The Twelve Tastiest Events on the Culinary Calendar This Weekend

This weekend you can enjoy the culinary arts at Artopia, head to prom, roll sushi and a joint, sip a limited release marg or dive into Denver Restaurant Week. Keep reading for a taste of whats on the culinary calendar this weekend.  

Friday, February 20

Denver Restaurant Week starts today. Restaurants all over Denver will be offering special, multi-course meals for a fixed price of $30 per person. The eating orgy runs through March 1; for more information, including menus and participating restaurants, head over to denver.org. 

A Coppola Wines rep will guide guests at the Cherokee Ranch and Castle through a wine and food pairing from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight, when they can sample limited production Coppola wines, paired with hors d'oeuvres, all in the Castle's Great Hall. Tickets are $69; for more information click here. 

James McWilliams, author of The Modern Savage and professor at Texas State University, will be giving a speech entitled “The Myth of Humane Meat and Our Unthinking Decision to Eat Animals” at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Clubhouse at 3030 O’Neal Parkway in Boulder. It's sponsored by the Boulder and Denver Vegan Meetup Group, and admission is $5 to $10; for more information, click here. McWilliams will also be speaking at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Rocky Mountain Miracle Center, 1939 South Monroe Street.

Everyone knows that food and weed go together like two peas in a pod, but you've never paired the two like this before: Green Labs is holding a sushi and joint rolling class at 7 p.m. today. Wine will also be available. Tickets are $65; for more information, click here.

Steve's Snappin' Dogs is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this weekend with free food for customers, including Twinkies and cupcakes, limeade and samples of its new beer: Steve's Snappin' Ale, brewed by Bull & Bush.

Saturday, February 21

Bristol Brewing is hosting the eleventh annual Firkin Rendezvous from 1 to 6 p.m. in its fermentation room to benefit the Colorado Brewers Guild. The event will feature one-of-a-kind, cask-conditioned ales from 37 Colorado craft breweries; Bristol Brewing has created two cask ales for the event: Winter Warlock Barrel Aged with Vanilla Bean and El Darillo Imperial IPA. Both of them will only be available at the festival. Tickets are $35 or $10 for designated drivers; grab yours here.  

LUPEC Denver is hosting Fire & Ice Prom 2015, benefiting the Prom Dress Exchange,  a local non-profit that provides gently used formal wear for students who otherwise would not be able to afford to attend prom. Fire & Ice will be at Syntax Physic Opera, and will feature all the things you remember from prom: dancing, corsages, boutonnieres, photo booth pictures and formal wear, as well as a silent auction and lots of cocktails (all legal this time). The prom starts at 7 p.m. and will run until midnight; there is a $10 suggested donation and LUPEC Denver is asking attendees to bring unneeded formal wear, shoes and accessories. For more information, click here.

Perfect Pairings 2.0 "Romanced Re-imagined" will bring wine, chocolate, food, sommeliers and a live art show to Larkspur in Vail from 6 to 10 p.m. this evening. Larkspur chefs will prepare eight dishes that will be paired with with selected wines by certified sommelier Jarrett Osborn and other local wine experts. Tickets are $200 per person or $350 per couple; visit vailsymposium.org to get yours.

Celebrate the culinary arts as well as music, fashion and visual art at Artopia, Westword's annual arts extravaganza. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and tickets will be $50 at the door — but you can still get them for $30 here through February 20.

Sunday, February 22

Today is National Margarita Day and the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant is celebrating by bringing back its blood orange margaritas through March 15. For more on National Margarita Day, click here.

Book Bar is hosting a wine dinner and book signing with Connie Ruel, restaurateur and author of Passions of a Restaurateur, at 6 p.m. today. There will be five courses, all paired with wines. The dinner is $65 per person and reservations are required; call 720-443-2227.

Atticus will be teaming up with Crazy Mountain Brewery for a community-style dinner at 6:30 p.m. featuring a lineup of beers paired with food cooked by chef Matt Mine. The "Hogs & Hops" menu will feature a whole roasted hog, red beans and rice, cornbread, caramel bacon popcorn and three Crazy Mountain Beer pairings; there's also a kid's menu. Dinner is $45 for adults and $10 for kids; for reservations, call 720-459-8273. 

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings — and if you have information for a culinary event you'd like included in our online calendar, send it to [email protected].

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