Being a restaurant critic is a bit like being a colander. Every time I enter a restaurant, I’m filling myself up, both literally and figuratively, with thoughts about everything from how the sauce tasted to lighting and noise levels to whether or not the server knew his stuff. When it’s…
Range 918 17th Street 720-726-4800 Like the Great American West implied by its name, Range is a place with big ambitions. These are hinted at in the shiny metallic banquettes (gold fever?) and the walnut communal tables sized in anticipation of crowds. They’re also implicit in the fact that Range,…
When you hit a hundred, it’s time to celebrate. And while I’m far from getting my picture on a Smucker’s Jar on the Today Show, I’m closing in on a milestone of another sort: my hundredth review here. It won’t be published for a few more weeks, but in the…
While we were waiting for our food at Mayan Manjar Yucateco, we glanced at the single television screen in the tiny Lakewood spot. It was playing a Spanish version of Rocky: an underdog movie in an underdog restaurant. And like Rocky Balboa, Mayan Manjar Yucateco, which moved into the former…
Mayan Manjar Yucateco 5209 West Mississippi Avenue, Lakewood 303-936-5562 The TV was on when I walked into Mayan Manjar Yucateco, a tiny restaurant that opened last spring in the former home of Maria Empanada. But all my attention was on the menu as I tried to decide if I wanted…
This summer, while all eyes have been on the pomp and circumstance at Union Station, I’ve found my attention drawn more and more to tiny places, homegrown places, places with footprints as large as other restaurant’s kitchens. Some of them I’ve reviewed, such as Kings BBQ and To the Wind…
More than forty restaurants opened in July, with dozens more the month before. But amidst the boom comes news of a significant closing: twelve, which celebrated its fifth anniversary with a grand soiree last fall, will serve its last seasonally-inspired supper on August 23. When a place like twelve closes,…
Bigger isn’t always better, which is why Mizuna alum Royce Oliveira chose a 628-square-foot location on East Colfax Avenue for the home of To the Wind Bistro, the restaurant he opened this past March with his wife and pastry chef, Leanne Adamson. “We were looking for something small,” Oliveira explains…
To the Wind Bistro 3333 East Colfax Avenue 303-316-3333 Professional kitchens are not nice places. Creative, explosive, energetic, yes. Nice? No. You know this if you’ve worked in one, or if you’ve read any of the rant-filled memoirs by people who have. In the latest offering in this genre, Sous…
Bigger isn’t always better, which is why Mizuna-alum Royce Oliveira chose a 628-square-foot location on East Colfax Avenue for the home of To the Wind Bistro, the restaurant he opened last spring with his wife and pastry chef Leanne Adamson. “We were looking for something small,” he explains. “That way…
The Kitchen Next Door is a casual offshoot of the Kitchen, the high-end, community-oriented bistro founded in Boulder a decade ago at the lift-off point of the local, seasonal and sustainable movements. “When we thought of the Kitchen ten years ago, it resonated with people and we called it a…
Mistakes happen — that’s part of life. So it’s what happens next that matters most. When mistakes happen in restaurants, I’m always curious to see how the front of the house will react. In my review of The Kitchen Next Door Glendale, I write about one such mistake, the time…
The Kitchen Next Door Glendale 658 South Colorado Boulevard Boulevard 303-757-0878 You know how forty is the new thirty, and green is the new black? In restaurant terms, The Kitchen Next Door is the new TGI Fridays. If that sounds like a slur rather than a compliment, you’re too young…
The Kitchen Next Door Glendale wasn’t conceived as a “destination experience,” says Kimbal Musk, co-founder of The Kitchen, which opened in Boulder in 2004. “We wanted it to be a neighborhood restaurant.” This makes sense, given that Next Door — which got its start in Boulder, too, is the more…
“Have you been here before?” asked the girl at the counter of Kings BBQ when we first walked into the modest spot in Wheat Ridge. We shook our heads. “Then I’m going to tell you something that’s not very helpful: Everything is good.” Owner CJ Johnson, a Texan with roots…
Kings BBQ 4601 Harlan Street, Wheat Ridge When I pulled up in front of Kings BBQ, I thought this might be it. You know, It. The place we’ve been looking for to raise barbecue in this town to smokin’ new heights. And by “we,” I mean not just me, a…
Though we live in a town that isn’t known for its barbecue, Denverites have strong opinions about what does and doesn’t count as good ‘cue. So it goes without saying that I, along with the rest of Café Society, am always on the lookout for new places to share with…
At a recent dinner, the plates were being cleared when a utensil dropped and broth splattered all over my husband’s shirt. The busser apologized but didn’t offer to pay the dry-cleaning bill. Neither the server nor the general manager came over, so the matter ended there, with my husband blotting…
Since Troy Guard opened TAG five years ago, the chef has been on a roll, adding restaurant after restaurant to his empire. In March he opened Guard and Grace, a “modern steakhouse” in a stunning space in a rehabbed high-rise downtown. The menu gives guests the choice of prime, Angus…
Guard and Grace 1801 California Street 303-293-8500 I knew I’d need a steak knife for dinner at Guard and Grace, the steakhouse that Troy Guard opened in March in the bottom of 1801 California Street, a newly renovated 54-story building downtown. I just didn’t know it would be for dessert…
Four years ago when I was the restaurant critic for a now-defunct publication, I reviewed Shanahan’s Steakhouse. At the time, the executive chef told me he was trying to create a menu that was “a lot more modern,” but I as noted in my review, the beef was corn-fed and…
At LowDown Brewery + Kitchen, which I review this week, pizzas make up nearly half the food sales, which can easily be chalked up to the crisp crusts and creative toppings that executive chef Brendon Flood heaps upon them, everything from pulled pork to pickles and ground beef. But I…
