You might have noticed that some of the longstanding disputes in cooking are dualities, one side pitched as a better choice against one other: unsalted or salted butter, for example, or seasoned cast iron versus non-stick. The Crockpot or the Instant Pot? Russets or waxies? To salt at the beginning of a braise, or towards the end? To bake on a silicone sheet or parchment paper?

Truth be told, all of these are false dilemmas, because appropriate in-between ways also exist, or, in many cases, out-of-the-box third or fourth choices. So, it goes.

However, one debate has persisted as a duality for decades, centuries even, which is whether to soak dried beans — or not, and merely cook them straightaway.

The soaking is overnight or for hours, or some sort of “quick soak” such as to cover them with water, bring them to a boil, turn off the heat and wait an hour.

All the old-time cookbooks in my library (The American Woman’s Cook Book, 1930; Mrs. Rorer’s Philadelphia Cook Book, 1886; The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1896; Joy of Cooking, 1931; even James Beard’s Theory & Practice of Good Cooking, 1977) stipulate an overnight or a 12-hour soak, in oft-italicized “soft” water as finger-waving emphasis. (Some also second what Beard calls “a quick treatment,” which is the boil-and-let-stand option.)

Another dilemma is when to salt the beans, if at all. Generations of grandmothers warn never to salt the beans until the cooking is done, else the tough skins never soften fully. Nowadays, a legion of food scientists admonishes to salt the soaking water before boiling precisely to soften the skins and to guarantee soft, pillowy insides. (I salt as I voted when I lived in Chicago, early and often.)

My favorite bean counter, Steve Sando, owner and farmer at Rancho Gordo in Napa, California (and from whom I purchase all my heirloom dried beans and whose recipe I prepared and tested for this column) has been cooking dried beans for so long that he has taught himself and his pots what he has found best.

Here’s what he says: “My current, and so far fool-proof, technique is: soaked or not, bring the beans and water up to a full boil and keep it there for 15, maybe even 20 minutes. Not a gentle simmer but a rapid boil.

“This initial bullying makes it clear to the beans that you are in charge and there’s no turning back. Then reduce the heat as low as you can take it. If you’re in a hurry, a nice simmer is fine. If you’re cooking for pleasure, the gentlest of simmers is best. Low and slow and loaded with love.”

DocuVault, a records management company, has bought the West Sixth Commerce Center in Lakewood for $17.8 million.

Gart Properties/Elkco Properties, represented by Stream Realty Partners, sold the 154,950-square-foot building at 11111 W. Sixth Ave. DocuVault will use 52,877 square feet and lease the rest of the building, Stream Realty said in a statement.

The property has historically been marketed to and leased by retail businesses. Stream Realty said it was hired to target industrial users for the space. The deal was completed in four months.

“With sub-three percent vacancy and strong owner/user demand in the West submarket, we were confident that industrial users would be attracted to West Sixth Commerce Center,” said Buzz Miller, Stream Realty senior associate.

The property is in an enterprise zone and is adjacent to U.S. 6. DocuVault was represented by Citywide Commercial Properties and Lincoln Property Company.

A new apartment complex in Uptown cited as an example of a “win-win” between preservation and development interests has changed hands.

Chicago-based AMLI Residential purchased the 316-unit complex at 1633 N. Pearl St. in Denver last week for $181 million, according to public records.

Formerly known as Bespoke Uptown, the complex has now been rebranded AMLI at Uptown. The deal, which did not include the project’s retail space, works out to $572,584 a unit.

The complex, which tops out at 10 stories, was developed by Nashville-based Southern Land Co. and opened in January. It spans the entire west side of the 1600 block of Pearl Street.

The property was previously home to a large mid-block parking lot, with a small apartment building to the south and the Tavern Uptown restaurant building and an adjacent commercial building to the north.

Southern Land purchased the site in 2015 for $11.5 million, records show, from Denver-based Tavern Hospitality Group, which operates the Tavern chain.

Southern Land originally planned to demolish the Tavern building. But neighbors pushed back against the idea.

The owner of the former Loretto Heights campus in the southwest area of the city has sold about a third of the site to a Denver-based homebuilder.

Thrive Home Builders paid $14.4 million, according to public records, for what CEO Gene Myers described as about 25 acres along the north and west edges of the campus.

The company plans to build 322 homes, some detached and some townhomes.

“Our hope is that this will be a real asset to the neighborhood,” Myers said, adding construction could start mid-2022.

Glendale-based Westside Investment Partners, led by Andy Klein, bought the 72-acre Loretto Heights campus in2018 for $16.5 million.

The campus’ educational roots date to the 1890s, when the site was home to girls’ school Loretto Heights Academy, run by the Catholic religious order Sisters of Loretto. Elementary and secondary programs were phased out in the 1940s, and the school became known as Loretto Heights College.

That school closed in the late 1980s, and Japan-based Teikyo University Group purchased the property and operated it as Colorado Heights University until 2017.

The land was rezoned in May, paving the way for major redevelopment. One project is already underway. The 72-unit Pancratia Hall is being renovated for use as income-restricted housing, and is expected to open by the end of the year.

Klein said more than 200 meetings were hosted for residents to provide comments on the development plans over the last few years.

“The input from the community has been overwhelming and amazing,” he said. “What we envision is a neighborhood plan crafted by the community and a process that facilitates discussion with the neighbors.”

More deals are in the works. Denver-based multifamily developer Grand Peaks is expected to close on another part of the campus later this month. Klein said he’s also looking to bring in a grocery store, although no deal has been finalized.

In total, Klein said he hopes 1,000 residential units will be built on the Loretto Heights campus. According to a development agreement with the city, at least 12 percent of all residential units on the land must be income-restricted. Thrive is expected to keep about 14 of the units it builds within that lower price range.

In addition, Denver voters will be asked in November to decide whether to dedicate $30 million to rehabilitating the 1,000-seat May Bonfils Stanton Theater, which is also located on the campus.

“I didn’t even know this when we bought it, but the Loretto campus is a huge part of a lot of people’s lives,” Klein said. “A lot of people have been involved and have been to the campus for various weddings and events.”

Westside is also trying to develop the land at the former Park Hill Golf Club, which shuttered in 2018. The effort has led to dual ballot measures this November — one backed by Westside and one backed by individuals who want the course to stay as some form of open space.

Marco Albertin and Tony Hopson, both natives of Italy, long for the days eating dinner at their nonnas’ houses.

“It was the happiest times of our lives seeing our grandfathers with a glass of wine in their hands,” Hopson said. “For most Italians, we wish that on everybody.”

So, they’ve decided to bring Italy to Tennyson Street.

This week, the business partners are opening Voghera Ristorante & Apericena, an Italian small plates restaurant, at 3963 Tennyson St. The unit was previously home to The Way Back, which closed last year due to the pandemic.

“If we could share some of the happy times we had with that Italian lifestyle in Milan or Livorno, where my nonna is from, if we could pass that on to our neighbors here, that’s it.”

Albertin named the restaurant after his hometown of Voghera, just 40 miles outside of Milan. He moved to Denver in 2014 after briefly living in Orlando and working for Disney. Locally, he worked at a variety of fine dining Italian restaurants, including Firenze a Tavola and Il Fornaio in the Denver Tech Center, where he met most of his current staff.

“The traditional Italian immigrant tale is when you come here, you either work for the mob or the restaurant,” Albertin said.

Hopson was born in Pisa but grew up in Denver. The business partners met while Albertin was serving at Firenze a Tavola, which is Parisi’s upscale Italian concept located in the basement of the Berkeley restaurant. Hopson was a regular, and the two quickly became friends.

When the pandemic hit, Albertin decided he was ready to start working for himself. He asked Hopson if he knew anyone who’d be interested in investing in a restaurant, and Hopson decided to jump on board himself.

Hopson works full-time as a senior manager at Cisco, so “Marco will run the business, and I’ll drive profits,” he said. The duo has also brought on their wives Nicole and Diane to help.

Albertin landed on the idea to open an “apericena,” which in Italian is a cross between happy hour and dinner. It was popularized in Milan, and is an informal dining experience with small plates, wines and cocktails.

He plans to open the restaurant Monday through Saturday, starting with an “aperitivo” or happy hour from 3-5 p.m. and followed by an “apericena” from 5-9:30 p.m. The bar will stay open until 11 p.m. or midnight.

Voghera will serve Italian cocktails, such as Aperol spritz and negronis, and wines from 20 different regions of Italy “that you can’t typically find in a liquor store,” Albertin said.

The restaurant will have a rotating menu, with dishes such as squash and gorgonzola bruschetta in the fall, risottos and soups in the winter, and seafood and charcuterie in the summer. Homemade pastas, as well as dessert made by a French-trained pastry chef, will be available year-round.

Next year, Albertin said they plan to launch a “Giro D’Italia” dinner program. It will highlight food and drinks specific to a different region of Italy each month, “sort of like Stanley Tucci does on his new show,” Albertin said.

The co-owners designed the space to have an informal area with a bar up front, a semi-formal area with more tables in the middle, and a formal area in the back with white table cloths, velvet booths and intimate lighting. They’ve also added decorative details from home, including Hopson’s grandmother’s plates from the 18th century.

“When you are here, you are coming to my living room, not my restaurant,” Albertin said. “Put down your phone, enjoy a glass of wine and plate you’ve never heard of, and be a good neighbor.”

The group living amendment to the Denver zoning code was honed with input from thousands of Denver residents over years before it was adopted by the City Council in February, city leaders say.

Members of Safe and Sound Denver, a group that came together to oppose those changes, say the city didn’t do enough to educate residents about what the voluminous overhaul to city rules does. It’s not just about allowing more unrelated adults to live together.

With Referred Question 2F on the Nov. 2 ballot, they are asking voters to repeal the amendment.

“There are significant and weighty aspects to this group living amendment conversation that are being ignored and to me, that’s not due process. That’s not right,” 2F supporter and campaign volunteer Florence Sebern said.

The amendment makes several changes to the way Denver regulates group living within its borders.

• It increases the number of unrelated adults who can share a home to five up from two. The previous cap was among the lowest in the country for big cities and was viewed as a barrier to people living in Denver where rents have skyrocketed over the last decade-plus.
• It updated the definition of “residential care facilities” and consolidated a number of different uses under that definition, including shelters, assisted living and nursing homes, and community corrections facilities, sometimes known as halfway houses. It regulates the facilities by size, requiring community meetings around larger facilities.
• It increased the areas where community corrections facilities can be established from just downtown and industrial zones to commercial corridors around the city.

A large coalition has formed to oppose 2F under the name Keep Denver Housed. Mayor Michael Hancock, 10 of the city’s 13 City Council members, affordable housing advocates and service providers are backing that group.

Hancock said 2F would be a step backward in the city’s efforts to increase housing density, something he heard was a priority from residents when the city was gathering input for its 2040 comprehensive plan.

“I think there is a lot of fear-mongering around this bill that is unfortunate and, quite frankly, detrimental to a city that is using equity as its north star,” Hancock said.

Sebern and other 2F supporters say repeal is necessary so the city can break down the changes into manageable parts that the average voter can understand and form an opinion around.

Denver Post sports writer Patrick Saunders with the latest installment of his Rockies Mailbag.

Pose a Rockies — or MLB — related question for the Rockies Mailbag.

With the Padres doing another faceplant and then firing (manager) Jayce Tingler, do you think they would ever consider hiring Bud Black away from the Rockies?
— Chad, Laguna Hills, Calif.

Chad, until you brought this up, I had not even thought about it. Now I’m thinking about it a little more.

First of all, Black is under contract with the Rockies through next season and he has every intention of finishing out his deal. However, according to team president Greg Feasel, there have been no talks about a contract extension.

Having said that, I did discuss the possibility of Black going to the Padres with someone who’s closely connected to the Rockies and who talks to Black on a regular basis. His point was that Black, even though he’s 64, would bring the type of leadership and stability the Padres need right now. San Diego still has a lot of talent, even though it was squandered this season.

Black managed the Padres from 2007 through the first 65 games of the 2015 season before he was fired by general manager A.J. Preller. Tingler, by the way, was the fourth manager Preller has fired in Preller’s seven-plus seasons.

Black lives in Castle Pines during the season but his offseason home is near San Diego. If the Padres come calling, now or in the near future, I think Black would listen. He loves San Diego and his grandchildren live there.

Realistically, however, I don’t think the Rockies would let go of Black and I don’t know if Preller would even consider him as a candidate.

With Bill Schmidt taking over as the GM, what is the expectation, timeline-wise, for the Rockies to see success before fans/media put him on the hot seat? I’m hopeful — but doubtful — this will work with Schmidt.
— Carson, Denver

Carson, I’m cautiously hopeful, too. But the Rockies have a lot of holes to fill, as I pointed out in my end-of-season story.

Mincing words is not in Nathan MacKinnon’s extraordinary skill set.

The Avalanche superstar center burns hot on the ice, and as a teammate, if your effort doesn’t match his, the three-time Hart Trophy finalist will have something to say.

“Sometimes you gotta have some thick skin,” young Avs defenseman Bo Byram said.

If a teammate in practice fails to handle a clean pass, he might hear from MacKinnon. If he puts a pass in MacK’s skates or behind him more than once, he’s bound to say something.

It’s tough-love leadership, and the Avs say they fully embrace it.

“It’s a feisty leadership style,” coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon, who was placed on the COVID-19 protocol Tuesday and will not play in Wednesday’s season opener. “I think there’s a lot of positives to it because you make sure that your brain is turned on and that you’re ready to compete when practice starts. I think he’s got maybe too tough of standards at times, but he’s pushing and driving the best out of our group. And I would say most of time when he’s saying something — it may come off as abrasive sometimes but he’s not wrong.”

MacKinnon can draw a straight line to the moment everything changed for him.

It came five seasons ago, three years after he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. He was 21 years old and coming off a season that saw him log just 16 goals and 53 points in 82 games. Even worse, the Avs finished 22-56-4 — last in the league.

Feeling lousy about his play, MacKinnon devoted himself to training harder, eating better and raising the bar in everything he did. In the process, he became more vocal and more demanding of those around him.

“When I do that, I have to play well. I have to play hard, practice hard and work on things. I can’t talk the talk and not walk the walk,” MacKinnon told The Post. “I try to do everything I can to be prepared and be the best player I can be. I made that switch five years ago and it kind of changed my career. I guess I try to pass that along. But I’m not as serious as everyone thinks. I joke around a lot. I’m one of the boys. I just get fired up on the ice.”

That intensity boiled over after the Avs’ season-ending Game 6 playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last June.

Fuming after the franchise’s third consecutive second-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, one that ended with four consecutive losses following a 6-0 start to the postseason, MacKinnon was asked about the team’s future. And his frustration boiled over.

“There’s always next year. It’s all we talk about, I feel like,” he said in a postgame conference call on June 10. “I’m going into my ninth year next year and I haven’t won (expletive). Definitely motivated. Just sucks losing four in a row to a team.”

Does that fact fuel his intensity?

“Obviously, I want to win. It was just a fact,” MacKinnon said recently. “Wasn’t a big secret. I’m not like going into the season with a huge chip on my shoulder. There’s too many games for that. I just want to play with a good mindset, a good headspace, and being calm is the way to go for me.”

MacKinnon has always been highly competitive. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and played major-junior in his hometown for the Halifax Mooseheads. He got fired up on the ice back then, too. He also backed it up with big games at the highest levels.

MacKinnon had three goals and five points in his final junior game — a 6-4 win over the Portland Winterhawks in the Memorial Cup championship on May 26, 2013. He was the leading scorer in the tournament with seven goals and 13 points in just four games, including six goals and nine points in two games against Portland and defenseman Seth Jones, who was the No. 4 overall pick in the ensuing NHL draft.

His coach at the time was Dominique Ducharme, now the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

“He’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around,” Ducharme said of MacKinnon last week. “I could tell within two minutes what kind of game he was going to have. You put him in a big game, an important game, and there’s no doubt he’s going to show up and have a big performance. He’s a hell of a competitor, so it’s more that aspect of him that makes him so great.”

A month after the Memorial Cup, the Avs backed off selecting Jones and chose MacKinnon with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft. Not long after, he was with the big club in Colorado.

Former Avalanche forward John Mitchell played with MacKinnon for four seasons through 2016-17. He witnessed MacKinnon enter the league at age 18 and help Patrick Roy’s first team as a coach win 52 games and reach 112 points before losing in the first round of the playoffs.

The Avs slipped to just 39 wins in each of the next two seasons. Mitchell saw MacKinnon get ultra-competitive.

“His want to win is paramount, and sometimes that can rub certain individuals — whether it’s players on your team, staff members, whoever — the wrong way,” Mitchell said. “But I think Nate has nothing but good intentions. All he wants is the best for his teammates, management, staff, and himself, to eventually win the Stanley Cup.

“That’s Nate’s sole goal, sole focus right now. The Avs have a pretty decent window, a great core group of guys, and depth. Their time to win is now. Nate’s no dummy. He knows that … you better believe he’s going to take everything he has in him to get to that point.”

Avalanche prospect Justin Barron is also from Halifax, and he skates with MacKinnon and others, including Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchan, in the summer. Barron was asked if MacKinnon ever turns that competitive switch off during the offseason.

“Not really,” Barron said. “He brings that intensity every skate of the summer and I think it’s great. Sometimes I think summer skates can get a little bit casual but I think having him out there, and guys like Sidney Crosby and Drake Batherson, it helps keep that intensity level high and it helps every one to get better.”

That drive to improve next stops for MacKinnon, and it’s evident to anyone who visits the team’s training facility.

Losing Gabe Landeskog in free agency would have forced the Avalanche into a rebuild. Just not the kind that word generally calls to mind.

The Avs would have to rebuild, and rebrand, their locker-room leadership structure.

An eight-year, $56 million contract on the first day of free agency in July prevented that. Thus, Landeskog is again Colorado’s first-line left wing, team captain and voice of reason. The Swede who speaks English with no accent is beginning his 11th season in Colorado, and 10th as captain.

“To have Landy signed and back here long-term, I think that’s only going to benefit this organization immensely,” said former Avalanche forward John Mitchell, who played for the club from 2012 to ’17.

In terms of leadership, the Avs would have lost too much if they had not brought Landeskog, 28, back. He was the club’s primary free-agent concern over goalie Philipp Grubauer, whom the Avs couldn’t afford, and eventually left to join the expansion Seattle Kraken. Landeskog oversees the locker room dynamic with alternate captains Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson, with Mikko Rantanen donning the “A” for the oft-injured Johnson most of last season.

MacKinnon leads by example and can be vocally hard on teammates. Johnson and Rantanen are more apt to voice their opinions playfully, yet stern. Landeskog takes various approaches and has the final word.

“He’s the chief. He’s the head honcho in that dressing room,” Mitchell said of Landeskog. “Nate, he can get fired up. When you’re that competitive you hold your teammates accountable. He’s not being arrogant or inconsiderate. He wants the best out of every single guy in the locker room. He wants to win.

“Some people, when they get hot, they see red and say or do things they might regret. That’s where Gabe is such a good leader. He has been since he stepped into the league, and even when he was in junior. That speaks volumes of the type of person he is and the type of leadership qualities he possesses.”

If Landeskog had signed elsewhere, MacKinnon or Rantanen — or perhaps Cale Makar or Devon Toews — would have been given the “C.” They’re all great players, but would any of them have been ready for that responsibility?

It seems MacKinnon, the superstar, needs Landeskog, and Landeskog needs MacKinnon.

“In the heat of the moment, I can be demanding on the bench. I’m not perfect at all, either,” MacKinnon said. “Gabe and I bring different (leadership) styles. I can definitely get emotional, for sure. Definitely try to tone that down but I just get caught up in the game. I’m very competitive.”

After coming out to a hot 3-0 start, the Broncos have simmered down and lost their last two, including Sunday’s 24-16 defeat in Pittsburgh.

The plus side: receiver Courtland Sutton looks like he’s returning to his Pro Bowl form after pulling in seven catches for 120 yards and a spectacular touchdown on his 26th birthday.

Next up: The Raiders come into town in a matchup between two teams with back-to-back losses following 3-0 starts. One thing the Broncos have as an advantage: At least they still have their coach.

Here’s a look at how various national experts rated the Broncos in their power rankings entering Week 6:

Bleacher Report (No. 15) | Last week: No. 15

“Denver didn’t necessarily play badly against the Steelers. The yardage totals were nearly even, and Teddy Bridgewater had a solid outing with 288 yards and two scores. But it was Pittsburgh who made big plays when it mattered, and the Broncos just couldn’t shut down Najee Harris and the Steelers ground game.” See the full rankings.

CBS Sports (No. 18) | Last week: No. 15

“They were sluggish until late in the loss to the Steelers. They’ve lost two straight after a 3-0 start. Maybe the last two weeks is who they really are as a team,” Pete Prisco writes. See the full rankings.

ESPN (No. 15) | Last week: No. 14

“Hinton just keeps moving up the developmental curve with hard work and simply being ready when the Broncos need him. He gained a slice of fame last year when he was forced to play quarterback against the Saints when all of the Broncos’ quarterbacks missed the game for violation of COVID-19 protocols. He opened the season on the practice squad again, but when Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler each suffered injuries, he was promoted. His toe-tap reception along the sideline for a key third-down conversion in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh, along with his first career touchdown earlier in the quarter, were two examples of how far he has come,” Jeff Legwold writes. See the full rankings.

NFL.com (No. 19) | Last week: No. 16

“Inefficiency in the red zone plagued Teddy Bridgewater during his one season with the Panthers. You could make the case that Bridgewater, not Sam Darnold, would still be Matt Rhule’s QB in Charlotte had he not made so many backbreaking mistakes near the goal line. Fast-forward to the present day, and Bridgewater has brought this problem to Denver. Facing an eight-point deficit in the final minute on Sunday, the Broncos failed in four cracks from inside the Pittsburgh 10. The final play was the clincher, a poorly thrown ball picked off by the Steelers with 11 seconds to play. In these crucible moments, Teddy simply needs to be better,” Dan Hanzus writes. See the full rankings.

Sporting News (No. 18) | Last week: No. 16

“The Broncos had a great start against previous winless teams but the Ravens and Steelers have been a wake-up call to realize they are more of a mediocre team with a limited offense and inflated defense. Don’t let the early record fool you; they are far behind the Chargers and Chiefs in the division,” Vinnie Iyer writes. See the full rankings.