Sergio Romero

Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink: From bowling to burgers, there's a lot to like

See also: Behind the Scenes at Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink

Best New Restaurant: Our ten winners over the past decade

Twenty-four hours from now, the Best of Denver 2013 will start hitting the street -- and the web. This year's edition is packed with more than 400 winners (we're still counting). The the very last category in our Food & Drink section was one of the toughest picks this year: Best New Restaurant. In ... More >>

Round two with Jeremy Thomas, exec chef of Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar

Jeremy Thomas Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar 1512 Curtis Street 303-534-1155 www.legranddenver.com This is part two of my interview with Jeremy Thomas, chef of Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar; part one of our conversation ran yesterday. What's never in your kitchen? Green peppers. When I worked at Sacr ... More >>

Exclusive first look: the culinary creations at Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink

There were about a dozen of us, all wrapped around a long narrow table, groaning. Sergio Romero, the exec chef of Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar, and the forthcoming Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink, which opens next month in Baker, had decided to host a menu tasting -- a BIG menu tasting -- of some ... More >>

Exclusive first look: Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink, opening at the end of October

This, says Robert Thompson, is the "most ambitious project I've seen in Denver in a long, long time, and I guarantee you that it's going to be worth it." "This" refers to Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink, the 23,700-square-foot, 900-person-capacity gastro-diner, bowling alley, Ping-Pong hall, marb ... More >>

Two small-town families made Colorado's Best Beef a sought-after brand

Anika Zappe named bar manager of Punch Bowl Social, Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar and Argyll

It took two and a half years, but Robert Thompson, the restaurateur behind Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, the former Argyll and Punch Bowl Social, finally got his wish: Anika Zappe, one of the most respected and high-profile bartenders in Denver, Thompson told me today, is now the beverage director f ... More >>

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 >>

Small Plates, Big Hearts tonight at Infinity Park Event Center

The inaugural Small Plates, Big Hearts takes place tonight at Infinity Park Event Center, 4400 East Kentucky Avenue, where some of Denver's finest chefs will battle each other in a friendly competition that benefits the Adoption Exchange.

Denver's ten best charcuterie plates

There's no limit to our love for salted and cured meat, so we're as happy as pigs at the feeding trough that some variation of the charcuterie plate has worked its way onto just about every menu in this town. But as more and more restaurants fill out their menu with piles of salami and ham, some spo ... More >>

Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2011

By our count, nearly 300 restaurants have opened in the metro area since January 1 -- a big increase over 2010, when just over 200 concepts (many of them food trucks) joined the scene. This past year, we saw many of those food-truck entrepreneurs also pick up leases to brick-and-mortar spaces, putti ... More >>

At Le Grand Bistro, belly up to the bar for classic French fare

More Photos: Belly Up to the Bar at Le Grand Bistro

Le Grand Bistro and Oyster Bar is Robert Thompson's version of a "grand brasserie"

Restaurateur Robert Thompson made his name in this town with Brasserie Rouge, a much-lauded, now-defunct French restaurant in the IceHouse that won our Best New Restaurant Award, then closed not long after. Thompson left town for a while, then made a strong comeback with Argyll, a basement gastropub ... More >>

Denver's ten best burgers

The Steakburger​This town is already stuffed with burgers, and today another meaty addition joined the ranks: Steak 'n Shake, which opened in Centennial. While we have no doubt that this link in the Midwestern chain will quickly endear itself to Denverites, the Steak 'n Shake burger has some f ... 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 >>

Argyll team opening Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar in the former Baur's Ristorante space

​Robert Thompson is on a roll. The proprietor of Argyll, a splendid gastropub in Cherry Creek, and the brainchild behind Punch Bowl, which will open in November in the Baker 'hood, has just inked a deal, complete with a 25-year lease, to take over Baur's Ristorante, Jimmy Lambatos's elegant -- ... More >>

Denver Restaurant Week gets a shout-out in the Los Angeles Times

Lori MidsonArgyll executive chef Sergio Romero​Rich Grant, the communications director for Visit Denver, the convention and visitors bureau that started Denver Restaurant Week, insists that the Mile High City's two-week marathon of meals, which kicks into high gear on February 26, is the lar ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Pork shank from Argyll

Lori Midson​ No. 79: Pork shank from Argyll Pig is not hard to find in Denver. In fact, save for restaurants whose menus are dedicated to herbivores, you'd be hard-pressed to find a board that doesn't pimp porcine. And Argyll, the Cherry Creek gastropub whose kitchen is overseen by executiv ... More >>

This week in Cafe Society food bloggery: beer, Bon Appetit, Brandon Biederman and ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

​ Behold the highlights from this week's Cafe Society blog: 1. With the streets of Denver flooded in suds, it's likely that you're well and truly hammered while reading this, but if you can still see the screen without covering up one eye, and you haven't had your fill of hops and barley, the ... More >>

Big Lots on Broadway to become a big bowling alley and 24/7 diner, courtesy of Argyll's Robert Thompson

Lori Midson​You know the boarded up Big Lots on First and Broadway -- the behemoth, 23,000-square-foot space that was reportedly going to be a Sunflower Farmers' Market, then a Staples store and, most recently, an auto body garage? Yeah, well, it's not not going to be any of those things. ... More >>

Flaming hot food porn from the Denver Burger Battle

Lori Midson ​At last night's Denver Burger Battle, a benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters, ten of Denver's best beef bruits went bun-to-bun, patty-to-patty, topping-to-topping in a cow-friendly competition to see whose burger would kick gas. The throwdown, held at the Wynkoop Walk, and hoste ... More >>

Pudgy pizza, monster sausages and tacos: Food porn from the Cherry Creek Arts Festival

Lori Midson ​Over the weekend, I settled into my usual routine of eating, only on Sunday, this entailed stuffing (and stupefying) my belly with dishes from more than 20 restaurants hawking their grub at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, where I was a culinary judge alongside the SAME Cafe's Bra ... More >>

Tonight: Argyll does good in a make-good

Diners on Argyll's patio will be looking at life through rose-colored glasses.​ Argyll Gastropub, proclaimed the Best New Restaurant in the Best of Denver 2010, is serving up a 5-Course Rose Wine Dinner tonight that's a benefit for the National Kidney Foundation. "It's our way to kick off sum ... More >>

Does winning Best New Restaurant have a Sports Illustrated jinx?

​Despite the lousy economy, last year saw an unprecedented number of impressive new restaurants opening in Denver - everything from Olivea to Squeaky Bean to TAG to Colt & Gray. But the team of eaters working on the Best of Denver 2010 were unanimous on which spot had earned the Best New Resta ... More >>

Part two: Chef and Tell with Sergio Romero of Argyll Gastropub

Lori Midson​This is part two of Sergio Romero's Chef and Tell interview. To read part one, click here.

Chef and Tell with Sergio Romero from Argyll Gastropub

Lori Midson ​"My goal," says Sergio Romero, "is to be on a wait as often as possible, to have people love our food and eat it up, and to provide an experience that's a little different from everything else in Denver." And the exec chef of Argyll Gastropub fiercely believes that the Cherry Cree ... More >>

Argyll Gastropub taps into vacant Plush space next door

Lori Midson​Argyll Gastropub, the subterranean grub-and-ale house at 2700 East Third Avenue, is about to get bigger -- much bigger. That's because Argyll owner Robert Thompson just snatched up the Plush space directly next door, which closed following New Year's Eve. Thompson's first priority ... More >>

After my first bite at Argyll, I was ready to eat my words

Argyll's Sergio Romero, under the lights

That's him on the left​Before I ever ate at Argyll, I was worried about the place. I worried about the space that Argyll occupies (the ex-Squealing Pig location in Cherry Creek) and the guy running the show (Robert Thompson, ex of Brasserie Rouge). I worried that it was calling itself a gastro ... More >>

Jay Spickelmier out at Jing

Lori MidsonJay Spickelmier​Back in September, during the Mile High Chef Competition at Dish-the Westword menu affair, Jay Spickelmier went knife-to-knife against Argyll GastroPub chef Sergio Romero in a spirited battle to see who would saunter away with the Pillsbury Doughboy-esque statue of d ... More >>

Chefs for the Cause canceled

Sergio Romero will not be cooking dinner at Chefs for the Cause -- and neither will anyone else.​Chefs for the Cause sounded like a philanthropic foodie's delight -- six of Denver's top chefs creating delicious food to help raise money for the Denver affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. J ... More >>

A Tuscan-style lamb soup to fall for from Jing chef Jay Spickelmier

Lori Midson​At last week's Mile High Chef Competition between Argyll Gastropub cooker Sergio Romero and Jing exec chef Jay Spickelmier (who emerged victorious), the hit dish of the night was Spickelmier's Tuscan lamb and white bean soup, the recipe of which he was happy to share with us. It's ... More >>

Shut Up and Eat

Everyone comes to the table at the Menu Affair.