Thomas Keller’s latest cookbook, Bouchon Bakery, is coming out in a few days. This is old news to food lovers around the country, who pre-ordered months ago to ensure not a second’s delay in tackling the purported nine pages of croissant instructions from the perfectionist chef of French Laundry fame…
Children aren’t known for discerning palates, but even little tykes know that presentation matters. A kid might hardly touch a snack of celery, cream cheese and raisins, only to happily munch those same ingredients if the raisins become ants marching on a slippery green log. Like crafty parents, chefs understand…
Baking at altitude is no easy feat. Master the task and you could have your own blog — or at least be the bestseller at your kid’s next bake sale. So it’s little wonder that mile-high sandwich shops go to such lengths to find the right combination of flour, salt…
“Poetry,” wrote Robert Frost, “is what gets lost in translation.” Cooking may not be poetry, but in the right hands — whether those of a culinary-school grad or a mother re-creating authentic family recipes — it can qualify as art. At La Guarida Cubana, a tiny Cuban restaurant that opened…
How far is Cuba from Denver? Don’t ask your iPhone, because all you’ll get is the frustrating line about how you can’t get there from here. At least that’s what my iPhone 4 says. With all the humorous gaffes (Stapleton airport, really?) related to maps on the new 5, who…
A rose is a rose is a rose, right? Not so for gumbo, which happens to be Colin Mallet’s favorite dish from his home state of Louisiana. While there are probably as many versions of this soup/stew as there are families who make it, Mallet, executive chef of Sassafras American…
After my first child was born, a friend brought over the best spaghetti Bolognese I’d ever eaten. When I asked for the recipe, she shyly admitted it contained Vegemite, the salty, dark-brown yeast paste that Australians adore. “Try it on toast,” she later urged, presenting me with a small, yellow-lidded…
Since when does a 30 percent chance mean it’s actually going to rain? I mean, come on — this is Denver we’re talking about. I know we’re in a drought, but you’d think the clouds could have had the decency to hold their drops until the afternoon: Monday mornings are…
Amy Vitale, co-owner of Tables, which I review this week, knows how to use a whisk, sauté pan and chef’s knife. But as it turns out, this talented chef has quite a green thumb, too. In the backyard garden of the Park Hill home she shares with Tables co-owner, chef…
If you’re of a certain age — I’ll leave the exact number of years up to you — you’ll remember when restaurant menus were as long as novellas, with enough adjectives to give Emily Brontë a run for her money. Intricate details of cooking technique and provenance were listed for…
If I had to choose two words to describe menus these days, I’d use these: “short” and “sweet.” Not in terms of length, as anyone who’s gone to Linger knows. (There are enough dishes on that menu to circumnavigate the globe.) No, I’m referring to “short” as it relates to…
Amuse-bouches, those tiny morsels of goodness offered by a chef to kick-start a meal, can be made of nearly anything — salmon tartare, cucumber gazpacho, asparagus mousse, etc. What they have in common is size (small) and design (creative). But what about an overstuffed sausage-and-cheese burrito or a messy smoked…
James Mazzio isn’t a new kid on the block. A Food & Wine Best New Chef recipient, he’s been earning his keep in the restaurant business since long before some chefs in town were born. After climbing his way up the proverbial pot rack, he landed at Boulder’s now-defunct 15…
In my next review, I explore a restaurant that’s above grade. Despite how that sounds, the term has nothing to do with caliber. “Above grade” is architectural speak for spaces that are above ground. “At grade” is the term for street level and “below grade” is, well, you get it…
Are you a member of the date police? (I promise, this isn’t going where you think it is.) Date police are folks who scrutinize labels and toss out food the nanosecond the expiration has passed. To a kitchen cop, if it’s past the official “use by,” it’s outta there. I…
Like skinny jeans and narrow ties, food is trendy. What was fashionable last year — burgers, say, or tacos — might be as out tomorrow as the boot cut. But restaurateurs can’t just go to H&M to update their menus. So what’s a chef to do? If you’re Joe Troupe,…
Abundant. Plentiful. Excessive. I’m not referring to campaign commercials here. I’m talking about that other seasonal annoyance: zucchini. (Not an annoyance, you say? Then you must not have a garden. Or a neighbor with one.)…
Talk about coincidence: Long before this week’s review of The Kitchen Denver came out, I began mulling over the reasons for the restaurant’s starter-heavy menu. Economics? (People order more of them, driving up the bill.) Grandstanding? (A place to strut local, organic and seasonal ingredients.) Mission builders? (That whole “community…
Long before Anthony Bourdain ranted in Kitchen Confidential about how brunch is for the B-team, a restaurant’s last-ditch effort to make money off of marginally fresh food, I did my best to steer clear. Potatoes formerly known as crisp and pancakes the size (and texture) of Frisbees? I’ll pass. Not…
A presidential honeymoon lasts about 100 days. Having devoured well wishes and advice from Kyle Wagner, Laura Shunk, John Kessler and Jason Sheehan, I’m bracing myself for a honeymoon about 99 days shorter than that. I’m sure donning a thick skin will be hard — possibly as hard as not…
