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Blog Entry 14 of 43 A view from The Hill
Hi, I'm Joey Kirchmer, author of this blog and a community journalist at YourHub.com. I live at the intersection of 13th and Washington, smack dab in the middle of Capitol Hill. If you have news tips about Capitol Hill or the greater Denver area, feel free to e-mail them to me at kirchmerj@yourhub.com. You can also call me at 303-954-2650. Otherwise, sit back, relax and enjoy these blog entries.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~DealinInDouglas

Cheeseburger in (Tech Center) paradise

Contributed by: Joseph Kirchmer/YourHub.com   on 8/22/2007

I went off the beaten path this week in my never-ending quest to find the greatest cheeseburger in Douglas County and found myself in the glimmering, beautifully manicured land of Denver's Tech Center or DTC if you prefer acronyms.

A friend of mine who is an employee of CH2M Hill recently invited me out to the cafeteria and I couldn't resist the opportunity.

CH2MHill, if you didn't already know, is one of, if not the, biggest privately owned companies in the state. Without getting too incredibly technical, CH2M Hill builds stuff ... and cleans stuff ... and operates stuff.

It's too huge to even describe, but I guess if you had to, you could compare it to a Haliburton-type company, without all the negative connotations (though they are involved in the war in Iraq, albeit in a sort of good way). And its headquarters is based here in Colorado.

In fact, on a recent trip to North Palm Beach in Florida, I spotted a CH2M Hill satellite office in a non-descript office building. That's just one of many their locations. They also have offices in basically every continent in the world.

Yeah. They're a pretty big deal.

Anyway, a company this big should invariably boast a top-notch cafeteria and I'm pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed ... though I wasn't necessarily blown away with my meal.

But after paying $4.76 for a cheeseburger, fries and water, I'm not going to complain too much.

The cafeteria experience was sublime -- the dining area had piped-in music, personal chefs attended to your every need, a top-notch salad bar was well stocked and the specials of the day were tantalizing.

Everything you could possibly want -- except for its cafeteria food and it's gets old -- quick.

Before we moved over to the Denver Newspaper Agency's beautiful new building on Colfax and Broadway (the converging point of all things "bum"), all the YourHub.com staff was tucked away into the water-damaged basement of the old Rocky Mountain News building.

The cafeteria there was not a pretty sight -- as were the specials -- which usually consisted of chilidogs or something else that I would feel guilty about eating. I ate there rarely, if ever.

After the big move last year, the Denver Newspaper Agency elected against the traditional cafeteria model and instead opened up the bottom floor to free-standing restaurants, which include a Heidi's Brooklyn Deli (home of the overpriced sandwich), a Green Fine Salad Co. (never been there), a Starbucks (guilty pleasure) and a Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches (yeeecchh).

There also is probably one of the country's grimiest McDonald's located directly behind the building on Cleveland Street, which is a virtual beehive of the city's undesirables. Not that I'm going to say that I've never eaten there before, because I have and I'm not proud of it.

After some thought, I've decided that I prefer having restaurants around me as opposed to a cafeteria, because I kept having bad junior high school flashbacks of my then traditional meal, which consisted of two pretzels w/ cheese and a Hawaiian Punch.

I pretty much didn't enjoy my junior high school days, and anything I can do to keep those memories suppressed is a good thing.

So, if you have a friend who works at CH2M Hill, I would recommend dining there. You won't be disappointed.

Grade: A

CH2M Hill is located at 9191 S. Jamaica St. in Englewood. You will need clearance in order to eat at the cafeteria.


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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo
posted on 8/23/2007 @ 10:59:33 AM
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Yup, Mick, it's Douglas County-based. Some of the borders are a bit strange in the DTC, though, because I live in Englewood and this place is on the other side of I-25.
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Submitted By: Michael Rule
posted on 8/22/2007 @ 8:22:59 PM
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Just a touch disappointed here....are you sure this place is in Douglas County? And is it someplace I, Mr. McPublic, is going to look for? Still, I appreciate your continuing quest...(Hint; Next Door Bar.....)
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Submitted By: Eric Lubbers
posted on 8/22/2007 @ 2:45:28 PM
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The old cafeteria was great for two things: Basic breakfast stuff (toast, eggs, etc.) and always having a fresh supply of ketchup, mustard and plastic utensils on hand.
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Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo
posted on 8/22/2007 @ 2:26:21 PM
Rated Blog Entry
I once worked as a contract technical writer for Great-West Life in the DTC. Their cafeteria food was pretty tasty, especially the salads. Although, it wasn't cheap and the cafeteria felt a little too reminiscent of high school. I don't recall eating the burgers there.
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