Mary Nguyen

Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods, featuring burritos, bugs and bulls' balls from local restaurants, will air Monday

Last fall, in early September, Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods, jetted to Denver, his film crew on his heels, to film footage of an upcoming episode of his wildly popular television show, in which Zimmern stuffs his gullet with foodstuffs that some people would find peculi ... More >>

Trends without end: Dining insiders offer predictions for 2013

Trends without end: chef predictions for 2013 include simplicity, more local greens and pot (maybe)

What will be the big culinary trends in 2013? As we prepare for a new year in gastronomy, we posed that question to dozens of people in the local food business, everyone from chefs and pastry magicians to restaurant brokers and PR consultants, from brewers and grape gurus to realtors and pig farmers ... More >>

Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern eats his way through Denver - and Parallel Seventeen chef Mary Nguyen's fantastical menu

I learned several things at last night's Denver Adventurous Eaters Club dinner at Parallel Seventeen: 1) Pig uterus is absolutely lovely and should appear on menus everywhere. 2) Parallel Seventeen chef/owner Mary Nguyen is one badass chef, who has the ability to cook just about anything, "bizarre ... More >>

Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern arrives in Denver this weekend for an adventurous romp of eating

Back in July, I got a phone call from a woman involved with Tremendous! Entertainment for the Travel Channel, the cable network that hosts, among other shows, Bizarre Foods, the fast-paced, food-centric program that showcases Andrew Zimmern, the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef, clamping his ... More >>

A culinary guide to the Taste of Colorado

Hungry? This weekend the 29th annual Taste of Colorado will fill Civic Center Park with over sixty vendors serving up eats, as well as daily chef demonstrations, food-eating contests and cooking competitions. It's one big taste of Denver's culinary scene. Here's a breakdown of the menu:

Photos: Denver's best female chefs strut their prowess at WomenCook!

Denver's top female chefs cooked up a storm last night at Temple Emanuel, the stamping grounds for WomenCook, an annual benefit for Work Options for Women, a local non-profit that provides hands-on cooking instruction to disadvantaged women who have hopes of working in the food industry. Hundreds ... More >>

Russo's Kitchen Tavern closes in Peter Kudla's "Midtown"

Midtown.That's what Peter Kudla, the COO of Metropolitan Homes and the developer of Vallagio at Inverness, a suburban mini-sprawl of retailers, lofts and restaurants in Englewood, chose to call his development when it came to fruition last year. "It's a unique dimension down here," said Kudla, when ... More >>

Street Kitchen Asian Bistro does the trick for a quick lunch in the DTC

Photos: The hits at Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, the subject of this week's review

I headed south for this week's review, to Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, the second restaurant from Mary Nguyen, who also owns the fantastic Parallel Seventeen. I've eaten several meals at Street Kitchen since it opened last January, encountering both hits and misses as I tried to navigate the expansi ... More >>

Street Kitchen Asian Bistro seeks street cred in the southern suburbs

Mark Manger​Suburbs are rarely known as culinary meccas, and the sprawling subdevelopments to the south of Denver are no exception to this rule. But since the Tech Center and other business complexes attract commuting cubicle warriors in droves, a few restaurateurs with already-established urb ... More >>

Passion fruit mojito at Street Kitchen Asian Bistro

​When I was growing up in the suburbs southeast of Denver, my favorite restaurant was Mr. Steak -- which sounds less pathetic when you realize that this was the best chain restaurant in the area at the time. Sadly, the southern 'burbs continue to be an independent restaurant wasteland. If you ... More >>

Brian Laird says he wasn't "a good fit" at Russo's Kitchen Tavern

Lori MidsonDon't blame Brian Laird for leaving Russo's Kitchen Tavern: Blame the decor​Several months ago, Brian Laird, who'd been spearheading the burners at Barolo Grill for more than a decade, parted ways, amicably, with Barolo owner Blair Taylor and his venerable Italian restaurant. Lair ... More >>

Madison Street's Rob Michaels dishes on dumbing down menus, the pitfalls of parsley and pork heaven

Lori Midson​ Rob Michaels Madison Street 1222 Madison Street 303-736-2260 www.madisonstreetdenver.com Filipinos are renowned for their unwavering hospitality, for unleashing food feasts that swell the belly, for ensuring that no host allows her guests to leave hungry. "We're known for provi ... More >>

Kitchen Crusaders

Reader: With Brian Laird going to Russo's, things are looking up in the southern suburbs

Lori MidsonThe interior of Russo's Kitchen Tavern..​Yesterday, a reader wondered if the restaurant-packed Berkeley neighborhood in northwest Denver was suffering from too much of a good thing. But the revelation that Brian Laird was heading south to Russo's Kitchen Tavern, one of several r ... More >>

Top five new names for Midtown at Vallagio

​As a resident of a town even further south than Vallagio at Inverness, the new development at Dry Creek and I-25 that's now trying to call its restaurant-centric self "Midtown," I have to admire the guts of developer Peter Kudla. By bringing a number of established restaurateurs and chefs, ... More >>

Ex-Barolo Grill chef Brian Laird tapped to be the new exec chef of Russo's Kitchen Tavern

Lori Midson​Six months ago, Mark Dym, the owner of Marco's Coal-Fired Pizza, 2129 Larimer Street, was interviewing potential chefs to oversee a new temple of gastronomy at Vallagio at Inverness, an urbanized, retail, restaurant and residence development spearheaded by Peter Kudla, the COO of ... More >>

Restaurant roll call for January

Mary Nguyen brought her Street Kitchen Asian Bistro to the 'burbs.​January saw several high-profile openings, including Ocean Prime in Larimer Square, which opened right on schedule, and a few stragglers that didn't quite hit their target dates in 2010. And you can say so long to the beloved R ... More >>

First peek: Behold Mary Nguyen's Street Kitchen Asian Bistro

Lori MidsonStreet Kitchen Asian Bistro owner and executive chef Mary Nguyen​Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, the first brick-and-mortar to open in the Vallagio at Inverness (Russo's Kitchen Tavern and a second Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria will open in the same development in February), is Mary Ng ... More >>

Culinary calendar for the week ahead: Vail Restaurant Month and Oktoberfest celebrations

​Well, Denver Beer Fest and the Great American Beer Festival have come and gone -- but there's still plenty to do, including a great excuse to head for the hills: Vail Restaurant Month starts today. Learn more about that, plus see what else is on the menu, below.

Parallel Seventeen celebrates its fifth anniversary with $5 deals throughout the month of August

​Parallel Seventeen's already a sure bet for vibrant Pan-Asian eats and daily happy-hour deals, and this month, the deals get even better. That's because owner Mary Nguyen, who will open a new Asian street food restaurant in October, is celebrating Parallel Seventeen's fifth anniversary with ... More >>

Parallel Seventeen owner and chef, Mary Nguyen, opening Street Kitchen Asian Bistro in the Vallagio at Inverness

​I love my job, and when I talk to chefs and restaurateurs -- people like Mary Nguyen, for example -- I love my job even more. Nguyen, the chef/owner of Parallel Seventeen, the cosmopolitan French-Vietnamese restaurant at 1600 East Seventeenth Avenue, is opening Street Kitchen Asian Bistro in ... More >>

Tonight: Wine and food fests at Four Mile and Balistreri Vineyards

A Flickr photo.​Four Mile Historic Park, 715 South Forest Street, uncorks Corks and Cuisine -- the seventh annual -- featuring local artisans (Ben Kelley, Cory Van Zytveld, Pete Radliff, Bentina Works and Jaala Jewels), Denver's finest caterers, and wines from Bonacquisti, Augustina's, Dithyra ... More >>

Dining for a Difference

Dine out and help out Haiti

​The horrors of Haiti hit close to home for Mary Nguyen, owner of Parallel 17: Her husband, Raphael Jouvenat, is from there. "Haiti has always been a poor country; a country with political turmoil and limited resources neglected by most of the world," she writes. "However, it is the place tha ... More >>

Tonight: Denver's top female chefs light the fire at Jax Fish House

Lori MidsonSheila Lucero, exec chef of Jax Fish House​"A few years ago, during a brainstorming session, I came up with an idea to create an all-female chef cooking event, something that would bring together some of the best female chefs in Denver," says Sheila Lucero, executive chef of Jax Fis ... More >>

Women and Wine

Cafe Society: Week in review

John Plessinger in a booth at the Nob Hill Inn, the bar his father put in his name back in 1969, when he was 21.​What you may have missed this week on Cafe Society while you were hanging on every last word of our hi-larious stories about the time we spent getting up close and personal with the reg ... More >>

Chef and Tell with Mary Nguyen of Parallel 17

Mary Nguyen, executive chef/owner of Parallel 17​"Food is the one thing that I grew up knowing would bring family and friends together, soothe wounds and mend hearts as well as improve any party or celebration," says Mary Nguyen, chef-owner of the Vietnamese-French bistro Parallel 17. "I enter ... More >>

Top ten places to eat on 17th Avenue

​ When Olivea opened in May at 719 East 17th Avenue, it immediately earned a spot among the top ten restaurants on 17th Avenue, which has become a real restaurant row. Below, nine more places to brake for food along 17th.

Women Cook!, you eat

Tonight is the fifth annual Women Cook!, Dining for a Difference, a benefit for Work Options for Women, the nonprofit that prepares women coming off welfare for a career in the food industry -- and just opened Cafe Optionslast month. The event includes a silent auction and walk-around dinner featur ... More >>

Parallel Seventeen bids a happy birthday to Buddha

Zone in on your zen (and blow off tax day) on Wednesday, April 15, when Parallel Seventeen, the modern Vietnamese restaurant at 1600 East 17th Avenue, rolls out a special a la carte menu to celebrate the birthday of Oh, Ye Great Buddhist, Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, who was born on A ... More >>

Parallel Seventeen is without parallel

Parallel Seventeen continues to set styles. Since it opened three years ago, Parallel Seventeen has always been a style leader -- in food (Mary Nguyen's classical Vietnamese cuisine, which Jason Sheehan raved about when he reviewed the restaurant), in decor (elegantly hip), in entertainment (w ... More >>

Pho 79

Wake-up call

Hold the Line

Parallel Seventeen revives culinary history.