathrooms at the Oxford are haunted, with stalls supposedly locking themselves and sinks randomly turning on. Needless to say, Denverite could not independently verify that information.
