Sichuan Province

Guess where I'm drinking mouth-numbing Tingala?

I can't imagine what you'd do with this Colorado spirit, which makes your mouth, lips and gums go numb -- a lot like Sichuan peppercorns -- but there's at least one restaurant and bar that's conjuring up ways to use the spirit in cocktails. Still, this has got to be the strangest liquid I've ever pu ... More >>

Round two with Tommy Lee, exec chef of Uncle

Tommy Lee Uncle 2215 West 32nd Avenue 303-433-3263 uncledenver.tumblr.com This is part two of my interview with Tommy Lee, exec chef of Uncle; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What do you enjoy most about your craft? Like most cooks, I enjoy the creativity of coming up with new dishes, but the ... More >>

Tommy Lee's Highland noodle shop will bowl you over

See also: Behind the scenes at Uncle

Josh Monopoli, chef de cuisine of Black Cat & Bramble & Hare, on trustafarians, farm-to-table and food hangups

Josh Monopoli Black Cat 1964 13th Street, Boulder 303-444-5500 www.blackcatboulder.com Bramble & Hare 1970 13th Street, Boulder 303-444-9110 brambleandhare.com This is part one of my interview with Josh Monopoli, chef de cuisine of Black Cat and Bramble & Hare, Part two of our chat will run tomorr ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Panna cotta from Il Posto

No. 38: Panna cotta from Il Posto

100 Favorite Dishes: Raw carrot salad from Ambria

No. 44: Raw carrot salad from Ambria

100 Favorite Dishes: Chimayo-chile flank steak and posole from the Village Cork

No. 44: Chimayo-chile flank steak and posole at Village Cork

Denver's ten best Chinese restaurants

Today marks the Chinese New Year, which is a good reason to go forth into one of this city's excellent Chinese joints and feast on meats and vegetables loaded with Szechuan peppers, a vat of soul-warming beef noodle soup, dumplings or something much, much stranger -- duck tongue, pig's blood or shar ... More >>

Ocean Forest Cafe dries up...at least for now

Ocean Forest Cafe​ Ocean Forest Cafe, a self-described "wild and artictic" -- and certainly eclectic -- restaurant, opened in Lakewood in 2007, but just last year, it rolled out a menu full of Sichuan specialties as well as Thai and Chinese-American dishes. But when we recently passed by the ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Croque Madame from Pierre Michel Organic French Bakery Cafe

Lori Midson​ No. 48: Croque Madame from Pierre Michel Organic French Bakery Cafe

100 Favorite Dishes: Croque Madame from Pierre Michel Organic French Bakery Cafe

No. 47: Croque Madame from Pierre Michel Organic French Bakery Cafe

100 Favorite Dishes: Carnitas from Araujo's

Lori Midson​ No. 49: Carnitas from Araujo's

100 Favorite Dishes: Telluride jalapeño poppers from Encore

Lori Midson​ No. 49: Telluride jalapeño poppers from Encore

100 Favorite Dishes: Pork tenderloin with bread pudding and green split peas from the Wooden Table

Lori Midson​ No. 51: Pork tenderloin with bread pudding and green split peas from the Wooden Table

100 Favorite Dishes: Santa Fe skillet from Hits the Spot Diner

Lori Midson​ No. 52: Santa Fe skillet from Hits the Spot Diner

Imperial Chinese Restaurant owner Johnny Hsu reflects on the evolution of Chinese restaurants in Denver

Imperial Chinese Restaurant​Before Liu Zeng Qun opened Chef Liu's Authentic Chinese Cuisine, his own Szechuan restaurant in Aurora which I review this week, he spent eight years working for the man who secured the visa that brought him over here: Johnny Hsu. Hsu is the owner of Imperial Chine ... More >>

The Szechuan specialties shine at Chef Liu's in Aurora

Photos: Chef Liu's Authentic Chinese Cuisine

Mark Manger​This week's review took me out to Aurora to experience the Szechuan cooking of Chef Liu's Authentic Chinese Cuisine, a restaurant that opened last year after Liu Zeng Qun left Imperial Chinese Restaurant to do his own thing. In addition to a meal, I got a primer from one of the res ... More >>

Chef Liu's Authentic Chinese Cuisine promises an authentic Szechuan feast out in Aurora

Mark Manger​You can get great Chinese food in this town, but you have to know where to look -- especially if you're on the hunt for real Szechuan food, not the dumbed-down American version of the cooking of Southern China that's a mainstay of dollar-a-scoop joints and many strip-mall spots.

100 Favorite Dishes: Mole verde with carnitas from Tarasco's

Lori Midson​ No. 54: Carnitas with mole verde from Tarasco's

100 Favorite Dishes: Samosas from the British Bulldog

No. 55: Samosas from the British Bulldog

100 Favorite Dishes: Mixiote de borrego from El Trompito Taqueria

Lori Midson​ No. 56: Mixiote de borrego from El Trompito Taqueria

100 Favorite Dishes: Gazpacho verde from Zolo Grill

Lori Midson​ No. 58: Gazpacho verde from Zolo Grill

100 Favorite Dishes: Lamb vindaloo from Cuisine of the Himalayas

Lori Midson​ No. 59: Lamb vindaloo from Cuisine of the Himalayas

Review Preview: Tao Tao Noodle Bar

Mark Manger​Chopsticks China Bistro held down the corner of Federal and Mississippi for four years, turning out stellar Chinese cuisine that spanned Szechuan specialties, Taiwanese soup dumplings and sandwiches. We loved the place, and we were sad to see it go when it ditched its digs on Feder ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Chili gobi from Jai Ho

Lori Midson​ No. 61: Chili gobi from Jai Ho

100 Favorite Dishes: Crue fries from D Bar Desserts

Lori Midson​ No. 62: Crue fries from D Bar Desserts

Row 14's Arik Markus on crashing kitchens, the day he was fired by Eric Ripert and the echo of Daniel Boulud

Lori Midson​ Arik Markus Row 14 891 14th Street 303-825-0100 www.row14denver.com This is part one of my interview with Arik Markus, executive chef of Row 14. Part two of my chat with Markus will run in this space tomorrow. Arik Markus is the chef equivalent of Iron Man on steroids. He races ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Chongqing Chicken from East Asia Garden

Lori Midson​ No. 64: Chongqing Chicken from East Asia Garden Some of the best cooking in Denver comes from restaurants that are completely off the radar -- those with generic names, facades as forgettable as last night's one-night stand and featureless dining rooms where the color scheme cl ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Luther burger from Crave

Lori Midson​ No. 65: Luther burger from Crave The scene at Crave, especially on weekends, can be complete pandemonium, with bodies crushed to the walls, standing in wait to wrap their jaws around what may very well be the most off-the-wall burger inventions this city has ever seen. Head burg ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Sea scallop and rock shrimp noodle bowl from Bones

Lori Midson​ No. 66: Sea scallop and rock shrimp noodle bowl from Bones Like a lot of people, I spent the majority of my years as an undergraduate obsessed with keeping my waistline shaped to a size two (those days are long, long gone) and spending whatever leftover scholarship money I had o ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Frico caldo from Frasca Food & Wine

Lori Midson​ No. 67: Frico caldo from Frasca Food & Wine Colorado's pope of Friulian cooking, Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson is a madman on the stove, a genius who bats around a menu that's full of wonderous dishes, and one of the few chefs we know who wears a toque -- and wears it with reveren ... More >>

El Diablo, Ototo dinners should whet your appetite for Denver Restaurant Week

​Although Denver Restaurant Week, which starts on February 26, is the real movable feast, two new kids on the restaurant block are offering major deals on Tuesday, February 22. El Diablo, which opened last August at 101 Broadway, is offering its second tequila dinner featuring Republic Tequil ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Mais pizza from Pizzeria Locale

Lori Midson​ No. 69: Mais pizza from Pizzeria Locale "This is the oven that nearly bankrupted us," says Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, peering into the behemoth Stefano Ferrara oven, a floor-to-ceiling labor of love, shipped direct from Italy, that's constructed from volcanic rock culled from ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Celery and lime popsicle from Spuntino

Lori Midson​ No. 71: Celery and lime popsicle from Spuntino Cupcakes? Done (unless you're Chris Romer or one of his minions). Pies? Yes, I adore them, especially when they're plumped with fresh fruit. But, as of about noon yesterday, I'm hot, like California boys on California "Gurls," for p ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Sichuan braised beef noodle soup from Zoe Ma Ma

Lori Midson​ No. 81: Sichuan braised beef noodle soup from Zoe Ma Ma Zoe Ma Ma is a weird little place, slightly ratty and tatty, definitely earthy, often chaotic and occasionally quiet, with the only audible hums coming from the kitchen of Anna Zoe, the slight, grandmotherly matriarch wh ... More >>

Ocean Forest Cafe adds new Sichuan menu

Ocean Forest CafeThe eclectic dining room at Ocean Forest Cafe​On its website, Ocean Forest Cafe, 11068 West Jewell Avenue, calls itself a "wild and artictic place." While we're not exactly sure what "artictic" means, we almost need to make up a word, too, to properly describe the festive deco ... More >>

Electric French Kiss at Japoix

Palace Chinese & Vietnamese Cuisine

Don’t judge a cook by this cover.

Going to Dumpling Town

One good reason to go to Szechuan Chinese Restaurant is all you need.

On the Lamb

Yanni's shows why great Greek cooking is better than a cuisine.

Meditations in Red

I carry a torch for tiki bars and Twin Dragon.

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Best BBQ Chinese Ribs

Szechuan Express

Best Vegetarian Restaurant

Sunflower

Best Chinese restaurant

La Chine

Sauced Horizons

Night & Day

April 9-15, 1998

China Doll

Peasant Dreams