Why does pork go so well with breakfast, and poultry not so much? Turkey bacon aside (and in my book, it should be way aside), the only poultry you’re likely to find at breakfast is in chicken and waffles. Long associated with the South, this dish actually traces its roots…
Being a restaurant reviewer is a lot like being a detective. With each spoonful of soup and every morsel of fish, I’m gathering clues about what’s afoot in the kitchen. Sometimes the mystery lingers, but as I sliced through the seared duck at Restaurant Fourteen Seventy-Two, the low-country restaurant that…
Being a restaurant reviewer is a lot like being a detective. With each spoonful of soup and every morsel of fish, I’m gathering clues about what’s afoot in the kitchen. Sometimes the mystery lingers, but as I sliced through the seared duck at Restaurant Fourteen Seventy-Two, the low-country restaurant that…
Restaurants located in converted old homes tend not to be the edgiest places around. But what they lack in trendsetting they usually make up for with atmosphere, using the power of architecture — exposed brick, stained-glass windows, fireplaces and wrap-around porches — to draw you in and make you feel…
With a knack for the nuances of wine, sommeliers can taste caramel and a hint of peach when all the rest of us can do is sniff out oak. Oenophiles aren’t the only super tasters around, though. Work with chiles long enough, as Patrick Hartnett has, and you learn to…
To the Hopi, kachinas are spirit-beings associated with rain, corn, animals and other elements critical to life in the desert. Dolls of the same name are crafted for children — not as toys, but as study tools, a three-dimensional catechism for the spirits they represent. Not that you’d grasp this…
To the Hopi, kachinas are spirit-beings associated with rain, corn, animals and other elements critical to life in the desert. Dolls of the same name are crafted for children — not as toys, but as study tools, a three-dimensional catechism for the spirits they represent. Not that you’d grasp this…
Since my first review appeared in Westword in September — it was of the then-six-month-old Kitchen Denver — I’ve reviewed sixteen spots. And already, some of those spots are changing — menus, if not more. See also: – Attention to detail would safeguard the Kitchen’s brand in Denver – The…
This week’s Westword has no fresh restaurant review, since the issue is devoted to a look back at 2012 — the big stories, the small triumphs — as well as predictions of culinary trends to watch for in the new year. I’ve reviewed sixteen spots since I joined the Cafe…
At Ace, Randy Layman knows how to serve drinks…and ping pong.Whether it’s a night at the Nutcracker, a performance of Handel’s Messiah, or old-time caroling with friends, we all have our favorite holiday traditions. For Randy Layman, bartender at Ace, which I review this week, Christmas Eve wouldn’t be the…
Cheers erupt from the back table. A thirty-something, slightly sweaty in dark jeans and collared shirt, pumps his fist, Tiger-style, celebrating a zinger that caught the corner and kept on going. High-fives are given, drinks are spilled — but in the rush of victory, no one cares, just as no…
Cheers erupt from the back table. A thirty-something, slightly sweaty in dark jeans and collared shirt, pumps his fist, Tiger-style, celebrating a zinger that caught the corner and kept on going. High-fives are given, drinks are spilled — but in the rush of victory, no one cares, just as no…
With out-of-town guests beginning to trickle in for the holidays, it’s a relief to know you won’t have to house, feed and entertain them all by yourself. Well, make that “yes” on house, but with restaurants that double as entertainment zones, there’s plenty of help in the other two areas…
Interior designers are paid to think about color, and for good reason. Whether on walls, fabrics or furniture, colors impact how we feel and act, often without our knowing it. Yellow, the color of sunshine, makes people happy, whereas red, the color of stop signs and Xs on school papers,…
Interior designers are paid to think about color, and for good reason. Whether on walls, fabrics or furniture, colors impact how we feel and act, often without our knowing it. Yellow, the color of sunshine, makes people happy, whereas red, the color of stop signs and Xs on school papers,…
Paris isn’t widely associated with street food, but some of my favorite food moments in France happened not in restaurants or bistros but at crepe stands. One crepe cart would set up outside the Odeon movie theater near my apartment; I preferred him over all the others because rather than…
Chefs toss around a lot of confusing terms: sous-vide, brown braise, macerate, sweat (when it comes to onions, at least), etc. But when it comes to describing restaurants, here’s a word we all understand: neighborhood. Or do we? Neighborhood restaurants used to be places that attracted us as much for…
Pies used to be seen as the either the coup de grace on Thanksgiving or snarky protesters’ tool of choice. (Remember when Ann Coulter, Ralph Nader and Jeff Skilling, former president of Enron, were all pied?) Then in 2011 the lattice-topped treat hit the big time, and Nation’s Restaurant News…
I can hear the noise already, a rising roar of complaint over my decision to spend a thousand-plus words on So Perfect Eats, a two-year-old eatery in Cherry Creek North that feels more like a grab-and-go lunch spot than a restaurant worthy of review. But before you rant — whether…
I can hear the noise already, a rising roar of complaint over my decision to spend a thousand-plus words on So Perfect Eats, a two-year-old eatery in Cherry Creek North that feels more like a grab-and-go lunch spot than a restaurant worthy of review. But before you rant — whether…
Food programming has come a long way since Julia Child cooked her way into our hearts, boning chickens, flipping potato pancakes and never missing a beat when the occasional pan dropped on the floor. For all her affability, Child was trying to do one thing: demystify fine cooking for an…
“Here’s the thing,” confides veteran journalist Dick Kreck, “the family is not crazy about the new Gaetano’s.” One family’s opinion of this Italian institution might not matter, but we’re not talking just any family, here. We’re talking The Family, as in descendants of the Smaldones who founded the restaurant in…
