Subject: Food and Cooking

• What's a Belgian cafe doing on Colfax? Serving very good food.

  November 5, 2009

• What's Cooking: Pete Marczyk tells an oxtail

  Lori MidsonBraised oxtails and sugo​Braised Oxtails and Sugo with Homemade Pappardelle Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. This is the third in a series of dinner-party recipes; they'll add one a week until they have a complete, multi-course fall menu.

  November 4, 2009

• Limon 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, 2009

• Sugar High: Cake and shake at D Bar Desserts

  Liz Kellermeyer​ Even though Keegan Gerhard and his wife, Lisa Baily, opened D Bar Desserts, 1475 East 17th Avenue, just under two years ago, it took about two minutes for the sugar house to emerge as one of the city's premiere dessert spots. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, but the full spread of plated desserts is only offered after 6 p.m. Everything else in the pastry case, however, is available throughout the day, along with a few specials. Whether it's the

  November 6, 2009

• The 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, 2009

• Do 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 12, 2009

• Cafe 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

• A pre-Thanksgiving recipe that trots out turkey

  ​ Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, but should you feel like tackling a turkey early (you know, just for practice), Dedric McGhee, exec chef of Thyme on the Creek, the in-house restaurant at the Millennium Harvest House in Boulder (and the former chef of El Monte Sagrado in Taos), offers this recipe for Southwestern-style turkey enchiladas.

  November 9, 2009

• Guess where I'm eating?

  Lori Midson​ One of my favorite Denver restaurants just added blue plate specials to its menu, including shrimp and grits, which is the dish you see in the above photo. But while the addition of blue plates to the board just reinforces my unhealthy addiction to said restaurant, the fact that it also offers two daily happy hours, along with some of the best daily drink specials in the city, makes me want to pack up my belongings and move in. We can share a sleeping bag if you can guess where I'

  November 9, 2009

• Ask the Critic: The downside of success

  ​ I recently raved about Chili Verde -- the new, kinda-upscale Pueblan restaurant at 3700 Tejon Street. Poblano crepes, perfect ceviche, all kinds of seafood -- I loved the grub, the service, the room, everything about the place. The only thing that had me slightly concerned? The fact that the Yanez-Mota family didn't seem to be doing a lot of business. I included that concern in my review of the place. And then the public responded. They descended on Chili Verde and...well, let's jus

  November 9, 2009

• Maggiano's Little Italy rolls out a week of deals and meals

  ​If you've been anywhere near the Denver Pavilions recently, then you know what an utter and complete construction zone clusterfuck it's been. But it appears that the cone zones, yellow tape and dust bowls are finally coming to an end. And to celebrate that milestone -- or as some would call it, the re-introduction of the Pavilions -- Maggiano's Little Italy is hosting a whole slew of events that kick off Tuesday, November 10 and continue through Tuesday November 17. At noon on November 1

  November 9, 2009

• Party today at Denver Pavilions

  ​It's been a long, rough ride for many of the shops at Denver Pavilions, with some high-profile restaurant disasters, including the Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe space on the still-empty bridge, which replaced the disastrous Cafe Odyssey, where diners got to eat at Machu Pichu (yum). But through it all, one spot has stood as proof that restaurants can not only survive at the Pavilions, but thrive: Maggiano's Little Italy. Denver's Maggiano's is one of the most successful in the chain, packing

  November 10, 2009

• Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria starts brunch on Saturday

  ​"I made a decision, I'm doing it and it's happening this weekend." That's Mark Dym, owner/chef of Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria, 2129 Larimer Street, talking about his new brunch, which starts this Saturday, November 14. "We're keeping it simple, with just a few breakfast pizzas, bottomless mimosas for eight bucks or so and Bloody Marys for $3," he says. "We've been talking about it for a while, and I want to drive some brunch business to the restaurant, and so far as I know, no other res

  November 10, 2009

• Chefs for the Cause canceled

  Sergio Romero will not be cooking dinner at Chefs for the Cause -- and neither will anyone else.​Chefs for the Cause sounded like a philanthropic foodie's delight -- six of Denver's top chefs creating delicious food to help raise money for the Denver affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. James Mazzio (of Cucina Colore and Via fame, now executive chef of Le Chateau), Justin Cucci (Root Down), Jeromy Krug (Ling & Louie's Asian Bistro), Sergio Romero (Argyll Gastropub), Bill Osoolund (Bou

  November 10, 2009

• Will Home be a hit for Mark Tarbell?

  Lori MidsonRestaurateur and chef Mark Tarbell inside his new restaurant, Home​ "We want to get this one right," insists Mark Tarbell, the Arizona-based restaurateur whose Belmar restaurant, Mark & Isabella, was recently maligned by Jason Sheehan. "I believe in this restaurant, and I don't want to fuck it up."I caught up with Tarbell earlier today while checking out the new restaurants at the Streets of SouthGlenn, where Tarbell is opening Home sometime around the end of November, and where

  November 10, 2009

• Tonight: Let us eat cake at Happy on the Hill

  ​Every month, Colfax on the Hill hosts a "Happy on the Hill" social, a chance for the public to learn more about businesses on Colfax Avenue and those business owners to network a bit. This month's featured business: Mulberries Cake Shop, which recently moved from South Pearl Street to 2027 East Colfax Avenue. At Mulberries, you can order totally sweet, custom-made cakes (white, yellow, chocolate, marble, lemon, spice, carrot, lemon poppyseed, spice swirl and butter pecan), with a variety

  November 11, 2009

• Chef and Tell with Lance Barto of Strings

  Lori MidsonLance Barto, exectutive chef of Strings​"It wasn't supposed to happen this fast," says Lance Barto, shaking his head. The 27-year-old chef, who was promoted back in February to the chief kitchen post at Strings following the departure of Aaron Whitcomb (who's now at Yia-Yia's Euro Bistro), still seems shocked by the news. "A lot of people with way more experience than I have aren't where I'm at, so I feel really lucky and blessed by the opportunity," he confesses.

  November 11, 2009

• 100 Favorite Dishes: Chicken-fried steak at Lola

  ​As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com. No. 100 Chicken Fried Steak from Lola You do not expect to find a great chicken-fried steak at a coastal Mexican restaurant. But from the moment that Lola started offering chicken-fried steak on its weekend brunch board, it's been a favorite with chicken-fried fans, a constant through a series of menu changes, big a

  November 11, 2009

• Jazzmatazz gives Denver's good musicians a new place to play

  November 12, 2009

• The chefs have changed, but Encore remains worthy of applause

  November 12, 2009

• Fogo de Chao sticks it to the steakhouse concept

  November 12, 2009

• Ian Kleinman out at O's

  ​I just got the news twenty minutes ago. Ian Kleinman buzzed my cell shortly after. "So, you're unemployed, brother," I said. "Congratulations, I guess." "Yeah, well, not completely unemployed," Ian said, laughing. "But yeah." Yesterday, Ian was let go from his gig as chef and chief liquid nitrogen wrangler at O's Steak and Seafood at the Westin Westminster -- a normal, boring hotel posting that he somehow managed to turn into one of the coolest jobs in the country, one where he was e

  November 11, 2009

• Marco's, Root Down win Mayor's Design Awards

  Root Down is looking good.​John Hickenlooper will announce the Mayor's Design Awards tonight, but we can tell you that two of the fifteen honorees are restaurants: Root Down and Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria. Both restaurants opened last year, in old spaces made remarkably new. In Root Down's case, a vintage service station was turned into the town's coolest bar space, as well as a private dining room -- and also provided the sleek inspiration for the brand-new building put on the corner of

  November 12, 2009

• Part two: Chef and Tell with Lance Barto of Strings

  Lori MidsonLance Barto, executive chef of Strings​ This is part two of my interview with Lance Barto, exec chef of Strings. You can read part one of my interview with Barto here. Best food city in America: Northern California. Right, I know that it's not a city, but the whole northern region of California seems to have such a connection with what's seasonal, organic and renewable. The restaurants there have a great mindset. I'd love to see Denver continue in that same direction. Favorite Ne

  November 12, 2009

• Let them eat cake...from City Bakery

  ​ Yes, yesterday's Guess Where I'm Eating? cakes were from City Bakery, Michael Bortz's place up at 5454 Washington Street, an industrial-park setting that gives no hint of the wonderful things being created inside. Except for the smell, of course. Although Bortz breads and desserts are featured at many restaurants around town -- including Elway's, Squeaky Bean and Fogo de Chao -- you can also buy directly from City Bakery. "We never sleep," Bortz advises.

  November 12, 2009

• Staffing Up: More ideas for Mojitos

  ​ Both readers and restaurateurs had a lot of suggestions for what to do with the former home of Mojitos -- which isn't surprising, considering that this spot at 1120 East Sixth Avenue is a good location just begging for a good operator to go into it. And while I've already reported the news that Alex Gurevich from Limon and Bisque is taking over the space, and will be putting on the big white had to make pizzas and salumi for the neighbors, that didn't stop the guys from Dave Query's B

  November 12, 2009

• The List: Top ten way-south-of-the-border restaurants in Denver

  Denver has lots of great Mexican restaurants, a few good Latin American restaurants, and not many South American restaurants. But Fogo de Chao, which opened this summer, would be a great restaurant on any continent. Here are Denver's ten top way-south-of-the-border restaurants. ​Aji Latin American Restaurant 1601 Pearl Street, Boulder, 303-442-3464. Aji bills itself as a Latin American restaurant, and its menu is a postmodern fusion of Peruvian, Mexican, Argentine, Cuban, Brazilian, Salva

  November 13, 2009

• Archive Room now open in Olde Town Arvada

  Lori MidsonRead all about it in the Archive Room​"We did 160 covers the first night and 140 covers the second night, which I think qualifies as busy," says Jeff Arnold, one of the owners of Archive Room, which opened last week in Olde Town Arvada at 5601 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. "We've been busy every night, we're getting a lot of industry people in after work, we're staying open late and the feedback has been great from the neighborhood so far," says Arnold, who also runs the Pour House Pub

  November 16, 2009

• Under Fire: Curtain call for a former writer, future sous

  Taylor Marsh​Our 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 feel like a fucked-up version of Jane Goodall. When I decided to devote my time to working in the kitchen (and blogging about it), I was ready to fill my yellow notebook with ideas that could turn into posts. Instead, over time the notebook began to fill up with more concrete things that

  November 16, 2009

• Breadhead alert: Udi's is rolling out dough in Arvada

  ​Udi's Bread Cafe, which already has locations in Stapleton (7357 East 29th Avenue); Louisville (185 South 104th Street); Aurora (12700 East 19th Street); and north Denver (101 East 70th Avenue), officially opens its fifth location today at 7600 Grandview in Olde Town Arvada, directly across the street from Archive Room, which opened last Wednesday. The breadery was doing heavy trade last Friday during a trail run, and while the board was limited (and the kitchen had run out of the French di

  November 16, 2009

• Culinary calendar for the week ahead

  Mile High United Way wants to help stock your wine cellar.​Our online Food & Drink listings feature dozens of culinary events around Colorado this week, including Anthony Bourdain's local appearance, the Mile High United Way Emerging Leaders Wine Event, the Celebrity Chef Tour and Opus's Cele-bracon. A taste of what's ahead:

  November 16, 2009

• Sean Kenyon raises the B.A.R. at Domaine De Canton competition

  Nancy LevineSean Kenyon takes top spot at Domaine De Canton competition​ Last night Domaine de Canton and brand ambassador Bryan Dayton of Frasca hosted the semifinalist round of the Domaine de Canton bartender competition at TAG. Beyond bragging rights, the winner of the competition won a trip to St. Maartin to compete not only for top honors, but $10,000 in prize money. No, that's not a typo. Ten thousand dollars in prize money -- and a killer suntan. The eight competitors included ma

  November 16, 2009

• Ask the Critic: Forget Anthony Bourdain, these restaurants stand on their own

  ​ We have been shamelessly shilling for Anthony Bourdain for the past few days, talking about his upcoming trip to Denver, giving away tickets to his lecture and Q&A on November 18, throwing up pictures of him whenever we can. Shameless? Absolutely. Not for nothing, the man is very popular -- and every time we use Bourdain's name, people seem to find their way to our little corner of the digital world and stay a while to have their say. Love the guy or hate him, he's good at what he do

  November 16, 2009

• Do you know the muffin women, who live in Manitou Springs?

  Do you know the muffin man?​There's a contest for everything, including, as it turns out, muffins. And for Sharon Smith and Wendy Goldstein, owners of the Two Sisters Inn -- a bed-and-breakfast in Manitou Springs -- it was their muffins that took the cake on Monday, November 9 at the Bed & Breakfast Innkeepers of Colorado (BBIC) annual conference in Golden, when the twosome won the -- wait for it -- Golden Muffin Award (aka, the Best Muffin in Colorado) for their original recipe for Manda

  November 17, 2009

• Ten ways you can improve your server's life (and your service)

  ​The New York Times blog "You're the Boss," ruffled the apron strings of restaurant servers nationwide when it ran Bruce Buschel's two-part list of things restaurant staffers should never do. As someone who worked the FOH for 14 years, I have two words for Buschel: Bitch, please. While Buschel made some decent points, his elitist tone reinforced the popular notion that servers are servants as opposed to facilitators. Good servers go out of their way to make the guest's dining experien

  November 17, 2009

• 100 Favorite Dishes: Pho from Pho 95

  Lori MidsonPho at Pho 95​ As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com. No. 97 Pho - any pho -- from Pho 95 There isn't a day that goes by where someone doesn't ask me what my favorite restaurant is. It's a question I struggle with -- and rarely answer -- because I don't have a "favorite" restaurant. My restaurant-of-the-moment is wholly mood dependent. That sai

  November 17, 2009

• Chef and Tell with Brian Laird of Barolo Grill

  Lori MidsonAll fired up: executive chef Brian Laird of Barolo Grill ​"It was a step off the cliff for sure, but at the same time, I just knew that I was a good fit for the job," says Brian Laird of Barolo Grill, the Northern Italian restaurant whose kitchen Laird has cooked in for the past twelve years -- the last eight as the executive chef, a position he snagged after walking off the line one night following a blowup with Barolo's former guard. "Whether or not I was prepared to take that

  November 18, 2009

• DINR members deal out an incredible deal

  ​ They may all be independent restaurants, but the members of the Denver Independent Network of Restaurants know how to work together. Close to fifty of them have joined to create DINR decks, which could be just the thing to stuff a food-lover's stocking this Christmas. Every deck holds 52 cards, each offering $10 off a food order of $25 or more at a local restaurant - with a couple of jokers thrown in that explain DINR and this new program. "Since the inception of DINR, we've been tryin

  November 18, 2009

• It Takes a Village

  November 19, 2009

• Steven Burge is yummy in Fully Committed, a satisfying evening of theater

  November 19, 2009

• Paradise Asian Cafe may not take you to paradise, but close enough

  November 19, 2009

• Red alert! Why do older Mexican women cut and dye their hair?

  November 19, 2009

• Going, going gone: Twelve tickets left for the James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour with Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson and Thanawat Bates

  Frasca Food & Wine executive chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson​The Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation lands in Denver tonight, stopping at the Brown Palace, 321 17th Street. That's where Frasca Food & Wine executive chef (and 2008 James Beard award winner for Best Southwest Chef) Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson will join host chefs Thanawat Bates and William Dexter for a reception and six-course tasting menu paired with wines chosen from master sommeliers Bobby Stuckey, f

  November 19, 2009

• Part two: Chef and Tell with Brian Laird of Barolo Grill

  Lori MidsonBrian Laird, executive chef of Barolo Grill​This is part two of my interview with Brian Laird, exec chef of Barolo Grill. You can read part one of my interview with Laird here. Best food city in America: San Francisco. It's all about what I love most: fresh ingredients, seafood, farm-raised animals, vegetables, cheese, wine and beer, dairy of all kinds...and on and on. It's all right there at your fingertips. My new favorite place there is the Rand G Lounge, a Chinese restaura

  November 19, 2009

• What's cooking: Pete Marczyk falls for carrots and squash

  ​Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. Last month, Pete and Barb created a multi-course autumn menu. This month, they'll continue to add recipes until they have a complete, multi-course Colorado Thanksgiving menu. So far, Pete has made a Gorgonzola dip and taught us

  November 19, 2009

• Colorado Egg Producers make an egg-celent gesture

  Shauna Ahern​One in eight Coloradoans will struggle to put food on the table this holiday season, and 99 percent of food banks in the state have reported an enormous surge in the need for emergency assistance. Kudos, then, to the Colorado Egg Producers, whose Good Egg Project is lending a helping hand to Food Bank of the Rockies and the Weld Food Bank. This Saturday, November 21, the CEP will donate over 100,000 eggs to people scheduled to receive USDA food boxes at both food banks. Howar

  November 19, 2009

• 100 Favorite Dishes: Larkburger cheeseburgers

  ​As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com. Number 94: Cheeseburgers at Larkburger Denver might be a steakhouse kind of town, but let's not forget that this was also the town where the cheeseburger was (arguably) invented. There are a lot of great burgers in the area today, but only a few rank in the city's best dishes. And that picture above? That's a s

  November 19, 2009

• The List: Our Weekly Bread top ten sandwiches

  After fifteen months of reviewing sandwiches, it's time to take a step back, time to consider what has passed between many, many slices of bread, time to take a break from sandwiches and offer a countdown of the ten best I've had. It's easy to pick twenty good sandwiches, but narrowing those down to ten is hard. Still, eating all those sandwiches has given me some stomach fortitude, so here, in reverse order, are my favorite sandwiches of the past fifteen months. ​10) Spanish Ham and Ch

  November 20, 2009

• What's cooking: Pete Marczyk gets stuffed

  ​Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. Last month, Pete and Barb created a multi-course autumn menu. This month, in honor of Thanksgiving, they'll continue to add recipes until they have a complete, multi-course turkey day menu. Pete's already fattened us up wit

  November 20, 2009

• Lobster in lobster sauce

  So angry, so delicious...​ I have sworn for a long time that I would never include recipes in this blog. I have raised a (completely ineffectual) stink over the notion of other people including recipes. I have my reasons -- the biggest of which being that I neither like nor trust recipes not written by a working cook, describing his methods for cooking something that he prepares fifty or a hundred times a night, and that the recipe or prep details of a working cook are less than useless

  November 20, 2009