Full Service Restaurants

Dina Berta takes a break from writing to help run Frank's Kitchen

Dina Berta reveals five lessons learned after transitioning from restaurant journalist to restaurant owner

Mark MangerDina Berta traded the write stuff for the right stuff.​When Dina Berta made the jump from writing about restaurants to running a restaurant, she had one insight that helped prepare her for the road ahead: "I knew a little about the industry, and I knew it was a lot of work, but also ... More >>

Five things Olive Garden should dump...now

​Olive Garden just announced that it would be kicking fries and milkshakes off of the children's menu at all its restaurants, replacing them with smoothies and grapes. This move is designed to please parents who drag their squirming spawn into the post-popular Italian chain, but it's tough bre ... More >>

Arby's offers up 64-cent roast beef sandwiches in Facebook shill

​Companies will do anything these days to get you to become their fan on Facebook. Free concert tickets? Check. Free donuts? Check. Deep discounts on sneakers? Check. Naturally, fast-food chains were way out in front of the trend, offering discounts to Facebook fans in exchange for them beamin ... More >>

Ralph's Maid-Rite finally lets the loose-meat sandwich loose on Denver

​More than eighty years after Maid-Rite got its start in Muscatine, Iowa, the chain has finally made it as far west as Denver, where Ralph's Maid-Rite Sports Diner opened last week in Littleton. Ralph's serves the loose-meat and breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches that are hallmarks of Maid-Ri ... More >>

Readers: Was T.G.I. Friday's ever cool?

​T.G.I. Friday's -- which has five restaurants in the metro area and a frightening number around the country -- is trying to update its image with craft beer and other specials. But is it too little, too late? Our "Top Five Reasons T.G.I. Friday's isn't cool anymore" is bringing out fans and ... More >>

Five Star Burgers will open in May at the Streets at SouthGlenn

​Because Denver doesn't have enough burger fortresses to satiate a city of burger maniacs, we're soon getting another one: Five Star Burgers, a Taos, New Mexico-based burger barn, with an additional location in Albuquerque, is adding a third outpost in Denver, which will open in May at the St ... More >>

After months of repair limbo, Samba Room finally pulls the plug

​It's been many, many months since floor leaks forced the closure of Samba Room in Larimer Square, but as late as December of 2010, the company, along with Larimer Associates, the group that owns the space, were optimistic that the place would eventually reopen. It wasn't to be. E Brands, the ... More >>

Shawarma Mediterranean Grill opens in Centennial

Shawarma Mediterranean GrillShawarma Grill's beef shawarma plate​In 2000, brothers Abe and Pierre Dagher closed Cedars, a Lebanese joint on Federal Boulevard they'd owned for fourteen years, and went their separate ways, exiting the restaurant industry for other trades. But now they're back t ... More >>

Reader: You can't use laws to regulate what people like

​Opinions are revving up in advance of today's food-truck meeting at the Downtown Denver Partnership, where stakeholders -- among them mobile food vendors, restaurant owners, downtown businesses, city agencies and neighborhood groups -- will have a preliminary discussion of the role of food tr ... More >>

Cutting lemons, folding napkins and other mindless wastes of time

​Welcome to In the Weeds. Kyle will be right with you -- most likely to complain about something. Usually he is pleasant, but this is his place to blow off some steam. Don't take it personally; he just needs to vent because he's been doing this for about thirteen years. Enjoy your meal. As a ... More >>

TAG's Brian Melton loves the restaurant industry. Here's why

You can find Brian Melton behind the bar at TAG.​All the talk about "In the Weeds" inspired Brian Melton to send in this missive about the restaurant industry. It's our New Year's Eve gift for everyone in the business --and anyone out on the town tonight who benefits from exemplary workers in ... More >>

T.G.I. Friday's gets crafty with a New Belgium Brewing tasting party

​We knew rap had gone mainstream when Will Smith's The Fresh Prince of Bel Air began airing in 1990, and we know craft beer has done the same now that T.G.I. Friday's is pairing its new menu items with selected beers from New Belgium Brewing. On December 21, the casual dining chain will host ... More >>

Texas Roadhouse butchers meet their meat today at the National Meat Competition in Denver

​Nineteen meat cutters from Texas Roadhouse outposts throughout the country will show off their butchering prowess today at the South Suburban Ice Arena, 6580 South Vine Street, as part of the second round of the steakhouse chain's National Meat Competition. The competitors, including Vicente ... More >>

Brittany Hill to reopen in early 2011

​JoeAnn and John Falco closed the sale on the Brittany Hill building, 9350 Grant Street, a massive structure with sweeping views of the Front Range, in spring of 2009, prompting buzz that the space would rise again. Almost a year and a half later, though, the spot still sits dark.

Fifty years later, Swift's Steak House is changing its name

​Swift's Steak House #4 just got a liquor license and will soon start pouring booze, as well as serving dinner. But that's not all that's changing at the Greek diner, located at 8 South Broadway.

Hemingway Daiquiri at the Capital Grille

​Swift's Steak House #4 just got a liquor license and will soon start pouring booze, as well as serving dinner. But that's not all that's changing at the Greek diner, located at 8 South Broadway.

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill is expanding to the East Coast

​Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, which is owned and operated by Denver based Aloon Mor, has signed a deal with Doherty Enterprises to expand its dining concept to the East Coast.

The Fort closes Monday for kitchen renovation

Sam and Holly Arnold outside the Fort.​The Fort will be closed from January 11 through January 21 for a kitchen renovation -- the first since the Morrison restaurant, a recreation of Bent's Old Fort, was built out of 80,000 handmade adobe bricks back in 1962. Some of those bricks are right beh ... More >>

Tough times in Boulder, too

​No one ever said the restaurant business was easy. Most people (the smart ones) would actually say that, short of becoming a medical guinea pig or hand-grenade catcher, the food service-industry is one of the toughest out there. Fun, sure. Exciting. But not the easiest way in the world to m ... More >>

Restaurant workers: This marijuana dispensary feels your pain

​As the owners of 8 Rivers, their fourth restaurant, Wanda James and Scott Durrah know the food business. And as the owners of Apothecary of Colorado, the medical marijuana dispensary they opened in December at 1730 Blake Street, just two blocks from their restaurant at 1550 Blake, they know t ... More >>

Will Denver man become greatest bartender in the world (of T.G.I. Friday's)?

​Since the late 1980's, T.G.I. Friday's has held an international bartending championship for its own employees, granting the winner the no surprise title of "Greatest T.G.I. Friday's Bartender in the World." And this year, Colorado's own Brad Kaplan of Thornton took the Colorado/Texas region ... More >>

Frasca's Bobby Stuckey kicks asphalt at the New York City Marathon

​Of the 42,000 runners who killed themselves finished the New York City Marathon -- the world's largest -- this past Sunday, Bobby Stuckey, the master sommelier at Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, placed 283rd with a time of 2:47:23. That's right: the guy who drinks, pours, studies and explains ... More >>

Lenny's on Lincoln offers curbside service

​The staffers at Lenny's Sub Shop at 726 Lincoln Street watch a lot of traffic roll by their windows every day, especially at rush hour, when that traffic rolls very slowly. So what did these enterprising sandwich makers do? They set up a little curbside stand where a Lenny's employee will ha ... More >>

Catwalk in the Park

Riverfront Fashion brings style to the great outdoors.

Cafe Etoile Burns Out

Tip your Bordeaux to Café Etoile, as this West Wash Park spot has been added to the growing list of restaurant casualties. Etoile, which opened in April next to the infamous Candlelight Tavern at 375 South Pearl Street, specialized in crepes, paninis and treating patrons like family. Server Emmy ... More >>

Figgy's Manhattan at Steuben's

Tip your Bordeaux to Café Etoile, as this West Wash Park spot has been added to the growing list of restaurant casualties. Etoile, which opened in April next to the infamous Candlelight Tavern at 375 South Pearl Street, specialized in crepes, paninis and treating patrons like family. Server Emmy ... More >>

Colorado restaurants should be cooking in 2009

Misery loves company, and if the National Restaurant Association's annual forecast -- released on Friday, December 19 -- is correct, Coloradans will still be getting out of the house and into restaurants in 2009. According to the 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast, Colorado will place third in t ... More >>

Believe it or not, Ruby Tuesday has a good burger

Misery loves company, and if the National Restaurant Association's annual forecast -- released on Friday, December 19 -- is correct, Coloradans will still be getting out of the house and into restaurants in 2009. According to the 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast, Colorado will place third in t ... More >>

Rocks, on the martini at the Capital Grille

If your bank account isn't on the rocks, the Capital Grille has just the holiday item for you: a $1,000 martini. But this drink, officially named the Share Our Strength Charity Martini, comes with a real twist: a white topaz and diamond caviar rope bracelet, a limited-edition, custom piece by des ... More >>

Jim Sullivan's former employees are on the line

If your bank account isn't on the rocks, the Capital Grille has just the holiday item for you: a $1,000 martini. But this drink, officially named the Share Our Strength Charity Martini, comes with a real twist: a white topaz and diamond caviar rope bracelet, a limited-edition, custom piece by des ... More >>

Breaking news from the Sullivan restaurant empire

If your bank account isn't on the rocks, the Capital Grille has just the holiday item for you: a $1,000 martini. But this drink, officially named the Share Our Strength Charity Martini, comes with a real twist: a white topaz and diamond caviar rope bracelet, a limited-edition, custom piece by des ... More >>

Benny's: The life of the Republican Party...

If your bank account isn't on the rocks, the Capital Grille has just the holiday item for you: a $1,000 martini. But this drink, officially named the Share Our Strength Charity Martini, comes with a real twist: a white topaz and diamond caviar rope bracelet, a limited-edition, custom piece by des ... More >>

Holiday Rush

Restaurants unwrap a few surprises.

Meat of the Matter

There’s good reason to call Denver a cow town.

King Kevin

Kevin Taylor steps into the Limelight.

Thai Basil

Suddenly, the big chains are looking better.

Sweet Basil Gin Rickey

Capital Grille

Big Time

Taking the tube

Best Fried Cheese

Maggiano's Little Italy

Best Steakhouse

Capital Grille

Best Seafood in a Steakhouse

Capital Grille

Best Steakhouse

The Capital Grille

Best Seafood at a Steakhouse

The Capital Grille

Best-Looking Wine Store

Divino Wine and Spirits

Drink of the Week

Stoli Doli

Best Place to Score With a Twenty-Something Whose Parents Still Pay the Rent

California Pizza Kitchen

The Food Group

An innovative welfare-to-work program feeds the restaurant business.

Gratuitous Behavior

Here's a tip for restaurateurs: Before you cut into your waitstaff's wages, check state regulations.

MOUTHING OFF

Here's a tip for restaurateurs: Before you cut into your waitstaff's wages, check state regulations.