THAT DIVINE TAMMY LADY IS DOING IT AGAIN

"I never eat when I can dine." - Maurice Chevalier

SWEET ROCKIN' COFFEE
414 East 20 Ave - 303/318-9788

 IT SEEMS LIKE DECADES since I had read the story in Westword's annual Best Of, entitled, Best Place to Have Lunch by a Hairdresser. Soon after that story appeared I had the first of many meals at Divine Temptations, and that's when I met Tammy Davis.

It seems like centuries since I sunk my teeth into one of Tammy's giant hand-packed buggers filled with onion and cheese that enhanced the fabulous fresh meat she used at her old restaurant. Or ate one of the five or six daily specials she used to make from scratch. Or ate one of the many fresh sangies she made.

It seems like a millennium since that day I had a root canal procedure in the morning and drove to Fort Collins to meet a client with my face still numb and swollen. I kept pinching my cheek to see if it was time to crack into the Styrofoam box filled with Tammy Davis' Swedish meatballs and house- made noodles sitting beside me on the car seat. I ultimately got to eat the maaavelous feast she prepared for me, but I had to share it with the Fort Collins client. Needless to say, they ain't clients anymore. I don't share. Not when it comes to primo stuff. And anything Tammy makes is primo.

But that was Divine Temptations. Tammy closed that North Denver restaurant in September 1999.

Having done all the cooking, baking, cleaning and serving for six years, she felt the need to change the direction of her many talents. After looking for something new and different, she found the empty storefront at Logan and 20th Avenue across from Benedict Fountain Park where Sweet Rockin' Coffee is open all day and late into the night.

It's a coffeehouse, replete with a variety of pastries, sangies, strange beverages and lots of music. But what a coffeehouse!

IDON'DO coffeehouses. I'm not into the different music that today's youth are into. I enjoy good, strong coffee, but without the hazelnut vanilla pickaflavor foo-foo that goes into the coffees that prevail at this type of establishment. For cold drinks I prefer Diet Pepsi and not coladas, passion drinks and exotic teas that you would find in most coffeehouses. But this ain't your typical coffeehouse. The typical coffeehouse does not serve the range or the quality of food, that you find at SRC. This is my kind of place. This is Tammy Davis' place with her recipes for sangies, pastries, the finest house-made chocolates, and the best made-from-scratch cakes this side of Heaven. With a capital "H". Don't just take my word for it. 5280 Magazine has awarded her Denver's Best Brewed Coffee and Westword proclaimed her chocolates to be Denver's Best.

G raves about the chocolate covered cherries. I'm a brownie guy. One of the problems at the former location is that it wasn't air-conditioned, so chocolate making was seasonal, and a short one at that.

Sweet Rockin' Coffee is open seven days a week: Monday thru Thursday, 6 am til 10 pm; Friday and Saturday, 6 am til midnite; and Sunday, 8 am til 3 pm. Food is available all the time.

Evenings bring a variety of musicians to SRC. They get crackin' between 7 and 8 pm Monday thru Saturday, and from about 10 am til noon on Sunday. There are different groups playing every day. Wednesday is Drumming Circle; Friday is Open Mike Nite.
All other times are scheduled performers or bands. Those of you that think you have talent need to come by any Friday nite, but I warn you the crowd could get vicious if you're bad. But let's talk about the important stuff. The grub.

In the early am there are breakfast burritos as only Tammy can make them: big and yummy. And coffees, pastries, croissants, and lots more.

Lunch brings lots of sangies: tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey, ham, roast beef, BBQ and more. There's also panini sangies: ham, salami, turkey, vegetarian, etc.
Most of the sangies are $5.95. And they're all stuffed with stuff. As an example, the chicken salad is baked chicken breast and celery, pecans, grapes and curry. They do a box lunch special (sangie, chips and a cookie) for $8.95, but there's a minimum order of 10.

They make personal size pizzas, an array of 8-inch thin-crust pizzas with your choice of sauces and toppings.

They got chocolates. By the piece or by the pound. The Ultimate. 2-die-4. A 1-lb box will set you back $19, and that's downright cheap for high quality handcrafted chocolates.

They got coffees. I could care less. Espressos, regular Joes, rockin' shots. all that stuff. Better'n anyone else in town, Don't care. They got tea. Italian soda. Smoothies. Still don't care.

They got croissants. Ham and cheese with Dijon. Yo! Now I care. Feta and spinach, Lots of kinds. Scones, yeah, ok. That's nice. The ham and Swiss croissant is sooo good and only $3.75. Try it, you'll like it.

The really good stuff. Pies and cakes by the slice or by the whole don't matter, best in town.

Gonna Get Married? Tammy has wedding cake orders for every weekend from now thru November. She is becoming known as The Wedding Cakebaker of Denver. Maybe of Colorado. Want 'em round, square, rectangular, hexagonal or upside down? This is the place. All colors, all flavors, all made to order. Want something creative and different?  Tammy will create it.

Gotta tell you bout the butterscotch pudding. Wanna know what's in it? Tee hee. Butter and scotch. Yep, And it's the best damn butterscotch anything I've ever had. Ain't on the menu all the time, but its there lots.

The real pleasure in dealing with Tammy Davis? If you want something special, maybe something she's never heard of, she'll find out how to make it. Or she'll figure it out. It will be the best you've ever had. And that's what puts her a step above the rest of the best. She shudda kept the old name, cuz everything coming out of the kitchens at Sweet Rockin' Coffee is simply Divine.
  
   Cya.