Mexican Food and Cooking

Little Anita's New Mexican Cafe is firmly entenched in red and green

I had one of my first real New Mexican meals in New Mexico, at the Little Anita's location in Albuquerque...and I hated it. I was astounded that people would dump alternating layers of boiling hot green pepper sauce and equally steaming, nose-running-hot red pepper sauce on everything, and suck this ... More >>

Wahoo's Fish Taco: No meat, no gluten, no problem

I have great sympathy for folks who can't digest gluten (as opposed to fakers who affect gluten allergies for attention), as well as those who can't or don't eat meat -- because they face very limited menu options if they dare to dine out. That makes Wahoo's Fish Taco a rare fish in the fast-food s ... More >>

Easy vegan enchiladas for a quick dinner on Meatless Monday

Sometimes you want nothing more than a quick, easy dinner -- but for vegans, this isn't always an easy task. But if you're willing to spend a little extra cash for store-made meat-replacement taco mix, pico de gallo and guacamole, you can throw together a pan of mouth-watering enchiladas and have di ... More >>

Tacos Junior deserves senior status on Federal

In A Federal Case, I'll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard - south to north - within Denver city limits. I'll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I'll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here's the report on thi ... More >>

Cafe Chihuahua is pregnant with possibilities

In A Federal Case, I'll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard - south to north - within Denver city limits. I'll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I'll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here's the report on my ... More >>

Tarasco's New Latin Cuisine is hot for veggies, too

It's not that easy to find vegetarian-friendly (let alone vegan-friendly) Mexican food; between lard in refried beans and chicken stock in the rice or green chile, there's no telling what animal products might be lurking in the foods you order. That's why we just love places like Tarasco's New Latin ... More >>

Curtis Park Creamery serves up Mexican comfort food in endless combinations

Photos: A Closer Look at Curtis Park Creamery

Dylan Moore closing Delite and reopening as Juanita's, a Mexican joint with a familiar name

Here's a little tidbit about Dylan Moore, the exec chef-owner of Deluxe and Delite that you likely didn't know: Throughout high school, Moore cooked -- and served -- at the long-defunct Juanita's in Uptown, as well as Juanita's in Boulder, which stood for nearly thirty years on the Pearl Street Mall ... More >>

Coloradans are partial to Santiago's mean green

Also read: Santiago's founder Carmen Morales talks to Cafe Society

Gustavo Arellano on Tim Tebow, Tom Tancredo and the glories of Chubby's Mexican hamburger

"Denver has the most gabacho gabachos in the United States," Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, proclaimed yesterday, name-checking Tim Tebow (briefly), John Elway and Tom Tancredo, with whom he'd debated immigration eighteen months ago on the same Su Teatro stage.

Gustavo Arellano on Chubby's, Tom Tancredo and Den-Mex

Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, returned to the Su Teatro stage last night, where eighteen months ago he'd discussed immigration with Tom Tancredo. Before that debate, Tancredo and Arellano had met across the street for dinner at El Noa Noa. And no matter how he feels about Mexicans, "Tan ... More >>

Matt Collier, former sous chef at The Kitchen, tapped as the executive chef of T|ACO in Boulder

You'd think a chef with the pedigree of Matt Collier would balk at the thought of slinging tacos, but Collier, who was a sous chef at The Kitchen in Boulder for nearly four years, and whose culinary lineage also includes stints at Blackbird, the Drawing Room, Boka (a Michelin-starred restaurant), Pu ... More >>

Chipotle or Qdoba? Either way, burritos legally stand on their own

Also read: Why Denver is home to the best Mexican dish in the United States

Why Denver is home to the best Mexican dish in the United States

Also read: Chipotle or Qdoba? Either way, burritos legally stand on their own

Paxia, younger sibling of Los Carboncitos, has some catching up to do

In honor of his Taco USA, the Mexican sounds off on Mexican food

Old Blinking Light takes plant-based eaters south of the border

Eating Mexican food as a vegetarian isn't easy, and as a vegan? You might as well forget it unless you're at a plant-based restaurant. Or at Old Blinking Light Kitchen & Cocktails in Highlands Ranch.

Rio Grande puts the spotlight on its kitchen

Slide show: In the kitchen at Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant

Pinche Taqueria is pinche good!

More photos: In the kitchen at Pinche Taqueria

Comida Cantina will open in Longmont on February 17

We've seen a number of the area's most successful food trucks cement permanent locations over the last year or so, inking deals on restaurant spaces that allow them to expand their mobile brands into fuller service (and often alcohol-supplemented) ventures. The latest to do so is Comida, a big, pink ... More >>

Foodography! Pinche Taqueria opens today in Uptown

Lori Midson​It may be Halloween, but today also marks the opening (finally!) of Pinche Taqueria, Kevin Morrison's taco-hustling brick-and-mortar -- the follow-up to his taco wagon, which was one of the first mobile street food slingers to hit the streets of Denver.

Los Farolitos does Denver's best birria

Reader: Fed up with the word "foodie," but not real Mexican food

Lori MidsonMixiote de borrego at El Trompito -- looks adventurous to us!​First, Denver places thirteenth on Travel Leisure's list of the best American cities for foodies, then LivingSocial ranks it as the eleventh-best dining city overall. When you drill down in the results of that survey, ... More >>

Atomic Tamale's vegetarian and vegan tamales are a south-of-the-border delight

​Although Denver has some of the best Mexican food in the country, vegetarians and vegans alike know it is not easy to find meat-free Mexican meals in this city -- and finding meat-and-cheese-free Mexican food is almost like seeking the Holy Grail. It might take you a couple of passes to locat ... More >>

Tamale Kitchen is a decent, if dull, option

Tamales Moreno just might have Colorado's best tamales

Photos: Hidden Gems at Tamales Moreno in Lakewood

Denver's five best breakfast burritos

Lori MidsonThe breakfast burrito from Taco Wagon.​While we especially love a greasy mess of eggs, green chile and chorizo wrapped in a tortilla when we're combating the effects of a night of bad decisions, we'll brake for breakfast burritos in this town any day of the week. And while it's hard ... More >>

Like its namesake, Mezcal has mellowed with age

El Diablo serves regional specialties in devilishly fun surroundings

Slide Show: El Diablo photo tour

Patzcuaro's caters to drinkers and sunshine-dwellers with authentic Mexican fare

Even the "inferior meats" are done well at El Camino

Tacos El Fogon adds another taqueria to Federal Boulevard

Lori Midson​There's no such thing as too many taquerias, which is exactly what Mario and Gricelda Valles thought when they opened Tacos El Fogon last month at 1145 South Federal Boulevard, along a strip of asphalt that already lays claim to more taquerias than you can fling a tortilla at. "My ... More >>

Mezcal misses the deadline for Denver Restaurant Week, but unleashes a $5.28 menu

​Tim Connors, co-owner of Mezcal, the rollicking cantina on East Colfax Avenue whose kitchen is overseen by Roberto Diaz, wants people to know that he's absolutely, unequivocally not trying to pull a fast one on Denver Restaurant Week, the two-week eating orgy in which nearly 300 Front Range f ... More >>

Bubba Chinos serves up authentic "Chicano cuisine"

Ask a Mexican: What's with the trash dump in the Sonoran Desert?

Teleras trumpets tortas in Thornton

Lori Midson​Give a guy a Las Tortugas franchise, and what does he do? If you're JuanCarlos Wong, you keep it for a few months before concluding that you can do your own thing -- and do it better. Wong, who opened a Las Tortugas outlet earlier this year in June at 810 East 88th Avenue, in Th ... More >>

Part two: Chef and Tell with Roberto Diaz from Mezcal

Lori Midson​ Roberto Diaz Mezcal 3230 East Colfax Avenue 303-322-5219 www.mezcalcolorado.com This is part two of Lori Midson's Q&A with Roberto Diaz, executive chef of Mezcal. To read part one of that interview, click here. What you'd like to see more of in Denver from a culinary standpoint ... More >>

Rica Pizza rolls out an enchilada pie -- and other Mexican pizzas

​After fifteen years working in management at Pizza Huts across the country, Ted Huss was done -- done with the corporate bullshit, done with inferior ingredients and done with chains. "I was frustrated and really discouraged with the way the business was going. It was all about profit, when ... More >>

After devilish delays, El Diablo opens to angels and demons on Friday

Lori Midson ​Jesse Morreale takes me by the hand and leads me down a narrow passageway, past the rustic wooden tequila lockers and kaleidoscopic altar littered with white candles, and into the lantern-lit dining room of El Diablo, the new Mexican restaurant at First and Broadway that he and e ... More >>

Veggie Girl: Allow me to introduce myself -- and Tamale Kitchen

​Yes, we're bringing it back...my name is Amber (but friends call me Ambs), and I'll be your new Veggie Girl. Some background: I've been vegetarian -- not vegan; that's just plain crazy -- on and off for eight of my 29 years. I love food, despite the fact that I've voluntarily chosen to opt o ... More >>

What's the oldest Mexican restaurant in Denver?

​I just stopped by La Fiesta for lunch, as people have been stopping by the Mexican restaurant at 2340 Champa Street since 1964, when the Herrera family turned an old Safeway into a Denver institution. (That's the original menu above.) Which got me wondering: Is there a Mexican restaurant in ... More >>

Red alert! Why do older Mexican women cut and dye their hair?

La Cueva remains a culinary oasis on Colfax

Mouth by south of the border at the new Fresko

Lori Midson​Fresko is Mexican casual cuisine, a unique place, an experience, and a taste only known in Mexico. Fresko is honored to be in Colorado. Fresko is genuine, culture, quality, passion, freshness, ambiance, with a staff that loves to share. Experience metropolitan Mexican dining for a fast ... More >>

The Mexican is always packing heat

Veggie Girl: Taqueria Patzcuaro

Fresh, salty chips, burning hot salsa and maybe the best vegetarian red chile in Denver -- these are just a few of the reasons that I frequent Taqueria Patzcuaro at 2616 West 32nd Avenue. An even bigger draw, though, is the chile relleno burrito, an absolute genius invention that starts with a tor ... More >>

A bad night in Boulder at Tahona Tequila Bistro

Tacos Jalisco serves Southern comfort, Mexican style -- and free chips

Flour or Corn?

The Mexican wraps up the great tortilla debate.

Best of Denver Winners from 1996