Sizzle and steak.

• Author: Rose, S. Mariah
• Position: The restaurant scene in Colorado - Industry Overview

Colorado's restaurants are just about the nation's hottest. Denver's are even hotter.

You want reservations at Denver's Rainforest Cafe. You call and listen to a female voice exclaiming that the care is a "wild place to shop and eat." The voice describes the kids' Wild Bunch Munch menu and Banshee Screamer Sunday, and tells you that the cafe's sweepstakes are ending! You are given eight dialing options, including "membership information." You press zero and listen to an undulating Brazilian pop tune.

All this excitement, and you haven't visited the restaurant yet! Hey, just wait till you see its waterfalls, aquarium archway, dry-ice atmospherics, live parrots and animatronic alligator!

If this sounds like marketing overkill, think again. Rainforest Cafe's full-bore sales pitch may go over the top, but not by much. The Colorado restaurant biz is flashier, glitzier and more cutthroat than ever, with rocketing growth here culling losers quickly and showering winners with cash. Even in places where bread still takes precedence over circuses, the restaurant business is more of a scramble than ever.

In one corner are the national chains hooking to the heated Colorado economy to shore up their sagging balance sheets. In the other corner are independents statewide striving to offer both sizzle and steak in the race to attract and retain patrons and staff.

In the end it could be the fundamentals - good food, good service, good location - that divide winners from losers.

How hot is Colorado's dining industry? The state ranked first nationally in annual bar and restaurant employment growth through third quarter 1998. The Colorado Restaurant Association forecasts a 5.7 percent rise in 1999 sales here. If you're a Colorado resident, there's a 50-50 chance you went out to eat yesterday. Or today. But tomorrow, for sure.

"Restaurants are competing for consumer dollars and competent workers in a big way," said Rob Haimson, chairman of the Colorado Restaurant Association, which reported the above numbers.

Meantime, blood is spilled.

High-toned LoDo independent Hi Picky was snuffed out by the arrival of high-concept California-based chain P.F. Chang's. Long-time downtown favorite Brasserie Z lost lunch business to the Denver Pavilions, but is gaining it back.

Yet Marlowe's, the Denver mainstay located across from Pavilions, has never been busier, said Microsoft Sidewalk Denver restaurant critic Bill St. John.

St. John attributes successes like Marlowe's to...