Derek Dietz, the one-man show behind Bocadillo, has a fine-dining background, but you wouldn’t know it from walking into his restaurant. Potted plants, in various stages of dying, sit in front windows where curtains should be. Cookbooks and records spill out of banged-up wooden shelves. Fossils from the collection of…
The menu at Bocadillo, Derek Dietz’s casual restaurant in Sunnyside, is short, with only a dozen or so choices. And while the lineup frequently includes soups, a salad and a few entrees along with the snacks, you never know what form these dishes are going to take, given how often…
Bocadillo has never felt like a copycat. When the restaurant opened in early 2012 on a quiet street in Sunnyside, owner Derek Dietz opted not to put out trendy, refined fare. “We’re not competing with Rioja and Squeaky Bean,” he explains. “We’re like a diner that has really good food.”…
Adam Platt, restaurant critic for New York, recently decided to out himself, publishing his picture on the cover of the magazine and writing about why he decided to give up his anonymity. You won’t find me doing the same thing. As anyone knows who’s shared a meal with “somebody” –…
There’s a certain kind of restaurant that could be picked up, Wizard of Oz style, and set back down in a spot far from home without skipping a beat. Life would go on as before — chefs would cook, bartenders would pour, customers would pile in — only in a…
Although musician Scott Bagus had long entertained the notion of running a neighborhood bar or lounge, owning a restaurant wasn’t on his radar. But then he heard that the Old Curtis Street Bar was available. “Someone said they thought I might be good for doing a build-out and for being…
At exceptional restaurants around town I can close my eyes, point to anything on the menu, and eat well. Often, however, getting a good meal takes a lot more thought – what is the chef’s background? what is the kitchen known for? – not to mention a little luck, since…
Given the demands of life in a professional kitchen, I’m always curious as to why people choose this career. I’ve asked this question of hundreds of cooks, and more often than not, they trace their love of food to a grandmother or mother who gave them their first whisk to…
Some friends are always asking when they can join me for a review dinner. I try to explain the not-so-glamorous reality: They don’t get to order what they want (not everyone likes octopus and oysters) and they have to carry the weight of the conversation, since I’m too busy eating…
“Start sessioning!” That was the cry when Session Kitchen opened last fall, with an emphasis on jam sessions in the art that fills the space, as well as the timing of sessions in the size of its plates. But several months after the restaurant opened, Session Kitchen is downplaying the…
There I was, looking for inspiration (you could also call it procrastinating), with coffee in one hand and Fast Company in the other, and what was the first thing to catch my eye in the magazine? A poll about how people find inspiration when stuck on a challenge. Really? Was…
In this day of splashy restaurant openings, immediate Yelp reviews and a culture of dining that rewards the latest new thing, I’m often asked why I wait three months to review a restaurant. After all, by the time that period has elapsed, a certain subset of diners has already made…
Concept Restaurants took on an iconic space when it transformed the former home of Strings — the iconic restaurant founded by the late Noel Cunningham almost three decades ago — into Humboldt, which I review this week. “This was a legendary space that had a legendary restaurant,” explains Sean Huggard,…
In Hollywood, moviemakers drop half as much dough to build interest in films as they do to make them, leading to marketing budgets with lots of zeroes. Can you imagine if local restaurateurs did the same, putting branded toys in Happy Meals, wrapping ads around buses and running action-packed commercials…
As the folks behind the now-defunct Ondo’s and Café Berlin learned the hard way, there are hazards to real estate. Basement and second-floor locations pose obvious challenges for restaurateurs, but even ground-floor spaces in high-traffic areas aren’t risk-free. “We knew people might be upset with what we did, because we…
I love chocolate chip cookies and Rice Krispies treats, but it’s always a letdown when I see them wrapped in Saran by the register at fast-casual spots. Why not offer desserts more in sync with the menu? That’s why I appreciated the globally-inspired desserts at the Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria in…
Even before Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria existed, Kristy Socarras Bigelow was a poster child for the American Dream. A Cuban-American from Miami whose family didn’t allow her to go to college — “Cuban moms are strict,” she explains — she’d fashioned a successful career for herself, opening Cuba Cuba Cafe &…
If you catch a glimpse of the lines written by the bar inside Scratch Burrito and Happy Tap, which I review this week, you might think Clay Markwell found more than a new career when he left advertising. But in this case, “May God bless and keep you always” points…
When Chipotle changed the way people thought about fast-casual, restaurateurs everywhere began dreaming up ways to be Chipotle without, of course, actually being Chipotle. They launched similarly streamlined eateries on corners all over town, sometimes two or three to a corner, hawking salads, pizzas, burgers and even Korean kalbi, but…
Clay Markwell majored in fine arts and photo journalism in college; he wanted to be a photographer. He wound up in advertising, though, where he found himself “very unhappy.” Markwell knew he needed a change, but instead of doing what most of us do — which is pursuing a similar…
Steven Redzikowski, co-owner with Bryan Dayton of Oak at Fourteenth and Acorn, which the partners opened in The Source this summer, knew that Denver and Boulder were far more different than just a thirty-mile separation might suggest. Still, he was taken aback by just how adventurous Denver diners can be…
When the Source opened last summer in a redeveloped nineteenth-century foundry not far from the National Western Complex, the space was electric, crackling with the unexpected juxtaposition of food, urban grittiness and vintage architectural bones. It was just the kind of place to throw down a few tacos or grab…
