Sushi

Colorado-based Tokyo Joe's is a fast-food chain that needs to slow down

Fast-casual Japanese food like rice bowls, udon noodles and simple sushi rolls at cheap prices, served in a compact bistro environment that encourages come-as-you-are, quick-service dine-in or even faster carry-out: That's a golden dragon of a concept. But the unfortunate reality I saw while recentl ... More >>

Round two with Shaun Motoda, chef de cuisine at TAG|RAW BAR

Shaun Motoda TAG|RAW BAR 1423 Larimer Street 303-996-2685 tagrawbar.com This is part two of my interview with Shaun Motoda, chef de cuisine of TAG|RAW BAR; part one of our conversation ran yesterday. Favorite Denver/Boulder restaurant(s) other than your own: I love the Cherry Cricket because their ... More >>

Shaun Motoda, chef of TAG|RAW BAR, on the perfect bite and his obsession with Taco Bell

Shaun Motoda TAG|RAW BAR 1423 Larimer Street 303-996-2685 tagrawbar.com This is part one of my interview with Shaun Motoda, chef de cuisine of TAG|RAW BAR; part two of our conversation will run tomorrow. Shaun Motoda, the chef de cuisine at TAG|RAW BAR, grew up wanting to be an architect. But the ... More >>

100 Favorite Dishes: Foie gras oysters from Sushi Sasa

Suffice it to say that I eat out more than the general population, unless, of course, the general population can catalog more than 450 restaurant meals in a year -- which is about the number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners that I stomached in 2012. Pathetic, isn't it? But all those food dates are ... More >>

Hapa Sushi -- sexy rolls, raw fish and edamame

I made my first foray into sushi at the relatively ripe age of twenty (I don't count the gobs of bad California rolls that I squished down before that), and it was an instant, passionate love affair akin to the greatest romances of all time. Romeo and Juliet, Bogey and Bacall, Robert Pattinson and K ... More >>

Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Samurai edamame and mushrooms over rice (backpack-style)

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market's choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. Dave Bekken, the manager of Mar ... More >>

Okinawa brings Japanese veggie options to the southwest suburbs

Michael Zheng opened Okinawa in late 2010 at 2301 East Colfax Avenue, in a spot that had failed before as a sushi joint -- but it's done well enough that Zheng opened another outpost of Okinawa in a strip mall at 12652 West Ken Caryl Avenue, in a space that was formerly the home of a Big Papa's BBQ ... More >>

Sushi Hai (mostly) fulfills our happy hour desires

Happy Place: Sushi Hai, 3600 West 32nd Avenue, 720-855-0888. The Hours: Daily from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Deals: $3 draft beers; $3.50 well drinks; $5 saketinis; $2-5 house wines and sake; $2.25-$4.50 food specials. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out.

Denver's five best Japanese restaurants

While Denver is swimming in great options for sushi, we're woefully short on Japanese joints that feature good versions of the broader culinary canon -- and, in fact, we'd be stoked if a few more spots of this sort opened up, whether they're restaurants serving up Japanese noodles like ramen or soba ... More >>

Hana Japanese Bistro in Louisville is all-inclusive

Slide show: In the kitchen at Hana Japanese Bistro

Kobe An showcases plant-based Japanese cuisine in the southwest suburbs

There are tatami rooms at Kobe An where you can have a traditional Japanese meal while seated on the floor around a low table -- all hidden away in an above-street-level storefront in that most American of landscapes, the strip mall. The inside of this restaurant belies its bland suburban exterior w ... More >>

Sabi Sushi, the restaurant without a restaurant, dries up

Last summer, three freshly minted Duke grads opened Sabi Sushi in Denver, the first restaurant without a restaurant, with money won from a start-up contest at their university. "First there were traditional restaurants," owner Shaan Puri told us at the time. "Then fast-casual, then food trucks, wh ... More >>

Sushi Den architects share plans for the South Pearl project

This month started with major action on South Pearl Street -- including a very involved deal that calls for the Wynkoop/Breckenridge group that had owned Pearl Street Grill to swap that space at 1477 South Pearl with Izakaya Den, at 1518 South Pearl, one of three restaurants in the eating empire tha ... More >>

At Hana Matsuri, the chef knows his way around good fish

Elway's Downtown makes veggie sushi to order

We've written before about the vegetarian food at Elway's Downtown, 1881 Curtis Street. The restaurant remains one of our favorite (and least obvious) places to grab a bite to eat in the area -- you wouldn't think a steakhouse would cater so well to vegetarians, but this one does. In 2011, the joint ... More >>

Hana Matsuri serves sushi to the northern suburbs in tomorrow's review

Sushi Den and Sushi Sasa long ago deep-sixed the notion that good sushi doesn't exist in this landlocked state. These two formidable restaurants turn out exceptional dishes that rival those in any American city, seaside or not.

Denver's ten best sushi restaurants

For obvious reasons, we don't make New Year's resolutions here at Cafe Society that involve cutting delicious morsels out of our diet. But since we used the holidays as an excuse to go on even more of a gastronomic bender than usual this year, we are thinking about switching our binge eating tendenc ... More >>

Sushi Sasa rolls out vegetarian and vegan delights

When we saw that Robin Bar-on of Udi's -- who cooks up a pretty fine vegan spread herself -- thought Sushi Sasa's chef, Wayne Conwell, is a culinary genius, we knew we had to check out the veggie rolls. So we stopped by the Highland eatery on a recent Monday night to see what all the fuss was about.

Get hooked on the fresh fish at Land of Sushi

Land of Sushi hooks patrons with deals and oddities in the southern suburbs

Mark Manger​I'm constantly on the hunt for sushi joints where quality is paramount but I don't have to drop half my savings on one meal.

Reader: Osaka Sushi's Nuclear Roll hurts so good

Lori Midson​Cafe Society was swimming in sushi yesterday, as Lori Midson's latest "Guess where I'm eating" rubbed readers' nerves raw as they tried to identify this pretty plate of sushi. And then Kyle Garratt showed more raw courage, as he attempted to conquer the Nuclear Roll at Osaka Sushi ... More >>

Guess where I'm eating?

Lori Midson​For anyone who believes that Sushi Den and Sushi Sasa are the only two players when it comes to slicing and dicing the raw stuff, you're wrong: Here, at this unheralded shrine to the ocean, ambitions run as high as the waves in a wrathful sea, and the sushi and sashimi, plated, if ... More >>

Pain and suffering after eating the "Nuclear Roll" at Osaka Sushi (Video)

Five. That's how many times the specials board describing the Nuclear Roll at Osaka Sushi said "very" before "spicy." Ten. That's how many ice cubes were on the plate owner Jay Chung gave me before I started inhaling this tuna roll topped with liquid fire. "Just in case," he said with a chuckle. ... More >>

Sabi Sushi, the restaurant without a restaurant, launches today

​You may not know it, but there's a culinary revolution unfolding right under our noses. Right now, a man in a black chef's coat and a green bandanna is standing in the courtyard of the World Trade Center at 16th and Court streets, handing packages to customers who've placed an order online. ... More >>

Magnolia Restaurant and Sushi Bar closes, reopens as 95a Bistro and Sushi

​Magnolia Restaurant and Sushi Bar, the notable nouveau American eatery/traditional sushi bar in a nondescript strip mall in Lafayette, was sold in May. Now the space has re-emerged as 95a Bistro and Sushi. "The new sign is going up as we speak," says owner Rob Kukura. "We can now start answ ... More >>

Sushi and Samurai class at Cook Street

​Sushi just might be the perfect summer dish -- light but still filling, always refreshing. And you can learn just what raw talents are needed to create sushi from 6 to 9:30 p.m. tonight, when Cook Street School of Fine Cooking, 1937 Market Street, will offer a "Sushi and Samurai' class. The c ... More >>

Fontana Sushi rolls up avocado and veggie rolls for herbivores

​It's not easy to find quality sushi in the suburbs, but Fontana Sushi, 8601 West Cross Drive, #F4 in Littleton, is an oasis in a desert of Olive Gardens and Chili's storefronts. Yes, it's also part of a chain; this branch is owned by brothers Quiang and Sky Chen (Kevin Lin owns the rest of th ... More >>

Round two with Sushi Sasa's Wayne Conwell

Lori Midson​ Wayne Conwell Sushi Sasa 2401 Fifteenth Street 303-433-7272 www.sushisasadenver.com This is part two of my interview with Wayne Conwell, executive chef/owner of Sushi Sasa. In part one of that interview with Conwell, he dishes on working for Iron Chef Morimoto, the genius of Je ... More >>

Zi Fusion closes for a two-week remodel -- and will reopen with a new name and menu

Lori Midson​Two months ago, Zi Fusion, whose name will soon change to Purple Ginger (more on that later), was flooded when a sprinkler head burst and several water pipes broke, severely damaging the restaurant's hardwoods, mainly in the bar area. "The bar is warped so bad that you can hardly w ... More >>

DJ Low Key due at Sushi Hai this Sunday

​DJ Low Key, the DJ ambassador of all things good music wise, has moved his sushi bar rocking operations to a new location. Well, sort of. This Sunday, his new night, Connected, is taking a trial run at Hai Bair (Sushi Hai), where Low Key will be spinning soul and R&B music during the trendy l ... More >>

Japango rolls out all-veggie sushi

​In some circles, sushi is synonymous with "raw fish" -- and clearly not on the menu for vegan or vegetarian diners. Thankfully, even in landlocked Colorado most sushi houses offer at least one or two veggie rolls -- and Japango, 1136 Pearl Street in Boulder, offers a multi-course veggie sprea ... More >>

Jake Rand, formerly of Elway's Downtown, opens i-Fish, a new downtown Pan-Asian restaurant

Lori Midson​i-Fish, a new Pan-Asian restaurant, opens tonight at 2200 Market Street, in a completely redesigned space that was formerly occupied by Saucy's, a short-lived barbecue joint. The kitchen, helmed by Jake Rand, who used to be the head sushi chef at Elway's downtown, is turning out, ... More >>

Happy hour, happy belly at Okinawa

​Happy Place: Okinawa, 2301 East Colfax Avenue, 303-322-8886 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The Deals: 2-for-1 on all beer, wine and sake; $4 to $12.95 sushi and salad specials Were we happy? Flip the page to find out.

Raw knowledge: Learning how to roll at Benihana

Benihana​Last Thursday, I found myself at an open-air mall in Broomfield learning to roll sushi from a nice Hispanic sushi master named Beto. Yes, I was at Benihana's Sushi and Sake 101 instructional class, alongside about thirty other folks who'd doled out $35 to learn the basics of sushi rol ... More >>

Sushi Tora needs to stay ahead of its Boulder competition

Sachi Sushi serves up authentic ramen in Niwot

Go Fish will hook you

Big Fish, Small Pond

Fujiyama scales the sushi heights.

2nd Helping

Whatever floats your boat.

Fishing for Insults

Japon and Sushi Den have a minor war of words.

Thirty Sakes Over Tokyo

Mori gives itself a LoDo makeover.

Sea Change

Japon finds itself back in the swim of things.

Mouthing Off

Sea of Japan

Sam Time, Next Year

No Stone Unturned

Beauty and the Feast

Raw Courage

A Cut Above

MOUTHING OFF