Kelly Liken

An American Craft Spirit & Cocktail Showcase, an oyster extravagaza and more on this week's calendar

The Boulder Theater is hosting the High West Oyster Fest tomorrow, April 2, with live music by local funk band Juno What?! and fresh oysters courtesy of Jax Fish House (its LoDo outpost was this year's Best Seafood Restaurant); Odell's Brewery will be pouring its Emersum Oyster Stout. The event also ... More >>

Wine tastings, a mountaintop picnic and a lamb cook-off at the Taste of Vail

Every year in April, hundreds of food lovers and oenophiles gather (or huddle, if the weather dictates it) in Vail for the glitzy resort town's annual spring fling of food and wine, a four-day festival that kicks off this Wednesday and continues through Saturday with wine seminars, wine dinners and ... More >>

Celebrate pork in Vail this weekend

Restaurant Kelly Liken, 12 Vail in Vail, is kicking-off Cochon 555 tonight with a six-course, collaborative menu from five Colorado chefs: Jason Harrison of Four Seasons Resort, Jeff Osaka of twelve , Alex Seidel of Fruition, Lon Symensma of ChoLon and Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe. See also: - Den ... More >>

Denver Restaurant Week ends and Cochon begins on this week's culinary calendar

Denver Restaurant Week continues through Friday, March 8, and Vesta Dipping Grill, 1822 Blake Street, is allowing diners to create their own $52.80 menu. Guests can choose any appetizer, entree and dessert for $26.40 in this DRW twist; the deal runs through Wednesday, March 6. Check the website for ... More >>

Cochon 555 -- the sultan showdown of swine -- returns to Colorado on Sunday

Here's where the pig puns start: Two years ago, at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver, five Colorado chefs -- Alex Seidel (Fruition and Fruition Farms); Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson (Frasca Food & Wine); Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken); Frank Bonanno (Bonanno Concepts); and Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euc ... More >>

Culinary calendar: Denver Food and Wine pours into the weekend

The eighth annual Denver Food and Wine Classic -- a three-day celebration of local food, wine and spirits -- is in full swing on the campus of Metropolitan State University of Denver. And the last two days are filled to the brim with events. Here's the schedule:

Penny Parker's Evening of Decadent Delights is tonight

Penny Parker may have lost her job at the Denver Post, but she hasn't lost her interest in Sense of Security, a charity that helps breast-cancer patients. Her third annual Evening of Decadent Delights -- a benefit for the charity -- will be at Coohills, 1400 Wewatta Street, tonight. Dinner will also ... More >>

Culinary calendar: Penny Parker's Decadent Delights, a giant potato and grappa!

Penny Parker may have lost her job at the Denver Post, but she hasn't lost her interest in a charity that helps breast-cancer patients -- a charity that will benefit from a fundraiser at Coohills this Tuesday. Here's a taste of what else is on the culinary calendar this week:

Foodography: A food porn voyage of Chefs Up Front

Colorado chefs cook their asses off -- not just in their respective restaurants but at culinary events all over the city, and last night was no exception, as thirty chefs from Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs convened at the Colorado Convention Center to cook at Colorado Chefs Up Front, a benefi ... More >>

Reader: Michelle Obama should stay the hell out of my Happy Meal!

​ Michelle Obama's ski trip to Aspen over Presidents Day weekend created a flurry of interest in our post from this time last year, when she and the First Daughters skied in Vail and ate at Restaurant Kelly Liken. Who knew that Rush Limbaugh was a restaurant critic? "The problem is, and dare I ... More >>

Michelle Obama and First Daughters hit the slopes in Aspen: Schuss!

​If it's Presidents Day, the First Lady must be in Colorado, skiing. Last year, Michelle Obama took the two First Daughters to Vail over the same weekend -- and our first clue that she had returned to the slopes was a flurry of hits on that piece. This time, Michelle Obama and her daughters ... More >>

Five Denver/Boulder kitchen magicians who should audition for Top Chef Season 10

"Every season the bar gets higher, every season it means more to be the one on top -- do you have what it takes to be the next TOP CHEF?" So begins the wording on the Bravo website, taunting cookers from around the country to audition for the tenth season of Top Chef, which, if you believe the rumor ... More >>

Nominate your favorite Colorado chef for the 2012 James Beard Awards

​It's that time of year again, when the James Beard Foundation beckons the public fooderati to cast their nominations for the 2012 James Beard Awards, the "country's most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and r ... More >>

Win two seats to ChoLon's craft beer dinner with Top Chef Stephanie Izard and Alex Seidel

Girl and the GoatSeason 4 Top Chef Stephanie Izard ​It's been a good year for Lon Symensma, the chef/owner of ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, the leading-edge Asian restaurant that he opened downtown last October.

Denver Burger Battle: The meat of the matter in photos

Lori MidsonThe crew from Crave compete in the Denver Burger Battle​Aside from the vegetarian burgers from Root Down, which, ironically, were the first to sell out, last night's porny Denver Burger Battle was a carnivorous animal-style nirvana of bloody meat candy, bacon and foie gras. The sol ... More >>

Bravo's Top Chef will take its tour to Larimer Square on Saturday

Top Chef contestant -- and Vail restaurant owner -- Kelly Liken will be part of Bravo's Top Chef tour on Saturday in Larimer Square​Because, you know, we don't already have enough eatertainment in Denver this weekend to satiate our hunger pains, what with The Great Food Truck Race motoring in ... More >>

dish's Jenna Johansen thanks the universe for supplying the world with pig

​ Jenna Johansen dish 56 Edwards Village Boulevard, Edwards 970-926-3433 www.eatdrinkdish.com This is part one of my interview with Jenna Johansen, co-owner/chef of dish restaurant in Edwards. Part two of this interview will run in this space tomorrow. "I can talk about an apple for an ho ... More >>

Taste of Vail

Pig porn from Cochon 555, aka the Super Bowl of Swine

Lori MidsonCochon 555 chefs Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, Kelly Liken, Alex Seidel, Frank Bonanno and Jennifer Jasinski ​ Lard, have mercy on my soul. To say that I pigged out this weekend is the understatement of the year, and if I was porky before, you should see me now. In fact, I'm fairly ... More >>

Jimmy "the butcher" Cross vs. Chris Fuller in the Cochon 555 butchery battle

Cochon 555​When Cochon 555, the nationwide, heritage breed pig-off, trots into town on Sunday, April 3, it won't be just five Colorado chefs battling it out for the "Prince or Princess of Porc" title. In addition to Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bisto Vendome); Kelly Liken (Restaur ... More >>

Frasca's Bobby Stuckey at the center of Denver Cochon 555 pig fight

You be the judge. ​Cochon 555, the porkeriffic national competition that trots into Denver on Sunday, April 3, recently announced the five Colorado chefs combating for the Prince of Porc title: Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bisto Vendome); Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken); Alex ... More >>

Duo and Olivéa pastry chef Yasmin Lozada-Hissom tapped to bake at the James Beard Foundation awards gala

​The James Beard Foundation awards gala, a glitzy, high-falutin' soiree that honors the best chefs, pastry kings and queens, restaurateurs, restaurants and wine directors in the country, takes place on May 9, 2011, at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York. And the culinary blowout ... More >>

Cochon 555 names the five Colorado chefs battling for swine supremacy in Denver in April

Lori MidsonWhich little piggy will take home the top prize at Cochon 555?​ In exactly 37 days, the third US Tour of Cochon 555, a nationwide traveling pork orgy that spotlights five local chefs, five heritage breed piggies and five winemakers, will hoof it to Denver, taking over a yet-to-be-de ... More >>

Reader: Skip the Michelle Obama/Rush Limbaugh food fight? Fat chance

Rush Limbaugh, ash​Should Rush Limbaugh have commented at all on Michelle Obama's visit to Vail -- much less suggest that the First Lady, who has made childhood obesity her major cause, had no business eating short ribs? And did Cafe Society have any business getting into this political food f ... More >>

Michelle Obama eats well on Top Chef's Kelly Liken's ribs; you can, too, with this recipe

Kelly Liken​It's been a big week for Kelly Liken of Vail's Restaurant Kelly Liken, who was named a James Beard semi-finalist for Best Chef: Southwest (for the third time) -- and then fed Michelle Obama and three friends over the weekend. Liken recently competed on Top Chef, and Michelle Obama ... More >>

Michelle Obama orders ribs at Restaurant Kelly Liken, gets called "fat" by Rush Limbaugh

Dominique Taylor, Vail Daily​Michelle Obama spent her Presidents' Weekend without the president and with her daughters in Vail, where she skied, dined and managed to get the conservative media so riled up they called her fat. We know that the First Lady has made battling childhood obesity her ... More >>

James Beard Foundation announces 2011 semi-finalists: Frank Bonanno, Yasmin Lozada-Hissom, Frasca and ChoLon among them

James Beard Foundation​Last November, the James Beard Foundation summoned the public to nominate its favorite chefs, restaurants and industry professionals for the 2011 awards. And after all the self-pimping and ballot-stuffing, the poll is closed. This morning, the foundation announced its ... More >>

Top Chef All-Stars, second course: Is Jen a dinosaur?

Jennifer Carroll is going, going, gone.​Jennifer Carroll's meltdown when she got eliminated from last night's episode of Top Chef All-Stars was spectacular. She was graceless, almost out of control, so angry she clearly didn't know whether to laugh, cry or hit someone. She'd done a lot of brag ... More >>

Kelly Liken cooks up her winning Top Chef pork carnitas for a cause

Kelly Liken will serve up some winning recipes in Vail.​One of the most frustrating things for Top Chef fanatics is that we never get to taste -- or appraise -- the winning dishes. But now Vail's Kelly Liken, one of the past season's finalists, is making her winning braised pork carnitas for ... More >>

Kelly Liken's pork carnitas tacos are designed for kids -- but wowed adult judges

Kelly Liken's New York strip steak​Kelly Liken, chef/owner of Restaurant Kelly Liken and one of the top-four contenders in this year's Top Chef DC, likes shallots. "I put them in almost everything," she says in this week's Chef and Tell (read the complete Kelly Liken interview here). They de ... More >>

Part two: Chef and Tell with Kelly Liken of Restaurant Kelly Liken

​ This is part two of Juliet Wittman's Q&A with Kelly Liken, chef/owner of Restaurant Kelly Liken. To read part one of that interview, click here. Kelly Liken Restaurant Kelly Liken 12 Vail Road, Vail 970-479-0175 Do you turn to food books or cookbooks? I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, V ... More >>

Kelly Liken didn't win Top Chef DC, but she's at the top of her game

​ This is part one of Juliet Wittman's interview with Kelly Liken of Restaurant Kelly Liken. Part two will run tomorrow. Kelly Liken Restaurant Kelly Liken 12 Vail Road, Vail 970-479-0175 One of Kelly Liken's finest moments on Top Chef D.C. came when the contestants were challenged to make ... More >>

Kelly Liken returns for tonight's Top Chef reunion episode

Kelly Liken returns for a Top Chef reunion.​We'll be seeing Vail's Kelly Liken at the Top Chef Reunion tonight. Kelly was among the four finalists who went to Singapore, then was sent home in the penultimate episode -- but not before cooking many dishes that won the judges' praise. Interesting ... More >>

Top Chef DC, round 14: Kevin wins!

Kevin Sbraga (center) won the seventh round of Top Chef .​"Kevin, you are Top Chef," Padma announced, and a stunned Kevin responded, "I am?" I was happy with the outcome of this seventh season of Top Chef -- but I would have been equally pleased had Angelo won. He irritates a lot of viewe ... More >>

Whoops, Bravo: network accidentally reveals Top Chef season 7 winner

Who beat Kelly and the rest of the competitors? Bravo! releases an early look​WE won't spoil it for you but... Have you spent this seventh season of Top Chef glued to your television on Wednesday nights? Were you wracked with grief when hometown-favorite Kelly Liken was eliminated last week? ... More >>

Top Chef D.C., round thirteen: Kelly's headed back to Colorado

Hometown girl Kelly is headed home. ​The setting for this penultimate episode of Top Chef was Singapore, which ginned up the interest level quite a bit. It was fun watching the four remaining contenders picking and tasting their way through the Singapore street-food scene under the guidance of ... More >>

Top Chef, D.C., round twelve: Out of this world!

Tiffany got jettisoned.​Tiffany got sent home from Top Chef this week. I was a little distressed when Arnold was told to pack his knives a few episodes back, because his problems were the fault of mean-spirited Lynne, and also I expected him to come up with some interestingly piquant dishes ov ... More >>

Top Chef D.C., round seven: peas and thank you

Salmon in the disputed pea puree.​The challenges on Top Chef this week had a little more to do with food, and less with gimmickry. For the Quickfire, the chefs were to create a scrumptious morsel on a toothpick because, as guest judge Aaron Schock, a very young Republican Congressman from Illi ... More >>

Top Chef DC, round four: Oh, baby

Lynne and Arnold are out.​Last night's Top Chef DC, episode 4, felt like self-parody -- too many chefs; too many flying shots of hands chopping, sauteeing, stirring; too many judgments and too many judges using truncated phrases that communicated only the most basic facts about what they were ... More >>

Top Chef contestant and Coloradan Kenny Gilbert could go all the way

Kenny Gilbert has gone from Telluride to D.C. ​The first episode of Top Chef D.C. aired last night, and like every other food obsessive I know, I was glued to the set. Now in its seventh season, at this point the show is pretty much pure formula -- Quickfire Challenge, chefs' race through Whol ... More >>

High on the Hog