James Lee

Meet the 2012 Denver #WebAwards finalists

It's time for the 2012 edition of Westword's Denver Web Awards, our annual celebration of Denver's greatest digital minds. Back at the end of September, we put out a call for you, dear readers, to nominate your favorite online projects and voices, and a team of Westword staffers and contributors has ... More >>

Denver and Boulder bartenders to battle it out at the Cognac Ferrand Master of Hospitality & Mountain Mixology competition at Colt & Gray

On Monday, November 5, Colt & Gray will be the stamping ground for a bartender's dream, especially those who have an affinity for cognac -- very good cognac. Six local cocktail magicians -- Melissa Durant (Green Russell); Carla Chang Sandoval (Hillstone Group); Anthony Giovanni (Gaetano's); Jason Pa ... More >>

Five things you'll always find in the fridges of the Denver FIVE

Like a lot of voyeurs, I'm intrigued by the contents of other people's refrigerators, especially the refrigerators of chefs. And apparently, so is Leigh Sullivan, the innovator behind FIVE -- five local chefs and their bar cohorts, all of whom cook (and pour) at various restaurants and venues around ... More >>

Contest: Win seats to the FIVE dinner with Samir Mohammad at the Village Cork

Ever since Samir Mohammad was tapped as the executive chef of the Village Cork, a lovely Washington Park wine bar, oenophiles and foodophiles alike have been clamoring for a taste, and while Mohammad's open kitchen, which squats squarely in a sea of bodies, isn't equipped with a hood or a multi-burn ... More >>

James Lee back at the Bitter Bar full time

A year and a half ago, award-winning bartender James Lee gave up his post as bar manager of the Bitter Bar and beverage director of the Big Red F restaurants to embark on a journey that took him first to Salida and then Denver, where he's worked with Troy Guard, Leigh Sullivan, Robert Thompson and H ... More >>

Photos: La Revolución Taqueria y Cantina opens on Louisville's Main Street

Dark wood, bright red paint and a gargantuan patio define La Revolución Taqueria y Cantina, a brand-new taco joint on Louisville's bustling Main Street. Owner Rick Betance, who's brought on star bartender James Lee and Zolo Southwestern Grill chef Brett Smith to consult on cocktails and food, respe ... More >>

Denver's five best restaurant scoops of ice cream and gelato

The warm weather has us constantly craving ice cream, and yesterday, we listed our five best Denver parlors. While those are the places we're most likely to go for a double-scoop cone, ice cream parlors aren't the only places in town that turn out the dessert we crave: there are quite a few Denver r ... More >>

La Revolución Taqueria Cantina opening next week in Louisville

Fifteen years ago, remembers Rick Betance, he hired James Lee at Zolo Grill, giving the bartender his first real bar job, a position that would plant the seeds for Lee's rise to mixology stardom. Now, after Betance spent years as an owner and operator of a boutique hotel in the Alaskan wilderness an ... More >>

FIVE kicks off its fifth season tonight -- and tickets are still available

Earlier this year, Leigh Sullivan Enterprises -- a hospitality-industry marketing, brand-management and public-relations consulting firm helmed by Leigh Sullivan -- announced its fifth crop of chefs to fill out the ranks of the Denver FIVE, an organization that's "a culinary group whose main goal is ... More >>

Bartending superstar Jim Meehan descends upon the Mile High City next week

We might all be Manhattan and martini connoisseurs now, but not even ten years ago, properly made classic cocktails were a lot more difficult to find not just in Denver, but in any city. And cocktail bars -- at least the trendy cocktail bars that keep proliferating today -- were virtually non-exist ... More >>

Hosea Rosenberg will kick off the fifth season of FIVE with a soiree at Balistreri Vineyards

Five years ago, Leigh Sullivan was hellbent on showcasing Denver's dining landscape -- and the chefs who define it -- to a national audience. Her determination paid off in spades when she handpicked a ring of five local chefs who would eventually become the first incarnation of FIVE, a quintet of to ... More >>

Josh Burbank: Drinks should just heighten the experience

Yesterday, Josh Burbank, barman at Jax Fish House, showed us how he makes homemade root beer. Now he's weighing on his mentors, behind-the-bar antics gone awry, and putting his blood, sweat and tears into every drink.

Photos: Josh Burbank makes root beer at Jax Fish House

As bartenders in this town dive deeper into their craft, we've seen a lot of housemade sodas pop up on lists. Several places make their own tonic, for instance, and a few turn out their own ginger beers. We know of places trying to work out the kinks of more ambitious sodas, too, and at least one -- ... More >>

James Lee: Colorado bartending has risen so much in three years

In this interview, James Lee, one of the godfathers of Colorado cocktail culture, discusses the Pimms Cup that made him see the light, one thing he thinks bartenders absolutely have to measure, and the night he was called the worst bartender ever.

Mark Stoddard will leave the Bitter Bar behind for a national gig with Hendrick's gin

The Bitter Bar has been at the forefront of the Colorado cocktail scene since it first opened as Happy's night-time alter ego three years ago. In fact, its list of classic and clever libations were so popular that owner Dave Query eventually decided to shut down his Boulder noodle house and focus on ... More >>

Reader: Is FIVE too much of a good thing?

Leigh Sullivan founded FIVE, a group of Denver chefs who cook across the country, back in 2008; the lineup, like Sullivan herself, has gone through some changes over the years. Sullivan recently relaunched her own marketing/public relations company, Leigh Sullivan Enterprises, and just announced the ... More >>

The 2012 crop of FIVE chefs and bar stars includes a powerhouse of big names

If you've been wondering how Leigh Sullivan, the ex-wife of Troy Guard, who owns TAG and TAG|RAW BAR, is doing since the couple split last year, the answer is "better than ever."

Jonathan Greschler was notoriously shy...until he became a bartender

Jonathan Greschler, who recently landed behind the bar at Fuel Cafe, started bartending right after college. "I was in North Carolina working at a microbrewery," he remembers. "The guys behind the bar were older than me, and they took me under their wing. We had an advantage, because it was a microb ... More >>

Bitter Bar's Michael Cerretani holds his own in national competitions

Michael Cerretani, barman at Boulder's Bitter Bar, has been bartending off and on for about a decade, but he didn't start down the craft-cocktail path until he landed a job at Bitter Bar a few years ago.

Top Chef Hosea Rosenberg and star bartender James Lee are partnering on a farm, catering company and restaurant

Lori MidsonTop Chef Hosea Rosenberg and star bartender James Lee are collaborating on a farm, catering company and restaurant.​Hosea Rosenberg is a ham. The former exec chef of Jax-Boulder -- and victor of Top Chef season five -- has hijacked my computer, typing "Hosea is soooooooooo handsome ... More >>

Ask the bartender: What's up with Colorado winning so many contests?

I just returned from a week in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas), where I worked at the BAR 5-day program. The BAR 5-day is a masters'-level spirits and mixology course taught by six men -- F. Paul Pacult, Steve Olson, Andy Seymour, David Wondrich, Doug Frost and Dale Degroff -- who are icons in our ... More >>

Five Denver bartenders mix up vodka cocktails you can make at home

Kevin BurkeThe Gypsy Cocktail by Kevin Burke.​Vodka has been the most popular spirit in America since the 1970s, and there's no sign of it slowing down. As outlined in "Clear Thinking," this week's cover story about Spring44, vodka's popularity keeps growing year after year, expanding into a m ... More >>

HUSH's upcoming pop-up dinners will spotlight dishes and cocktails from Hosea Rosenberg and James Lee's forthcoming restaurant

Lori MidsonJames Lee, a bartender at Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, is teaming up with Top Chef winner Hosea Rosenberg to open a new restaurant -- but first, they'll spotlight their drinks and dishes at a HUSH event at mise en place.​ For the past several months, Phil Armstrong, Denver's princ ... More >>

Reader: TAG's game of musical chairs -- and chefs -- continues

Brian Melton will soon be mixing it up at ChoLon.​TAG, you're it. The fallout from TAG continues to radiate across the restaurant scene, with the news yesterday that James Lee and Michael Pacovsky are going to Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, Robert Thompson's spot slated to open in the former ... More >>

TAG departees James Lee and Michael Pacovsky sign on with Robert Thompson and Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar

​Robert Thompson, who owns Argyll, which just closed in Cherry Creek (but will reopen in 2012 in the Baker 'hood) and the soon-to-be-open Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, which has taken over the former Baur's space downtown and Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink, slated to open in November, also i ... More >>

Denver's most notable restaurant couple, Leigh Sullivan and Troy Guard, split -- and a mass exodus from TAG ensues

It's splitsville for Denver restaurant couple Leigh Sullivan and Troy Guard.​It was a Las Vegas, tunnel-of-love, drive-thru wedding. Leigh Sullivan and Troy Guard, the chef/owner of TAG and TAG| RAW BAR, met just three months before they took off for Las Vegas and tied the knot in 2004 in the ... More >>

TAG gets ready to unveil a summer cocktail list

TAG​Last month top-notch bartender James Lee gave up his Salida gig to return to the Front Range, taking over as the beverage director at TAG, Troy Guard and Leigh Sullivan-Guard's flagship Larimer Square eatery. He's spent the last few weeks getting his feet wet, learning the spirits list an ... More >>

TAG lands top bar talents James Lee and Bryan Dayton

James LeeJames Lee behind the stick at the Bitter Bar, his former home​It's been a busy spring for Troy Guard and Leigh Sullivan-Guard, who opened TAG | RAW BAR in a below-ground spot in Larimer Square just before they became operating partners at Madison Street, the Larimer Associates project ... More >>

Sips and nibbles from the just-opened Oak at Fourteenth

​Bryan Dayton first started talking about his own project six months ago, when he forewent an offer from then-beverage director James Lee at Happy's Bitter Bar, 835 Walnut Street, to pursue his own project. He'd teamed up with chef Steve Redzikowski and beverage distributor Annie Polk, and the ... More >>

Drink of the week: The only time a Brooklyn is fancier than a Manhattan

James Lee leaves the Bitter Bar and Big Red F for a restaurant in Salida

James Lee and Dave Query​The explosion of cocktail culture in Colorado was ignited by a legion of talented bartenders working to prove that their craft is more than mixing rum and Cokes; it's creating drinks that reflect their deep understanding of spirits. And few bartenders have done more t ... More >>

Bryan Dayton skips Bitter Bar offer for his own project

​The Bitter Bar may not have needed much more momentum to rise to the top of the Colorado cocktail scene, but it was set to take another great leap forward when it locked in mixologist Bryan Dayton, the president of the Colorado chapter of the US Bartender's Guild, to craft libations behind th ... More >>

Jamie Boudreau gives seminar at Happy's Bitter Bar, encourages cocktailers to raise the bar

​Jamie Boudreau, a pioneer of molecular mixology, is a bartender's bartender. That was evidenced by the crowd that gathered yesterday when he stopped by Boulder's Bitter Bar for a public cocktail seminar on St-Germain, a seductive elderflower liqueur he represents when he's not shaking or st ... More >>

Cocktail king Bryan Dayton leaving the bar at Frasca to sling drinks at Bitter Bar

Lori Midson ​ Bryan Dayton, the bar manager of Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, is leaving his gig of more than five years to join the über-talented mixology crew of Bitter Bar, the Boulder watering hole whose chief mixologist, Mark Stoddard, recently trotted home with gold in the 42 Below Cock ... More >>

Team USA wins 42Below Cocktail World Cup: More reason for Happy to be happy

​Mark Stoddard, a mixologist at Happy and its late-night alter-ego, Bitter Bar, was in New Zealand last week, competing in the 42Below Cocktail World Cup with fellow TeamUSA members Todd Thrasher of Washington, DC, and Sean Hoard of New York City. This contest is not for the timid. Over fiv ... More >>

A Glass Act

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 tri ... More >>

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 new ... More >>

Staffing 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 r ... More >>

Bitter Bar's James Lee places fourth

​ Hosea Rosenberg may have won last season's Top Chef, but his luck didn't hold for Big Red F colleague James Lee, the Boulder mixologist who placed fourth at this weekend's Iron Bar Chef contest at the annual Santé Restaurant Symposium in New York. Which means Lee didn't get the $1,000 priz ... More >>

Bitter bartender a contender in Iron Bar Chef Competition

​James Lee, mixologist at the Bitter Bar at Happy (known as Happy Noodle House until very recently), is heading from Boulder to New York this weekend, for the annual Santé Restaurant Symposium -- where he'll be competing against against five other bartenders in the Iron Bar Chef contest. Th ... More >>

Happy Noodle House is trying — sometimes too hard

Sweet Basil Martini

Jax Fish House

Kyoto's Coming

Kyoto's Coming

Good Morning, America

From Aurora to Boulder and Back

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks