Japanese Food and Cooking

Colorado-based Tokyo Joe's is a fast-food chain that needs to slow down

Fast-casual Japanese food like rice bowls, udon noodles and simple sushi rolls at cheap prices, served in a compact bistro environment that encourages come-as-you-are, quick-service dine-in or even faster carry-out: That's a golden dragon of a concept. But the unfortunate reality I saw while recentl ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Foie gras oysters from Sushi Sasa

Suffice it to say that I eat out more than the general population, unless, of course, the general population can catalog more than 450 restaurant meals in a year -- which is about the number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners that I stomached in 2012. Pathetic, isn't it? But all those food dates are ... More >>

Hapa Sushi -- sexy rolls, raw fish and edamame

I made my first foray into sushi at the relatively ripe age of twenty (I don't count the gobs of bad California rolls that I squished down before that), and it was an instant, passionate love affair akin to the greatest romances of all time. Romeo and Juliet, Bogey and Bacall, Robert Pattinson and K ... More >>

Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Samurai edamame and mushrooms over rice (backpack-style)

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. Dave Bekken, the manager of Mar ... More >>

Okinawa brings Japanese veggie options to the southwest suburbs

Michael Zheng opened Okinawa in late 2010 at 2301 East Colfax Avenue, in a spot that had failed before as a sushi joint -- but it's done well enough that Zheng opened another outpost of Okinawa in a strip mall at 12652 West Ken Caryl Avenue, in a space that was formerly the home of a Big Papa's BBQ ... More >>

Sushi Hai (mostly) fulfills our happy hour desires

Happy Place: Sushi Hai, 3600 West 32nd Avenue, 720-855-0888. The Hours: Daily from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers; $3.50 well drinks; $5 saketinis; $2-5 house wines and sake; $2.25-$4.50 food specials. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out.

Denver's five best Japanese restaurants

While Denver is swimming in great options for sushi, we're woefully short on Japanese joints that feature good versions of the broader culinary canon -- and, in fact, we'd be stoked if a few more spots of this sort opened up, whether they're restaurants serving up Japanese noodles like ramen or soba ... More >>

Hana Japanese Bistro in Louisville is all-inclusive

Slide show: In the kitchen at Hana Japanese Bistro

Kobe An showcases plant-based Japanese cuisine in the southwest suburbs

There are tatami rooms at Kobe An where you can have a traditional Japanese meal while seated on the floor around a low table -- all hidden away in an above-street-level storefront in that most American of landscapes, the strip mall. The inside of this restaurant belies its bland suburban exterior w ... More >>

Sushi Den architects share plans for the South Pearl project

This month started with major action on South Pearl Street -- including a very involved deal that calls for the Wynkoop/Breckenridge group that had owned Pearl Street Grill to swap that space at 1477 South Pearl with Izakaya Den, at 1518 South Pearl, one of three restaurants in the eating empire tha ... More >>

At Hana Matsuri, the chef knows his way around good fish

Elway's Downtown makes veggie sushi to order

We've written before about the vegetarian food at Elway's Downtown, 1881 Curtis Street. The restaurant remains one of our favorite (and least obvious) places to grab a bite to eat in the area -- you wouldn't think a steakhouse would cater so well to vegetarians, but this one does. In 2011, the joint ... More >>

Hana Matsuri serves sushi to the northern suburbs in tomorrow's review

Sushi Den and Sushi Sasa long ago deep-sixed the notion that good sushi doesn't exist in this landlocked state. These two formidable restaurants turn out exceptional dishes that rival those in any American city, seaside or not.

Denver's ten best sushi restaurants

For obvious reasons, we don't make New Year's resolutions here at Cafe Society that involve cutting delicious morsels out of our diet. But since we used the holidays as an excuse to go on even more of a gastronomic bender than usual this year, we are thinking about switching our binge eating tendenc ... More >>

Sushi Sasa rolls out vegetarian and vegan delights

When we saw that Robin Bar-on of Udi's -- who cooks up a pretty fine vegan spread herself -- thought Sushi Sasa's chef, Wayne Conwell, is a culinary genius, we knew we had to check out the veggie rolls. So we stopped by the Highland eatery on a recent Monday night to see what all the fuss was about.

Get hooked on the fresh fish at Land of Sushi

Land of Sushi hooks patrons with deals and oddities in the southern suburbs

Mark Manger​I'm constantly on the hunt for sushi joints where quality is paramount but I don't have to drop half my savings on one meal.

Reader: Osaka Sushi's Nuclear Roll hurts so good

Lori Midson​Cafe Society was swimming in sushi yesterday, as Lori Midson's latest "Guess where I'm eating" rubbed readers' nerves raw as they tried to identify this pretty plate of sushi. And then Kyle Garratt showed more raw courage, as he attempted to conquer the Nuclear Roll at Osaka Sushi ... More >>

Guess where I'm eating?

Lori Midson​For anyone who believes that Sushi Den and Sushi Sasa are the only two players when it comes to slicing and dicing the raw stuff, you're wrong: Here, at this unheralded shrine to the ocean, ambitions run as high as the waves in a wrathful sea, and the sushi and sashimi, plated, if ... More >>

Pain and suffering after eating the "Nuclear Roll" at Osaka Sushi (Video)

Five. That's how many times the specials board describing the Nuclear Roll at Osaka Sushi said "very" before "spicy." Ten. That's how many ice cubes were on the plate owner Jay Chung gave me before I started inhaling this tuna roll topped with liquid fire. "Just in case," he said with a chuckle. ... More >>

Izakaya Den adds ramen to its Saturday and Sunday lunch lineup

Izakaya Den will begin serving ramen this Saturday.​Beginning tomorrow, Izakaya Den, one of three restaurants on South Pearl Street overseen by brothers Yasu and Toshi Kizaki, who also run Sushi Den and Ototo, will begin dishing out ramen noodles in addition to its regular lunch menu.

Magnolia Restaurant and Sushi Bar closes, reopens as 95a Bistro and Sushi

​Magnolia Restaurant and Sushi Bar, the notable nouveau American eatery/traditional sushi bar in a nondescript strip mall in Lafayette, was sold in May. Now the space has re-emerged as 95a Bistro and Sushi. "The new sign is going up as we speak," says owner Rob Kukura. "We can now start answ ... More >>

Fontana Sushi rolls up avocado and veggie rolls for herbivores

​It's not easy to find quality sushi in the suburbs, but Fontana Sushi, 8601 West Cross Drive, #F4 in Littleton, is an oasis in a desert of Olive Gardens and Chili's storefronts. Yes, it's also part of a chain; this branch is owned by brothers Quiang and Sky Chen (Kevin Lin owns the rest of th ... More >>

Zi Fusion closes for a two-week remodel -- and will reopen with a new name and menu

Lori Midson​Two months ago, Zi Fusion, whose name will soon change to Purple Ginger (more on that later), was flooded when a sprinkler head burst and several water pipes broke, severely damaging the restaurant's hardwoods, mainly in the bar area. "The bar is warped so bad that you can hardly w ... More >>

DJ Low Key due at Sushi Hai this Sunday

​DJ Low Key, the DJ ambassador of all things good music wise, has moved his sushi bar rocking operations to a new location. Well, sort of. This Sunday, his new night, Connected, is taking a trial run at Hai Bair (Sushi Hai), where Low Key will be spinning soul and R&B music during the trendy l ... More >>

Japango rolls out all-veggie sushi

​In some circles, sushi is synonymous with "raw fish" -- and clearly not on the menu for vegan or vegetarian diners. Thankfully, even in landlocked Colorado most sushi houses offer at least one or two veggie rolls -- and Japango, 1136 Pearl Street in Boulder, offers a multi-course veggie sprea ... More >>

Jake Rand, formerly of Elway's Downtown, opens i-Fish, a new downtown Pan-Asian restaurant

Lori Midson​i-Fish, a new Pan-Asian restaurant, opens tonight at 2200 Market Street, in a completely redesigned space that was formerly occupied by Saucy's, a short-lived barbecue joint. The kitchen, helmed by Jake Rand, who used to be the head sushi chef at Elway's downtown, is turning out, ... More >>

Happy hour, happy belly at Okinawa

​Happy Place: Okinawa, 2301 East Colfax Avenue, 303-322-8886 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The Deals: 2-for-1 on all beer, wine and sake; $4 to $12.95 sushi and salad specials Were we happy? Flip the page to find out.

Raw knowledge: Learning how to roll at Benihana

Benihana​Last Thursday, I found myself at an open-air mall in Broomfield learning to roll sushi from a nice Hispanic sushi master named Beto. Yes, I was at Benihana's Sushi and Sake 101 instructional class, alongside about thirty other folks who'd doled out $35 to learn the basics of sushi rol ... More >>

Sushi Tora needs to stay ahead of its Boulder competition

Sachi Sushi serves up authentic ramen in Niwot

A search for ramen leads to Sachi Sushi

Mark Manger​There was a time in my life when I ate ramen once a week, and I'm not talking about that cheap brick of noodles that came with a sodium-loaded packet of flavoring. I'm talking rich broth, thick with animal fat and laden with noodles, pork belly, seaweed, scallions and a yolky egg. ... More >>

Sushi Tora lands Uchi alum Ray Srisamer as executive chef

​When Mara and Peter Soutiere, owners of Boulder's Tahona Tequila Bistro and a still unnamed new restaurant that will open at 1035 Pearl Street, also in Boulder, bought Sushi Tora two years ago, their biggest challenge was determining how to continue the restaurant's legacy of top-notch Japane ... More >>

Elway's Downtown makes sushi a catch of the day

Elway's Downtown features a sushi bar as well as steaks.​Allyson Fredeen isn't a big fan of fish -- her aversion dates back to some squeamish incident in her childhood -- so it was ironic that when Elway's Downtown first opened in the Ritz-Carlton, it installed a raw bar at the front of the ba ... More >>

Den Deli closes for a major remodel and reconception

Lori Midson​Den Deli and Seafood Market, at 1501 South Pearl Street, the third venture from Toshi and Yasu Kizaki, the brotherhood behind Sushi Den, 1487 South Pearl, and Izakaya Den, 1518 South Pearl, opened in December 2009 -- but the bento boxes, ready-made sushi and brimming bowls of rame ... More >>

Den Deli and The Crushery will soon start pouring booze on South Pearl Street

Lori Midson ​"No such thing as too many liquor licenses." That was the word from Steve Whited, owner of Black Pearl, who stopped me on my way to Den Deli last night for some sushi and a bowl of ramen. Whited was just as excited as I was that the Japanese seafood market, noodle house, sushi s ... More >>

Amu is a secret worth spilling

Something fishy: Elway's Downtown will soon have a sushi bar

Elway's Downtown​Now that they've seen what a bloody steak can do for your libido, ELWAY's Downtown, 1881 Curtis Street, is adding a sushi bar to bait and hook raw fish aficionados. It's still fishy as to when, exactly, the sushi bar will open, but Elway's Downtown spokesperson, Allison Fre ... More >>

Happy Hour Hunt: Sushi Den

​The Place: Sushi Den, 1487 South Pearl Street; 303-777-0826 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Deal: Specialty happy hour sushi menu includes hand rolls, nigiri, tempura rolls, hot plates, platters and Japanese fish priced between $2.50 and $14; Select hot sake is half ... More >>

Lobster ramen at Bones: Things I'm gonna miss...

​Every day that passes reminds me of another thing I'm going to miss about this town when I finally take my leave in just a few short weeks. Today, while running through a list of every restaurant I'd reviewed in 2009, I found my March 18 love letter to Bones--Frank Bonanno's noodle house a ... More >>

It's now a trifecta for Toshi and Yazu: Den Deli opens on South Pearl Street

Lori Midson​It's still getting its sea legs, but Den Deli and Seafood Market, the third in a mini empire of chow houses from Toshi and Yazu Kizaki, the two brothers who also run Sushi Den (1487 South Pearl) and Izakaya Den (1518 South Pearl), officially opened at 1501 South Pearl early last w ... More >>

Want soup? Try the new miso ramen at Kokoro

Kokoro ad featuring its new miso ramen​Kokoro, voted Denver's Best Not-So-Traditional Japanese Restaurant in Westword's 2009 best of issue, is leaning a little more toward old school. The quick-casual, homegrown Japanese mini-chain has added miso ramen to its menu, which already features udon ... More >>

Raw data on Sushi Den's new Den Deli

Lori MidsonThe future home of the Den Deli and Seafood MarketAs reported here last week, Toshi and Yazu Kizaki are expanding their empire on South Pearl Street. The brothers who own Sushi Den and Izakaya Den just slapped down over seven figures to buy the building at 1501 South Pearl, and plan to tr ... More >>

Hapa Sushi

Mikuni makes sushi for the masses

Mikuni Sushi: Raw fish for amateurs

Not surprisingly, just as there were no authentic Mexican restaurants in Rochester when I was young, there were no sushi bars, either. And definitely no sushi drive-thrus, even though sushi started out as fast food. Long before Ray Kroc came squalling into this world, preserved fish and balls of ri ... More >>

XO is finally a go at the Jet Hotel

Letters from the week of April 2

Frank Bonanno's new restaurant will bowl you over