Tocabe hosts U.S. Census blessing today

It's that time of the decade again -- time to stand up and get counted by the U.S. Census. But this round, the federal agency is doing something a little different with its Native American outreach/road tour. It's braking at Tocabe, where it will hold a reception today.

"We did a general road tour last time," says spokeswoman Deborah Cameron, "but we realized that we do have so many tribal lands that are in our region, and we saw what a success it was in 2000 in general, and we thought this was a great way to reach out to those tribal lands."

Today at 10 a.m. at "The Wheel" outside of the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue, the Census vehicle will be blessed by both Tribal and Christian religious leaders, and attendees can get a sense of what goes into the Census tour -- and why it's important to be counted.

After that, the first stop on the Census tour is Tocabe, 3536 West 44th Avenue, the native American restaurant that was a hit almost from the moment it opened in late fall 2008.

The mother of Tocabe owner Ben Jacobs works for the Census Bureau in Washington as a Tribal Partnership Coordinator -- but that's not why the feds are stopping by Tocabe, Cameron says. "We were given very strong feedback from the Native community that Tocabe is an authentic Native American restaurant as well as a really wonderful place in the Denver community for fellowship among Natives."

Which is the entire point of the reception: "We'll have people join there, network and socialize," Cameron adds. "It's just a place for fellowship."

And good food.

Find more information on the Census at www.census.gov, and you can get more information on Tocabe at 720-524-8282.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.