Elvis's beloved Fool's Gold Loaf sandwich was born in Denver
Did you know that Elvis, who left the building for good 35 years ago today, once flew all the way to Denver in the middle of the night just for a sandwich? Well, he did -- true story. But this was no ordinary sandwich. This was the Fool's Gold Loaf, a ginormous, artery-hardening contraption conceived and featured at the long-defunct Colorado Mine Company in Glendale, a restaurant run by Buck and Cindy Scott that was once a prime hangout for media types, politicians, cops... and Elvis.
Dave Herrera You can still order a Fool's Gold Loaf sandwich from Nick Andurlakis,
See also:
- Retired Denver Police Captain Jerry Kennedy on the time Elvis bought him a Lincoln
- John Bucci on being the proud owner of the church pew Elvis once sat in at Holy Family
- Retired Denver police officer Bob Cantwell on The King's "nurse" making a house call
- Bob Kortz on tracking down a black diamond for The King in the middle of the night
When we first heard about the sandwich, we thought it sounded positively disgusting. But we've since tried it, and, well, it tastes precisely like you'd expect it to taste -- like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chunks of bacon. The official recipe calls for two tablespoons of margarine, one loaf of French bread, one pound of bacon, one jar of peanut butter and one jar of grape jelly (Dickinson's blueberry preserve, to be precise, but that's no longer available). Basically, you take the bread, bathe it in butter on all sides, bake it, gut it, then fill the inside with peanut butter and jelly -- and bacon, sans grease, which you absorb between two paper towels.
Steve Brown The Colorado Mine Company logo as it appeared on one of the original menus.
Nick Andurlakis, owner of Nick's Café in Lakewood, helped create the sandwich while he was working at the Colorado Mine Company. Knowing The King's well-publicized love of the PB&J sandwiches his mom used to make, Andurlakis suggested the Fool's Gold Loaf to Elvis one night when he was in town, and he later had the distinction of hand-delivering a platter of the gooey goodness to The King himself when his private plane sat on the tarmac at Stapleton Airport.
Nick Andurlakis still serves up Fool's Gold Loaf sandwiches at Nick's Cafe.
To get a taste of Elvis's beloved sandwich yourself, stop by Nick's, where he'll treat you just like The King and maybe even regale you with some Elvis stories while you marvel at all of the Elvis memorabilia lining the walls. The café is also selling a special Fool's Gold pendant that jeweler Bob Kortz -- who once procured a 3.5-carat black diamond for The King in the mid-'70s, then roused a Vail jeweler to set it -- has created to commemorate the anniversary today.
See one the original Colorado Mine Company menus and read more about Andurlakis's memories of delivering Fool's Gold sandwiches to Elvis, as well as stories about Elvis from Kortz and retired police officers Jerry Kennedy and Bob Cantwell on the Backbeat blog.
A version of this story appeared in yesterday's Cafe Bites, our weekly e-mail newsletter covering Denver's food and drink scene. Find out how to sign up here.
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Nick's Cafe
777 Simms St., Golden, CO
Category: Restaurant
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