Denver Coffee House Menus: Paris on the Platte, Muddy’s and the Mercury Cafe

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I worked at Paris on the Platte in 1990 and remember that menu well. It was not fun enforcing the $2 minimum with the teenagers as they often didn't have much money - they would also run out on their checks so you had to watch them. The best crowd was the bar rush from 2:00 to 4:00 - drunk people were much better tippers. The crew from My Brother's Bar down the street often came in after 2:00 for coffee before heading home. It was a physically hard job (mopping up the back room at 5:00 a.m. after a night full of teenagers spilling coffee was not fun), but the people, the energy, the chess games, the music and the GenX angst made it all a great place to be.

In reply to by Teresa Cribelli (not verified)

Hi Teresa. Yes, I imagine it would've been a tough but invigorating job. Thanks for your unique perspective!

I worked at Paris on the Platte in 1990 and remember that menu well. It was not fun enforcing the $2 minimum with the teenagers as they often didn't have much money - they would also run out on their checks so you had to watch them. The best crowd was the bar rush from 2:00 to 4:00 - drunk people were much better tippers. The crew from My Brother's Bar down the street often came in after 2:00 for coffee before heading home. It was a physically hard job (mopping up the back room at 5:00 a.m. after a night full of teenagers spilling coffee was not fun), but the people, the energy, the chess games, the music and the GenX angst made it all a great place to be.

Love this!
Spent time at Cafe Euphrates and Coffee Grounds, both on 17th. Even read some of my teen angst ridden poetry at Ground’s open mic nights.
Thanks for the memories!

I loved all of those places! We used to hit Euphrates as well. Good times! Lots of good bands at Merc!

Do you have anything on City Spirit Cafe? I think their tagline was "Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You"

Hi Nancy. Yes, we do have a copy of a City Spirit menu! It's dated from 1990. The menu doesn't have that tagline on it, but it does have a lot of healthy, delicious-sounding food listed (including a Raspberry Black Forest Torte, yum!).

I worked at Paris with Jeff n the gang ! Great memories!

Around l963, I worked in an earlier version of these coffee houses. Denver's Sign of the Tarot was a Bohemian Coffee House, dominated by a large Italian Expresso Machine with a screaming Eagle at the top. Populated by society's marginal people, then called Beatniks (an early version of hippies), it was also a place to hang out, play chess, read or write poetry and have 'intellectual' conversations. We were next to penniless- next step was homeless. We lived on Kennedy Rations and I ate the leftover English Muffins of the customers. My boss Joe once took me to Salvation Army to buy me a new used pair of tennis shoes for a quarter....the ones I was wearing were a disgrace. I was thrilled. As all the generations above, those are some of the most memorable days of my life. Quite an experience for a girl from a shut down coal mining town of 200.

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