Brandon H.'s Profile

I should mention that they didn't even call the next day to apologize or reschedule.  Jerks.  What a waste of time.

Also, a friend of my wife saw her complaining about them on Facebook and she said she also had similar problems with them, so it's not just us.  Perhaps now that I've reviewed them some others with similar experiences will do the same. Show owner comment »

I've rented lenses before from other vendors while traveling, and usually the service is a bit surley, the prices are outrageous, and they require a huge deposit.  If I had that type of money sitting around I'd buy instead of rent!  One of my friends told me about Pro Photo Rental and not only are they local to me, but they have competitive prices!  

I think PPR is one of the most valuable photographic resources in the metro area-- the founder Jared is a great guy, always willing to listen to the problem you're trying to solve or type of situation you're looking to capture and takes the time offer great suggestions whether or not it results in a rental, even if it is just a tip about the camera you're using.

Pro Photo Rental is also supportive of the local community and sponsors photo walks/safaris from time to time and let people try out their equipment for free for the whole day!

Recently out of the blue I had a chance to take a day off and I was able to secure a lens from them with very little notice and even had to keep changing my pick-up times and it was still a very painless process.  

I've never needed to have a lens shipped to me, but from what I understand they offer free shipping and all of the lenses are shipped in a Pelican style hard case.  I have rented from them a couple of times so far and already have several other reservations this year.  Can't wait to shoot with some more L series rental glass!

Whether you are local or not, I highly recommend using Pro Photo Rental for all of your camera related rental needs.  Great prices, great service, and they love photography-- how can you go wrong?

Oh, the Kar-Vu.. it was tore down in 2007 and replaced with a Dollar General store.  At the time I believe it was one of the last 10 (or less) remaining drive-in movie theaters in Colorado.  I was just looking on the net for pictures of it out of nostalgia, and this was one of the first links that came-up, so I just had to write a review for posterity's sake.

Being in High School in the mid to late 90's in the middle of nowhere, this was one of the spots of entertainment in the county.   Procure a cheap keg of beer with a group of friends during the Summer, and head to the Kar Vu to drink and watch a movie.  

No fancy radio broadcast here, they still used the old metal speakers which I assume were the originals from when it opened in 1964.   Order a pizza, but don't look at it in the light because it's disgusting... it did have a distinctive taste that I still get a craving for sometime.

Tuesday nights were $20 for all of the people you could cram into a car... definitely not a good idea to offer this to teenagers.

I saw a lot of movies here, but about the only one I can remember seeing here for the first time was The Fifth Element.

Oh B-52's, how I miss you.  I spent many happy hours in my early 20's here with a really great group of co-workers/friends and have a lot of good memories from here.   The burgers were pretty decent, the service was usually good (though the bar could be hectic at times), and the lounge area was great.   It was a place I really liked going that didn't seem to get too douchey, though given the current state of LoDo, it would not be the same if it were still around.  I mostly spent time upstairs, the downstairs was more of a scenester place that I didn't really have much of a desire to spend time in.

Unfortunately B-52's was shuttered and transformed into the Real World Denver house.. which has since been converted to another bar.  I've also got old and fat since then too.   Time has not been kind to either of us!

I've lived in this general neighborhood for over seven years now, and Santeramo's was one of those places I just never got around to trying until this evening.    Now I'm wondering what the hell took me so long!

This place is located in a strip mall (though I overheard one of the employees talking about how they were moving soon) and from the outside looks like it might be some sort of wierd bar or something.   The inside is straight-up 1992, with some soft rock type instrumental music in the background, so I don't know that I would go there for the atmosphere.
I basically just went in and got my pizza to go.

Once I got to the car and had a good smell of the pizza things seemed to be looking up.   I got home and was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box-- it had a great ratio of crust to toppings.. definitely loaded up pretty well.   Once I sat down and took a bite I was definitely impressed-- this is not gourmet pizza, but really good "comfort" pizza-- it reminded me a lot of the pizza at Edgewater Inn, but I think it is actually a little bit better than there.  I think my only knock is that the sauce I had was just a slight bit bitter.. maybe a little too much oregano?  I also like a little bit of spice to my sauce but wouldn't grade down because of it, but I think this pizza would be really amazing with just a bit more kick.

Anyhow, if you're in the area and are looking for pizza better than any of the other nasty places like Pizza Hut, etc, give them a chance-- very good stuff!  I will be back for sure!

I'd consider myself a fairly decent beef connoisseur-- I grew-up in a small farming community in the middle of nowhere where I spent my childhood doing everything from doing cattle drives on horses, to driving tractors, working in our large family garden, etc.  I had the pleasure of eating nothing but grass fed beef from our own hand picked steers which were locally butchered, and basically got spoiled by growing up eating our own beef, pork, and vegetables.  This is the sort of area where you eat beef for literally every meal, and eating chicken is an insult because it's not locally produced.  Luckily I've grown a lot since living there and probably eat more poultry than beef, but I still enjoy some good beef.

That said, one of my comfort foods is definitely a juicy, delicious hamburger, typically topped with bacon.  I'm always up to try a new burger and had heard some great things about The Counter.  It's located very far from me in South Denver which is an area I really dislike and even feel uncomfortable in because I don't buy in to the lifestyle there.  That aside, I must say The Counter is worth the occasional drive there!

My burger came out really dry... normally I'm not one to send back food unless it's really awful, but in this case it was a $12 burger that I really did not like at all-- it tasted like your typical overcooked bubba burger to me.  I decided to send it back, and they handled it very well, I was very impressed!   When my new burger was done, the manager brought it out himself and said something to the effect of "you are right, that burger was overcooked, sorry about that.  Thanks for being honest and letting us know."   Luckily this burger was much more along the lines of what I expected.. in fact they had upgraded me to the 1 lb burger which put me into a meat coma after only eating half of it.   it was juicy and delicious.. I think the meat has a slightly better flavor at Cherry Cricket, but there are MANY more options at The Counter and they actually have great service.  It's rare that I hold a chain in high regard, but this location is off to a great start as fine as I'm concerned.

It's really quite crazy for me to say that the Cricket has competition for the best burger in Denver now, and it's from a chain!

I should mention that they have a super amazing list of toppings, and don't nickel and dime you for each of them like the Cricket does.  I think I still prefer the Cricket over this place, but only slightly.

If you're looking for mediocre, chain style Italian food that is maybe a little better than Olive Garden, and huge portions of it, this place is for you.  

I think about the only time I end-up here is when family is in town because it seats big parties pretty easily and it's close to where my parents usually stay while in town.   However, that backfired on us once when a group of suburban prom kids get seated next to us and proceeded to "talk" at 1000 decibels and throw food each other.  

Yes, I'm a crotchety old man.. damn kids.

I love this damn sculpture!  For one thing, it's already got an awesome story behind it.  But the biggest reason I like it:

Everyone hates it.  

I've never seen so much whining and complaining about a statue.   It looks fairly out of place at DIA, but that's not a bad thing.  I'd rather have something like this than some boring politically correct thing that no one notices.  Any piece of artwork which killed it's creator is something to be reckoned with.

This is literally the worst convenience store ever.  From the dilapidated looks of the outside, you would assume it's closed.  If you dare step inside, you will be treated to an underwhelming selection of products, covered in dust, and most likely well past expired if it's perishable.  

I have no idea how this place stays in business-- maybe because it's walking distance from a trailer park?  It's terrible and should be shut down for selling expired food & drinks and generally being an awful place.

In many facets of life I'm conflicted, and one of those are weekend mornings.   I'm a night owl by nature and spend the wee hours in the morning working on various creative and "start my own company" type projects.  By the time the weekend rolls around I'm beyond ready to sleep until the clock reads PM.   However, I also love breakfast food and most places do not serve breakfast until the hours I like to get up at on the weekend.  Recently my girlfriend brought home a few bites of leftovers from Lola, and they were definitely good enough to get up for.

A few weekends ago, I was actually up at a reasonable time and we decided to head over for brunch.   They had just updated their menu for the Fall, and there were plenty of delicious sounding things to be had.   I opted for the short rib hash which was a generous portion of tender, flavorful pork with roasted new potatoes, smoked goat cheese, and green chili which had a very distinct flavor and a very good amount of heat.   I really can't elaborate how delicious this was.. probably the best thing I have ever had at Breakfast or Brunch!   This food was so amazing I was able to forget about the sweaty foursome sitting next to us decked-out in their Tour de France gear stinking up the place.

Keep in mind this review is for Brunch only-- I can't vouch for what it's like in the evenings, but I get the feeling I would probably hate it.  I'm not really big on going to "places to be seen" as I'm not an attention whore, so I could care less about that.  

One last note- it seemed to start getting pretty packed at 11:30 or so, so I'd advise getting there earlier than that if possible.