I get a lot of e-mails from marketing people. A lot. Amid all the tales of bad service offered by people who demand that I tell their stories to the world and ads for discount Vicodin through the mail are pitches from boutique marketers blindly pimping their clients — many…
Not long ago, I wrote an ode to the joys of the baklava at Ali Baba Grill in Golden. Soon after, we had another piece — a Sugar High report — concerning the baklava at Jerusalem. And then I got this note from Jeff, the baklava maker at Phoenician Kabob…
When I make a sandwich, it is an admittedly pathetic (though oddly comforting) thing: two slices of white bread laid with two slices of individually wrapped American cheese, thrown in the nuker and microwaved for ten seconds. That’s it. I call it my white-trash grilled cheese. When Noah Stephens or…
Come on, Jay. Let’s just eat.” Laura and I had been arguing the whole way, skidding through icy streets under a gray sky bruised with clouds — a low-intensity border skirmish in the running insurgency of our marriage. We were running late in the sluggish traffic; I’d already called the…
First off, thanks to everyone for their suggestions on where I should eat my last review dinner in Denver. The comments have been excellent, the suggestions helpful, and the current leader seems to be Casa Bonita — which I assume is rising fast because so many of you just want…
Every day that passes reminds me of another thing I’m going to miss about this town when I finally take my leave in just a few short weeks. Today, while running through a list of every restaurant I’d reviewed in 2009, I found my March 18 love letter to Bones–Frank…
Colt & Gray has been open just four months, but owner and exec Nelson Perkins had been working on the restaurant for years — in his head, mostly, or on paper. He brought on Brad Rowell, a buddy from C-school, to stand as chef de cuisine and then the two…
I’m going to miss breakfast burritos. I’m going to miss all breakfast burritos — the good ones, the bad ones, the great ones and every one in between. But most of all, I’m going to miss the breakfast burritos from the Santiago’s location on Leetsdale Avenue, which I consider to…
Last week’s Ask the Critic question about the worst food trends of the past decade morphed over into a formal list of the twenty worst crimes committed against cuisine since 2000 (or so). This week, we’re going in the other direction. This week, I’m all about the love and looking…
The clock is ticking. Every day that passes means one less day I’ve got in the three-oh-three. And I’m still looking for suggestions for the final restaurant I should review before I slink out for wetter, grayer climes. The rules: Any restaurant in the area counts, Denver or Boulder or…
As most of you reading this already know, I am not long for this town. In a frighteningly short amount of time, I will be packing my bags and heading for Seattle, where a gig awaits me as restaurant critic at one of our sister papers, the Seattle Weekly. Still,…
For those of you who love sushi but don’t necessarily want to pay a lot of money for sushi, do I have a deal for you. For one night only, Joy Sushi Asian Bistro, at 7600 Park Meadows Drive, is offering its all-you-can-eat spread of dinner sushi for a lunchtime…
The celebrated Mezcal restaurant, located at 3230 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, announced yesterday that it has appointed Basic Food Group as its new restaurant management company. “We will operate Mezcal with the highest of standards; the reasons people love Mezcal will not change. The staff and the managers of…
I hate Domino’s Pizza. Seriously loathe it in a way that ought to be reserved for the hating only of living things, not branded corporate entities. I hate it so much that when one of its commercials comes up on TV, I always turn away and give it the finger,…
I love the restaurant industry for so many different reasons. I love it because it is the last great American meritocracy, where nothing matters but what you can do on the job and where hard work, smarts and stamina are truly rewarded. I love it because it provides a creative…
Last night was the sixth anniversary of Mezcal, the Mexican cantina and tequila bar at 3230 East Colfax Avenue that has played host to some of the best and some of the weirdest nights I have spent in the city over the past several years. Last night was also the…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
The new India’s Restaurant is big. Seriously big. Big in the way that interstate chain restaurants are supposed to be big, or the doomed follies of restaurant owners with more hubris and cash on hand than brains. Whereas the old India’s (which was located across the street and out of…
In Nepal, momo — the small, white-flour dumplings that represent the Nepali contribution to the world dumpling culture — are used as currency. Goats and yaks can be bartered for on the streets with buckets of momo. A fine woman is said to be worth her weight in momo. The…
In Nepal, momo — the small, white-flour dumplings that represent the Nepali contribution to world dumpling culture — are used as currency. Goats and yaks can be bartered for on the streets with buckets of momo. A fine woman is said to be worth her weight in momo. There’s a…
I spent years trying to find a decent fish fry in this city, a fish fry that would transport me, however briefly, back to the Mick-ridden streets of my youth, where Fridays always saw legions of fathers trooping home through the streets, laden with steaming bags of take-away fish and…
After almost eight years of eating in Denver, writing about Denver and dragging Denver’s gastronaut community along with me, willing or not, to every pho shop, sushi bar, French restaurant and African goat butcher I could bluff my way into, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step aside…
