I was first attracted to the Fior Di Latte booth at the Boulder Farmers' Market by the word "gelato." Then I noticed the elegant black-and-white design of the booth, and heard the lively sound of someone speaking to the vendor in Italian. And with the first taste, I was hooked. On Saturday, the li ... More >>
Hours before a restaurant's doors open, cooks are already at their stations, chopping onions, simmering stocks, breaking down chickens, and so on. As much as possible is done in advance -- which is good, because long waits make for cranky guests. Efficiency and quality, however, don't always go hand ... More >>
Update: We have a winner! Congrats to Alison Nishi, who was the first commenter to hit the right weight -- 95 pounds -- on the nose. The Great American Beer Festival barrels into town tomorrow, but the crew at Osteria Marco, Frank Bonnano's popular pig-, pizza- and salumi-centric gathering spot in ... More >>
Denver has a strong Italian history -- but until the last decade or so, this town's Italian restaurants were mostly run-of-the-mill red-sauce joints that you went to more for the convenience than the food. That's changed, though, and today's dining scene is rich with inventive and stylish fare from ... More >>
Philip PostonWhen you're in the mood for comfort food, as I was the other day, there are few preparations more comforting than risotto. It's easily personalized (I like mine thick, with mushrooms and heavy on the butter), fairly effortless to make and equally conducive to both communal and so ... More >>
Philip PostonI don't cook with meat very often, due to laziness and a limited budget, but every so often, I simply can't resist the basic human urge for pork. I can do without beef or chicken painlessly enough, but for some reason, the thought of pig evokes a deep, inexplicable desire for fle ... More >>
Arrivederci, Tre...They sent Tre home on last night's Top Chef All-Starsbecause his risotto wasn't loose enough? Give me a break. Perhaps it tasted terrible. Perhaps Anthony Bourdain was right in saying the focus should be on the rice, not the accompanying ingredients (Antonia had commented e ... More >>
7702 Ralston Road, Arvada
Cafe Jordano's gnocchi with red sauce hits the spot.Lakewood's Cafe Jordano has gotten some love on these pages before, from a series of Best Of awards (including 2009's Best Strip-Mall Italian Restaurant) to a glittering review in 2004 by Jason Sheehan. It deserves all of those accolades. Bu ... More >>
Lori Midson Corey Cunningham, exec chef of Baur's Corey Cunningham Baur's Ristorante 1512 Curtis Street 303-534-4842 www.baursdenver.com Corey Cunningham has cooked for Bill Cosby, former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, NASCAR and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- and he also onc ... More >>
Lori Midson Samir Mohammad The Village Cork 1300 South Pearl Street 303-282-8399 www.villagecork.com Long before Samir Mohammad could legally drive a car, he'd flipped burgers, rolled taquitos, tossed pizzas, blistered his hands cooking red and green chile, washed dishes, waited tables, pr ... More >>
"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 ... More >>
John Broening"We'll have head cheese at Olivéa on Friday -- I expect to see you there," summoned the e-mail. The note - short and to the point -- was from John Broening, the executive chef at Duo and Olivéa: the former a restaurant in Highland with a field-to-plate, seasonal approach to foo ... More >>
Yelp.com Yelp, a well-known website where opinionated voices discuss and review restaurants, bars and other local businesses, is kicking off Yelp Eats!, a seven-day dining celebration, which begins today and continues through Sunday, July 26 with fifteen metro area restaurants offering multi-course ... More >>
The dishes at San Lorenzo could stun you to silence.Here's a little bit of what I wrote about San Lorenzo Ristorante two years ago: "Carpaccio di bue dressed in lemon and oil, whole peppers stuffed with cheese and prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and roasted peppers draped with mar ... More >>
Maggiano's Little Italy introduced an amazing deal today. From now through July 8, if you dine at a Maggiano's -- and there are two in Denver, one in the Pavilions and one in the Tech Center -- and order a chef's $12.95 speciality dish, you'll get your next night's dinner free. Here's the deal, as ... More >>
Lori MidsonGelato alert: While cruising around Cap Hill last night in search of food -- which I got in the form of a real deal slice of New York-style pizza from the excruciatingly surly crew at Benny Blanco's Slice of the Bronx, at 616 East 13th Avenue -- I saw a sign for a new gelateria called the ... More >>
The sandwich: Boccaccio Crostone What's on it: Fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, pesto and tomato on grill-pressed bread Where to get it: Parisi (4401 Tennyson Street, 303-561-0234) How much: $7.99 I'm a horrible American cliché when it comes to all things Italian. I love the food, the wine, ... More >>
My review of Bones -- Frank Bonanno's new restaurant at 701 Grant Street -- was a love letter, a total crush note from one shameless omnivore to another, to the kind of guy who would put bone marrow, ice cream, escargot and udon all on the same menu, from the kind of guy who would gladly ... More >>
My review of the Celtic Tavern (which will be posted here later today) started an interesting conversation among some of the more Hibernian-leaning staff at the Westword office, chewing over why Denver seems incapable of opening and maintaining a decent Irish bar. (RIP, Duffy's Shamrock.) This di ... More >>
I love Italian food. So much, in fact, that I once spent a month in Florence taking Italian language classes -- that I then immediately put to the test in my Italian cooking classes. Not a word of English was spoken, and sure, there was some confusion (my book of Italian recipes, filled with my il ... More >>
The only way to erase the memory of bad shrimp scampi is with a bite of good scampi preferably here.
What happened in Vegas should have stayed there.
Matt Jansen returns Italian cooking to its roots.
Make a pig of yourself at Frank Bonannos new place.
Good neighborhood Italian isnt pasta point of no return.
A Cherry Creek mainstay is all talk, no action.
