A month after Dan Gibbs took over as head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, he ate breakfast with one of his predecessors, Ken Salazar.

They sat in a booth at Racines Restaurant less than 10 blocks south of the state Capitol.

Gibbs had been appointed by Gov. Jared Polis, who took office in 2019.

Salazar ran the state agency during Gov. Roy Romer’s second term in office, beginning in 1991. Salazar went on to become Colorado attorney general, a U.S. senator and President Obama’s first secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

A political icon dining at a political icon.

News that the owners of Racines plan to shut the doors in January and take a well-deserved retirement was heartbreaking enough. But the idea that the property will be redeveloped and won’t be a restaurant anymore is really tough for its fans.

So much will be missed. The patio. The parking. The politicos. The pundits.

“It’s still my favorite breakfast place. That’s so sad and a loss for us all,” former Denver Post Editor Gregory Moore said on Facebook.

“The most interesting thing about having breakfast there was always to look around and see who was there and who was at their table,” former Aurora City Councilman Bob Roth also noted on Facebook.

Another Colorado icon, Westword editor Patricia Calhoun, broke the story. She was known to have lunch at Racines with her former Colorado Inside Out comrades, Peter Boyles and Tom Tancredo, or Sunday brunch with foodies such as Bill St. John and John Imbergamo.

“Owners Lee Goodfriend and David Racine had been thinking about closing their last restaurant for some time,” Calhoun wrote on April 2.

“After all, they’d founded their first, Goodfriends, more than four decades ago, then went on to open Racines at 850 Bannock Street and the downtown Dixons (named after late partner Dixon Staples), before finally building a replacement for the original Racines at 650 Sherman Street over fifteen years ago.”

It will come as no surprise to Racines regulars that the first customer in the door of Racines’ new location on Sherman was Tim Jackson, the man in charge at the Colorado Auto Dealers Association.

The ongoing coronavirus crisis, which led to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock ordering restaurants closed on March 16, didn’t play a role in the decision to sell the place, the owners said. But it has given Goodfriend and Racine a taste of what life will be like without regularly seeing their staff and customers.

When the coronavirus ban is lifted, Racines will begin what Westword calls “its long goodbye” until it closes Jan. 15.

Social media already is filled with memories of Racines.

Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn: “My most memorable lunch there was in 2014, where I met with former police chief Ari Zavaras to ask him to be the campaign treasurer for my City Council run.”

Margaret Atencio: “As a political newbie, I used to go there to see the scions of power huddle.”

Former House Speaker Frank McNulty: “Over lunch at Racines, House clerk Marilyn Eddins and I had our first significant discussion about pushing forward with the historic renovation of the state House chamber. Racines is a political landmark and will be missed. Every time I went in there I said hello to someone I knew from Colorado’s political or policy world.”

Lori Gudermeth Weigel: “It was also home to the post-theater crowds for actors., etc., and very inclusive.”

Dennis Huspeni: “So many Society of Professional Journalist outings there with Cara DeGette, Douglas Belland others. Sad4 sure.”

Attorney General Phil Weiser: “You would see a who’s who of Denver and Colorado leaders, and they remembered you. I will treasure the camaraderie and collaboration that I always felt there.”

In recent years, I visited Racines enough that if I stopped and said hello to someone, by the time I got to my table an ice tea would be waiting for me. But it was nothing like, say, lobbyist Josh Hanfling or retired City Hall worker Marty Flaum.

It just seemed like I was there all the time because I couldn’t stop myself from taking pictures of customers I knew and posting them on Facebook. That includes you, J.D. Key. I mentioned Racines so much on social media that when my brother and his wife visited from out of state they excitedly asked if we would get to eat breakfast there.

For the longest time I thought Lee Goodfriend and David Racine were married. They are, but not to each other. They jokingly informed me they only fight like they are married.

It was at Racines where Republican strategist Katie Behnke and journalist Tina Griego turned me on to the joys of the nutty cheese salad, dotted with sliced bananas, cashews, toasted almonds, sunflower seeds, and two kinds of cheeses – thankfully one wasn’t that horrid goat cheese.

One weekend I saw Dan Hopkins, the former spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, at Racines with his family. I knew what they were celebrating – Dan and my Mom share a birthday.

Five of us Rocky Mountain News alums – Deb Goeken, Tonia Twichell, Tustin Amole, Kim Young and myself – would regularly gather at Racines for brunch. We continued after Tustin moved to Cortez.

From my Oct. 13, 2019, Facebook post:

“I never remember to take a picture with the Rocky crew when we are at Racines, but today Patrick Teegarden stopped by our table just after I got out my phone to text my sister so he did the honors,” I wrote. “Tustin, it’s not the same without you. Deb, I forgot to bring your birthday card!”

Teegarden works for the Colorado Department of Labor so he is swamped these days, as the agency deals with unprecedented unemployment claims. Even if restaurants hadn’t been ordered closed, he likely wouldn’t have time to dine there right now.

After news of the Racines sale broke, several friends asked where my next hangout will be.

Too soon, folks; way too soon.