BAR: WHITE CHOCOLATE GRILL

The White Chocolate Grill is an unlikely name for the straightforward American restaurant at the Vistas at Park Meadows mall. Bobby Fitzgerald, who once ran Bandera in Cherry Creek North, started this small chain seven years ago in Phoenix, where so many restaurants take their first steps. The American Girl doll store is across the way in Park Meadows, and the restaurant has embraced it as a “Doll Friendly” neighbor, with high chairs for the dolls and many doll specials. But the doll thing comes down mostly on weekend afternoons. By night, WCG is a well-designed boothy room with an open kitchen and breathtaking bar where people sit on risers to face the colorful back bar, its hues coming from straight rows of hundreds of colored liquor bottles. Skyy makes a row of blue, Ketel Lemon a yellow, Belvedere a shimmering white.

GRILLED: MAGGIE ROSWELL

Maggie Roswell, 58, has been settled in Centennial for the past 17 years with her husband and daughter, but her voice is still in Los Angeles. When “The Simpsons” began 23 years ago, she was the voice of Maude Flanders (who was killed off by a T-shirt cannon, an event brought on by a salary dispute), then Helen Lovejoy, Miss Hoover, Luann Van Houten and others. Roswell now gets to record her parts from her in-house studio, where her husband also creates voices and ringtones. Roswell was born and raised in Los Angeles, seventh generation, went to Catholic schools and then Los Angeles City College. She had parts on “Love American Style,” “M*A*S*H” and in assorted movies including “Pretty in Pink” and “Lost in America.” But it’s “The Simpsons” she’s known for, and it’s “The Simpsons” that she loves. She orders a white wine spritzer.

BH: Why did you move to Colorado?

Roswell: My husband, Hal, and I had just adopted our daughter, Spenser, and this was before the Internet, and we thought we could get away from everything. And I like it here, I love it. I love the weather, I love the people. Every time I go back to Los Angeles I think the stress would kill me. It’s like Charlie Sheen. That’s L.A. in a nutshell.

BH: Literally in a nutshell.

Roswell: That’s why we got out. There is too much money, too much everything. L.A. is another planet.

BH: How can you live here and be on “The Simpsons”?

Roswell: Well, I used to fly into L.A. on Thursday and fly back that night, and do that on Monday again. It was getting to be too much, too expensive, they wouldn’t give me a raise, so I quit on the 10th year. Then they killed my character, Maude Flanders. The cast was as shocked about my death as I was. Then I came back on the 13th year. Now we do a phone patch to L.A. I do it from home, and I could not be more grateful. We work from March until November, two weeks on, one week off. I get SAG insurance. It’s great. I am living the life.

BH: How do you think Ned Flanders is doing without Maude?

Roswell: OK. But Maude was such a vulnerable character. Maude and Lisa and Marge were the only vulnerable characters, really, everybody else has an edge. So they discovered that arc was lost, and now there are a lot of flashbacks with Maude.

BH: You can make so many voices. What about when you and your husband are, um, you know, intimate. Do you two make voices then?

Roswell: That’s what everyone asks us. We’re always making different voices, but that would be the only time we wouldn’t. But my husband read “Harry Potter” to our daughter using all his different voices. He was incredible.

BH: What’s it really like being on “The Simpsons”? It’s my favorite show.

Roswell: It’s such a thrill for me that I have been a part of this for 23 years. To do this show, with the actors they have, the writers, it’s a thrill.

BH: What’s your idea of perfect happiness?

Roswell: Dinner with the family around the table. That would never happen in L.A.

BH: What’s your greatest fear?

Roswell: Not remembering my perfect happiness.

BH: What trait don’t you like in yourself?

Roswell: Being too bossy.

BH: Are you very bossy?

Roswell: Oh man.

BH: What is your greatest extravagance?

Roswell: Illy coffee and The New York Times delivered daily. Forget digitally. I’ll be reading newspapers on paper until I am 100.

BH: What is your current state of mind?

Roswell: Truly happy.

BH: What’s an overrated virtue?

Roswell: Virtue itself.

BH: What don’t you like about your appearance?

Roswell: Any extra flesh.

BH: You don’t have any extra flesh.

Roswell: You don’t even know, baby.

BH: Is there a word or a phrase you overuse?

Roswell: “My darling.”

BH: Who or what is the greatest love of your life?

Roswell: My husband, my daughter and the mountains.

BH: When and where were you happiest?

Roswell: May 5, 1994, when our adoption of Spenser was finalized.

BH: What talent would you like to have?

Roswell: To paint and sculpt. I am the worst physical artist known to man.

BH: What would you change about yourself?

Roswell: My temper.

BH: What’s your greatest achievement?

Roswell: Changing voices on “The Simpsons” for 23 years.

BH: If you died and could come back as something, what would that be?

Roswell: I would come back as one of our dogs, Poncho or Cisco. We treat them like gold.

BH: Where would you like to live?

Roswell: Colorado and Italy. We’re going to Italy for a month this summer.

BH: What do you regard as the lowest depths of misery?

Roswell: The survivors in Japan are living it right now.

BH: What’s your most marked characteristic?

Roswell: My voices.

BH: Why are boys’ voices always played by women?

Roswell: Because our voices don’t change.

BH: Who are your favorite writers?

Roswell: Truman Capote, Anne Lamott, John Irving.

BH: Do you have a hero in fiction?

Roswell: Scout in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

BH: What do you most dislike?

Roswell: Math. I hate math.

BH: What do you regret?

Roswell: Not taking more business classes because of the math.

BH: Where do you like to eat?

Roswell: Italy. Here, we go to Del Frisco’s, Il Fornaio, P.F. Chang’s, Brio.

BH: Movies?

Roswell: I like everything. I go every Friday. I like to see a movie before anyone else sees it. I like to see a movie before I read a review of it.

BH: What about “Toy Story 3” being nominated this year for Best Picture?

Roswell: That was wrong. And to nominate 10 pictures this year was insane.

BH: What about shopping?

Roswell: I love shopping, but I wish there were more boutiques here. I like PJ’s on South Pearl Street. And Mariel on Larimer Square.

BH: Do you watch “The Simpsons?”

Roswell: Sometimes. Mostly we watch Showtime and HBO. “Modern Family” is one of the best shows ever. And I watch Jon Stewart every night.

BH: How would you like to die?

Roswell: I’m Maude Flanders. I’m already dead.

Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at blogs.denverpost.com/husted.