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Subject: Eating Out
Debating semantics at Silver Creek Diner
Back in the day--and I'm talking way back in the day--there was only one word to describe a place where a stranger could stop, sit down and, for a franc or two, get himself something to eat. That word was restaurant (based on the word restaurer and taken, like everything else would be forever after, from the French). The first one in the Western world that welcomed the public and had some similarity to the restaurants we recognize today? It was in Paris--a soup restaurant opened by a
October 13, 2009Another Asian joint arriving on Alameda
Lori MidsonThe future site of Asian Diner Directly across the street from Swing Thai, less than a block away from Fontana Sushi, exactly one block from Thai Basil and a short three-block walk from Crazy Asian Cafe, sits the future home of Asian Diner. And once it opens at 295 South Pennsylvania Street, that will make five Asian restaurants within a bamboo plant of each other. The vacated space -- a former bookstore -- doesn't show any inward signs of an impending restaurant, Asian or otherwis
October 14, 2009Chef and Tell with Frank Bonanno of Luca, Mizuna, Osteria Marco and Bones
Lori MidsonFrank Bonanno in the kitchen of Luca d'Italia "Look, I see a lot of things in restaurants that I think are really unacceptable, and it pisses me off, because I think that Denver diners deserve a lot better than what a lot of places are doing, and if that view makes me seem too outspoken, that's okay with me." That's Frank Bonanno laying down the gauntlet. The Denver chef who raises eyebrows and turns heads as much for his brash honesty as for his unassailable cooking is in
October 14, 2009Jing is beautiful on the surface, but don't look too deep
October 15, 2009Silver Creek Diner serves up American food flavored by almost every nationality that's settled here
October 15, 2009The new chef at Jonesy's EatBar loves the word "gastropub"
Lori MidsonBrendon Doyle, the new exec chef at Jonesy's EatBar"I love the gastropub concept, I love the word 'gastropub' and I love Leigh Jones," declares Brendon Doyle, the former exec chef of Campo de Fiori who's now in command of the kitchen at Jonesy's EatBar, the gastropub at 400 East 20th Avenue, as Jason Sheehan reports here. Doyle didn't actually actually mention Sheehan's recent gastropub rant out loud, but he did say that his own cooking philosophies jive with the gastropub mo
October 15, 2009Girls and grills at CY Steak
CY Steak has its own entrance next to the Diamond Cabaret.Cliff Young, whose eponymously named restaurant transformed the Denver dining scene, is back in business at the Diamond Cabaret, where his CY Steak opened this week at 1222 Glenarm Place. It was a soft opening -- in a room full of hard bodies. While strip clubs across the country are dumping down their offerings -- "catering to a thriftier clientele," according to a recent Wall Street Journal piece -- VCG Holding Corp., the Denver
October 15, 2009Part two: Chef and Tell with Frank Bonanno
Frank BonannoThis is part two of Lori Midson's interview with Frank Bonanno, executive chef-owner of Osteria Marco, Mizuna, Luca d'Italia and Bones. You can read the first part of Midson's interview with Bonanno here. Culinary inspirations: My mother and my sister. When I was six, seven, maybe eight, my mother and I used to cook together to the old Julia Child show. Our family ate dinner together every night, and from an early age, they cemented in me that food was more than just TV dinn
October 15, 2009Denver's Top Ten Diners
Davie's Chuck Wagon Diner, by Brian Butko.I know from diners; they are my natural habitat. And Colorado has some classics. Johnson's Corner was one of the first places I visited when I first went west of the Mississippi, and it remains a favorite even post-renovation. My recent meals at Silver Creek Diner got me thinking about diners again. The list that follows includes my top ten (yes, Sam's No. 3 counts twice) diners in the metro area:
October 16, 2009On Havana Street: an international mission
International Restaurant Week will be celebrated in my 'hood starting tomorrow, the party banging up and down the most interesting mainline it contains: Havana Street. This is the week when everyone is encouraged to get out and get weird, to try something they've never tried before, to (occasionally) overpay at already ridiculously cheap little ethnic restaurants all up and down Havana in celebration of the beautiful diversity that has kept me happy and well-fed, living on the outskirt
October 16, 2009Today through Friday: International Restaurant Week on Havana Street
The second annual International Restaurant Week on Havana Street kicked off yesterday, but you still have six more days to join the fun on one of Jason Sheehan's favorite streets. It runs concurrently with the annual Fall Food Drive, which benefits Food Bank of the Rockies. A whopping 23 restaurants are participating this year, offering special menus and coupon deals; find a full list of the restaurants, including their menus, at www.onhavahastreet.com. To find information on dozens of
October 18, 2009Randolph's new fall menu chosen by the people
All-natural roast chicken with spaetzle, seasonal vegetables and pan jus If you want people to eat at your restaurant, why not have them pick the menu? That was the idea behind the new fall menu debuting tonight at Randolph's Restaurant and Bar at the Warwick Denver Hotel. "We thought the people who came to select the menu would also be the people who come back to order from it," explains Danielle Bickelmann, spokeswoman for Randolph's. At the October 1 "Choose Our Menu" event at Rand
October 19, 2009Tonight: Duo's last farm dinner of the season
Tonight marks the last in a series of farm dinners at Duo, 2413 West 32nd Avenue, the Highland restaurant where John Broening was cooking before unleashing the kitchen at Olivea, Duo's sister restaurant at 719 East 17th Avenue. But tonight, Broening will be back in his former galley, now run by chef Tyler Skrivanek, where he'll be teaming up with farmers from Monroe Organic Farms and Verde Farms to create a three-course menu that'll focus on the fall harvest from those farms.
October 20, 2009Visiting dietitians keep special requests to a minimum while in Denver
Hungry, thirsty dietitians before hitting Denver restaurants The annual American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo is drawing to a close in Denver. One of the world's largest organizations of food and nutrition professionals, the ADA focuses on the latest food-service trends and nutrition science information. Naturally, I was curious to find out if convention attendees practiced what they preached. So I called Fruition and Bistro Vendome, two restaurants listed in
October 20, 2009Tonight: Indulge in five courses at Argyll GastroPub
Head over to Robert Thompson's Argyll GastroPub, 2700 East Third Avenue, at 7 p.m. tonight for a five-course wine dinner featuring an array of truly decadent dishes paired with the perfect wines. Menu items include Goose Point oysters, a peach-and-goat-cheese tart, smoked trout, autumn salad, monkfish, lamb chops and a chocolate raspberry trifle. (Check out the full menu at www.argyllpub.com. ) The tab is $65 (not including tax or gratuity); make your reservations at 720-382-1117. For
October 21, 2009West End Tavern delivers from any direction
October 22, 2009In mourning over a meal at Mark & Isabella
October 22, 2009Chef and Tell with Sean Kelly of LoHi SteakBar
Lori MidsonLoHi SteakBar executive chef Sean Kelly"Nothing that goes on my menus gets there by accident," insists Sean Kelly, executive chef of LoHi SteakBar, the packed-to-the-rafters restaurant and watering hole that opened in June in Highland. "I have a tendency to make sure that everything is researched, and I try to be as true as possible to the classics and their culture. I want to understand where my food comes from." Kelly, who made a major name for himself when he opened Auberg
October 21, 2009New menu for Chad Clevenger at Mel's
I had a rough time of it when last I found myself under chef Chad Clevenger's care at Mel's Restaurant in Greenwood Village. But my experience was nothing compared to how Clevenger and his crew must've felt once my review of the restaurant came out. Still, I have to give the guy credit for hanging in there and using the criticism leveled against him to improve the operation he inherited from Mel Master over a year ago. He refocused on the work being done in his kitchen, changed his m
October 21, 2009Part two: Chef and Tell with Sean Kelly from LoHi SteakBar
Lori MidsonLoHi SteakBar exec chef Sean KellyThis is part two of Lori Midson's interview with Sean Kelly, exec chef of LoHi SteakBar. You can read part one of Midson's interview with Kelly here. Ten words to describe you: Husband, father, cook, dedicated, extreme, blessed, impossible, critical, introspective and obsessive. Best food city in America: I adore San Francisco, and for me personally, it's the most inspirational place to go out to eat. But New York is the best food city, perio
October 22, 2009Top ten Italian restaurants in Denver
Denver has many great Italian restaurants. As I wrote this week, Mark & Isabella's is not one of them. Here are ten of my favorites: Il Posto (2011 East 17th Avenue, 303-394-0100). Il Posto has an excellent location, crammed between other bars and restaurants, their patios shoulder to shoulder. The concept is also interesting: a purely and unapologetically Italian trattoria with chalkboard menus, changed daily and almost always brilliant, an open kitchen and a dining room alive with bodi
October 23, 2009Here's a tip: Denver diners are the second best tippers in the nation, according to Zagat surveyors
Tim and Nina Zagat just dropped the 2010 edition of America's Top Restaurants (full disclosure: I edited the Colorado section), along with pages and pages of dining summations that sling stats culled from eaters who responded to Zagat's annual dining survey that, more or less, sums up the best and worst of each city. And survey says...
October 23, 2009Cafe Society: Week in review
Lori Midson What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society while you were commiserating with Jason Sheehan over his abysmal dinners at Mark and Isabella, the Italian restaurant run by Arizona-based hot shot restaurateur, Mark Tarbell. A man was shot dead in an altercation inside Chopsticks & Sushi, the downtown restaurant at 16th and Welton that has absolutely nothing in common with Chopsticks China Bistro, the Chinese restaurant that recently relocated from Federal Boulevard t
October 23, 2009Under Fire: It all comes around (at Frasca!)
Taylor MarshOur former Cafe Society intern just decided to chuck college in favor of a real education: as a sous chef. In Under Fire, he chronicles his daily trials and tribulations in the kitchen.I learned many pointless things in culinary school. The knowledge of how to do tableside crepes suzette is now part of my culinary arsenal, for example, taking up space in my brain that could be used to know more about bacon. But I did take something away from culinary school that I'll han
October 26, 2009Highland chefs unite at Venue for the first in a series of collaborative dinners
First, the good news: Venue executive chef James Rugile, Max Mackissock from Squeaky Bean, Shazz Cafe exec chef Benny Kaplan, Tyler Skrivanek of Duo and Brad Rowell of Colt & Gray have all hooked up to create the Highland Chef's Collaborative, a five-dinner series that begins tonight at Venue, 3609 West 32nd Avenue. "We're highlighting the transition from summer into fall and focusing on providing a warm, comforting tasting menu with wines," explained Rugile. Now, the bad news: The di
October 26, 2009From the Pour House Pub in LoDo to the Archive Room in Arvada
Where were you then? That's the question the new Archive Room will ask diners. Neil Arnold, Jeff Arnold and Storm Ireland, the owners behind the Pour House Pub at 1435 Market Street, will bring some LoDo fervor to Arvada in early November when they open the Archive Room at 5601 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. That's the space that held, briefly, the Arvada Grill. "We're doing an upscale pub and restaurant, and the whole thing about it is that we're putting up framed newspaper and magazine stories o
October 26, 2009Behind the Bar with Leigh Jones of Jonesy's EatBar
Nancy LevineLeigh Jones, behind the bar at Jonesy's EatBar.Leigh Jones, the woman behind Jonesy's EatBar and the Horseshoe Lounge (with partner Margaret Moore), was also the co-owner and designer of the Dish, B-52 Billiards, Brasserie Rouge, Atomic Cowboy and Buffalo Billiards in Nashville and Austin. But she really came into her own with the eponymous Jonesy's, Denver's first official gastropub. Now serving: Leigh Jones. How does the bar fit in with your vision of the restaurant? My vi
October 27, 2009Eating the green at Chili Verde
The first dish I tried at Chile Verde was the fish ceviche. It arrived in a plain white bowl set on a saucer, with an honor guard of Saltine crackers in their little plastic envelopes - the traditional Mexican accompaniment. And one bite told me nearly everything I needed to know about the kitchen at this small restaurant, nearly everything important about the hands in the back, the skills and commitment of the cooks. A beautiful brunoise of raw chiles and onion and tomato -- each tiny
October 27, 2009Chili Verde serves nearly perfect Pueblan food
October 29, 2009Getting in early at Il Posto
I got a call from chef Andrea Frizzi yesterday, thanking me for including his little 17th Avenue restaurant in my list of Denver's best Italian spots, and then letting me know that he'll soon add lunch service at Il Posto. Oh, and not just any lunch. I checked out the menu for the service (scheduled to start on November 23), and I'm drooling already. This ain't exactly soups and sandwiches, folks. Rather, Frizzi has put together a board of very modern Italian grub that matches his ex
October 28, 2009Counting down to tapas at Ondo's
There are some restaurants I talk about a lot. There are others that I talk about hardly at all. And one of the very few places that I talk about continuously (some would say obsessively) isn't even open yet. It's Ondo's. Ah, Ondo's....I've been dreaming about having a new tapas restaurant in Denver for a long time. Any kind of Spanish restaurant, really, but particularly a tapas place. And I'm not talking about some kind of fake tapas joint, either. Not some spot that serves "small
October 29, 2009Cook's Fresh Market unveils new dinner menu
Cook's Fresh Market is serving up a new dish to downtown dwellers and commuters. The upscale grocer at 1600 Glenarm has begun selling bistro dinners on weeknights from 5 to 8 p.m. for an unbelievably not-so upscale price of under $10 an entree. Menu items include wood roasted beef tri-tip sirloin with a tomato-blue cheese salsa with sides of asparagus and mashed potatoes; fettuccini with garlic, onion, bacon, spinach, cream and parmesan reggiano; and pork shoulder green chile stew with b
October 29, 2009James Mazzio has a new ooh la la chef gig at Le Chateau
"I've just become the chef of Le Chateau," writes James Mazzio, one-time Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef winner and until recently the exec at the Icehouse Tavern, 1801 Wynkoop Street. But that stint ended early this month when the "high-powered" Mazzio was turned loose by powers higher than him -- the Little Pub Co. that's now running the place. But it sounds like Mazzio has landed somewhere where he'll have more control. "I'll be releasing a new menu on Friday, November 6, one day b
October 29, 2009Staffing Up: A new concept for Mark & Isabella
Last week, my buddy Dave Herrera over at Backbeat debuted a new bloggity thingamajig called Recast, in which he and his guys redo the soundtracks of existing movies. First one? Blade Runner -- one of the greatest movies of all time, and one with a soundtrack that already kicks some serious, artsy, Vangelis-y ass. Despite the fact that he had Dolly Parton, the Kinks and the Electric Prunes on his new version, I still thought it was a great idea. So good, in fact, that I've decided to
October 29, 2009Staffing Up: My dream team for Ondo's
Yesterday I kicked off "Staffing Up," with some free advice for how Mark & Isabella can get its act together. But the idea doesn't have to be confined to restaurants that need a swift, motivating kick in the ass; reading through these blog posts for the last few days, I realize that we can also use it as a kind of fantasy football league for cooks -- building a perfect crew from the ground up for restaurants that haven't yet begun to serve. For example, Den Deli is throwing an old-fashi
October 30, 2009151 days of tequila kicks off Sunday at Zolo Southwestern Grill
If you're a tequila imbiber, boy do we have a dealio for you. Beginning Sunday, November 1, Zolo Southwestern Grill in Boulder, 2525 Arapahoe, is unleashing its love for tequila, a party that will continue for the next 151 days (until March 31), which is the same number of tequilas that Zolo stocks on it shelves. The party officially kicks off at 8 p.m. Sunday with a Milagro cocktail contest to see which Denver/Boulder mixologist best struts their tequila knowledge, plus happy hour food
October 30, 2009Culinary calendar for the week ahead
Our online Food & Drink listings include dozens of culinary events around Colorado this week, with benefits for March of Dimes and Project Angel Heart, as well as the University of Denver's inaugural DU Vin Festival. A taste of what's ahead: Through November 5: Jax Fish House in Boulder, 928 Pearl Street, celebrates its fifteenth anniversary with specials including 15 oysters for $15, $6 old vs. new cocktails, a $15 wine flight and and prix fixe menus. Find more information at www.jaxfishhous
November 2, 2009Jax Fish House Boulder celebrates fifteen years of flinging fish
For the past fifteen years, the original Jax Fish House, at 928 Pearl Street in Boulder, has been feeding fish heads to the finicky (and spawning a Top Chef victor, but you already know all about that), a feat that's being marked through the week as part of a fifteenth anniversary celebration. From now until Thursday, November 5, Jax-Boulder is making waves with a sea of specials, including 15 oysters for $15; $5 strawberry lemonades; $14 wine flights; throwback and modern cocktails for
November 2, 2009Ondo's on schedule for a mid-November opening
Lori MidsonWhile Jason Sheehan is busy building a dream team staff for Ondo's, the tapas restaurant taking over the subterranean space at 250 Steele Street, owner Curt Steinbecker, who trained with his wife, Deicy, at the Escuela de Cocina Luis Irizar, is just trying to get his restaurant open. With any luck, that will happen two weeks from now. "Things are going according to schedule, and it looks like November 15 will be our first day," says Curt.
November 2, 2009The Tavern's Frank Schultz encounters some flak on Colfax
The former Flix cafe could become a Tavern. It's been a year since Neighborhood Flix, the ambitious movie theater/café in the Lowenstein project, pulled the plug -- but with any luck, the lights will soon be back on at 2510 East Colfax Avenue. That's because Frank Schultz, who runs Tavern Hospitality Group (owner of the Cowboy Lounge, the Soiled Dove and all those Taverns -- including LoDo, the one-year-old Wash Park, Uptown, Tech Center and Lowry), already has a contract with the bank d
November 3, 2009Egg-ceptional egg dishes in Denver
"With an egg on top." Ooh. You just stepped up your food game. You uttered those five words to the server, and suddenly everyone at your table perks up. It's not just a sign that you're starving. It shows you're a risk-taker. Someone who has had enough of diets and eating healthy. Someone who -- for a lack of a better term -- wants to break the shell. "Screw my waistline; just bring me what I want." While Homer Simpson's Good Morning Burger hasn't made its debut (yet), you can still
November 3, 2009Tilted Kilt kick-off time delayed
The menu includes wings and eye candyThe Tilted Kilt was slated to open this week in the former ESPN Zone space on the 16th Street Mall, but the official kick-off time has been delayed. "We are shooting for next Monday, but it could be a day or two after that," says franchise owner Mark Voss. "There are a few loose ends that need to be wrapped up." Voss describes the process of opening the restaurant as a full-fledged production, one that included auditions for front-of-house servers. "
November 3, 2009Twelve turns one today
Happy birthday to Twelve, which brought fine dining to a less-than-fine location at 2233 Larimer Street last fall, but has survived that first tough year. And tonight, chef/owner Jeff Osaka will celebrate his restaurant's first birthday by gifting diners with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine and an amuse-bouche to "toast the special evening." After that, diners are on their own, choosing from the new November menu (the board changes every month, giving the restaurant twelve menus
November 4, 2009Chef and Tell with Mary Nguyen of Parallel 17
Mary Nguyen, executive chef/owner of Parallel 17"Food is the one thing that I grew up knowing would bring family and friends together, soothe wounds and mend hearts as well as improve any party or celebration," says Mary Nguyen, chef-owner of the Vietnamese-French bistro Parallel 17. "I entered this profession because it's the way I express my creativity and concern for others: I cook to make people happy." But for Nguyen, making that passion come to fruition hasn't been easy. She was bo
November 4, 2009What's a Belgian cafe doing on Colfax? Serving very good food.
November 5, 2009Staffing Up: Goin' south at Mojitos
Bad name, worse timing, but still a good idea Buchi Cafe Cubano is a great Cuban restaurant. Step inside Cuba Cuba on a good night, and you need an oxygen tank (or a powerful constitution) because the air in the bar is like breathing muddled mint and rum. But while Denver has some Cuban restaurants, what this city does not have is enough Cuban restaurants -- because, really, no city can truly have enough until there is one every fifty feet or so, all serving Cuban coffee and sandwiche
November 4, 2009Limon grows a jazz lounge
Yesterday I talked with Alex Gurevich about his plans for making pizzas at the former Mojitos/Mel's/Montecito/Piscos/Dudley's space at 1120 East Sixth Avenue, right smack in the middle of Sixth Avenue's restaurant row. It sounded like good news. Despite some bad moves over the years, I think Gurevich is a good chef who runs interesting restaurants with talented crews. And the Sixth Avenue spot isn't the only new project he has going, it turns out. A couple years back, after getting cr
November 6, 2009The List: Top ten places to eat on Colfax
Lori Midson Colfax Avenue has plenty of places to drink, as we prove with our profile of the Nob Hill Inn. But there's also good food along America's longest main street. Including: Bastien's Restaurant 3501 East Colfax Avenue., 303-322-0363. Bastien's isn't retro; the rest of the world is. Looking for the cocktail culture of the ´50s? Bastien's has it. Early-´70s swinger swank? It has that, too. Bastien's doesn't change with the times; the times change around it. Like they say, even
November 6, 2009Do you have a passion for food and restaurants?
Does reading this blog make you hunger to write? Westword is expanding its Cafe Society coverage, and we're looking for a great freelance writer with a passion for food and restaurants, as well as the ability to produce stylish and knowledgeable news and opinion pieces about the Denver dining scene. This is not a restaurant critic position. We have one of those already, and Jason Sheehan's not going anywhere. A background in reporting is highly desirable. So are interviewing skills. An
November 6, 2009Cafe Society: Week in review
John Plessinger in a booth at the Nob Hill Inn, the bar his father put in his name back in 1969, when he was 21.What you may have missed this week on Cafe Society while you were hanging on every last word of our hi-larious stories about the time we spent getting up close and personal with the regulars at Nob Hill Inn, which may very well be the best damn dive bar in Denver. Those of us who write this food bloggy thing called Cafe Society are communing at the Fainting Goat next Wednesday night
November 6, 2009
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