Waking up on a couch fully clothed and feeling like death warmed over is no way to start a day, yet it happens all too often. Everyone has his own remedy, but for me, nothing beats a salty, greasy breakfast.
Blurry-eyed and flat-tailed on my couch this past Saturday morning, all I could think about was the steak & eggs special at Ogden Street South (the OSS).
Strolling in at 8:30 a.m., I saw the same things I see every time I go there on a Saturday morning: Denver’s finest huddled in the corner chowing down, along with the regular group of old dudes who spend the whole morning talking politics, drinking coffee and eating breakfast. Over the years I have come to respect cops for their taste in good restaurant deals. It’s kind of like how I know that a movie is good if Harvey Keitel has a small role, or a bar is cool if it has Miller High Life on tap.
I took a seat and heard “We’ll take two Big Bloodies and a pitcher of water” from two girls sitting at a booth on my right. That reassured me that I was in the right place, even if I wasn’t hurting as much as they were. I decided to skip the Bloody Mary and go right in for the kill. My server didn’t even have time to put a menu down in front of me before I blurted out, “OJ, water, steak & eggs special, medium rare, scrambled, wheat toast, side of green chile, thanks, (grumble grumble).”
In a flash, I had a huge plate before me with meat, eggs, potatoes and a significant stack of toast. I poured green chile over the whole thing and dug in.
The steak wasn’t exactly Morton’s, but as a $7.99 Saturday-morning special, it definitely did the job. Every bite made me feel more and more human. I actually pictured Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, specifically the part where he slowly turns into the werewolf — except for me it went backward, as bite by bite I slowly transformed from Cro-Magnon to slacker.
Before long, I was just normal enough to walk home, get undressed, and sleep in a bed like a normal human.
Mission accomplished.
Ogden Street South opens at 10:30 a.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays. It’s located at 103 South Ogden Street; for info, call 303-722-0592.
