I was sad when Mee Yee Lin closed its first home, thrilled when it reopened in Aurora, then sad all over again when it closed a second time. And then a new operation moved into Mee Yee Lin’s former spot at 2295 South Chambers: El Viva Villa, a shoestring family…
For more photos of Peking Tokyo, see Mark Manger’s slideshow. I love ethnic restaurants that open in the abandoned shells of chain restaurants or, better yet, fast-food restaurants, and I love them even more when they keep the impedimentia and knick-knacks of those former operations and end up serving their…
What with all the back-and-forth about Irish bars and pubs and places to drink and places to eat over the past few days, I figured I’d devote this week’s edition of the List to the quest for the ideal pint o’ plain. Guinness. Not my drink, necessarily (I’m a Harp…
It’s been four months since new owner (and restaurant world rookie) Maria Gibson took over the space at 1035 Lincoln Street that used to be Leenah’s Deli and turned it into Melita’s Greek Cafe and Market. And while there might be a lot of bad news right now in the…
Rumors were rampant that the recently vacated North Star Brewery space at 3200 Tejon Street had already been snapped up by Joe Vostrejs, Jeff Hermanson and Rod Wagner — the Larimer Square gang, in part, and the crew most recently behind the resurrection of Billy’s Inn, at 4403 Lowell Boulevard…
It seems as though I’m not the only fella out there sick of the dearth of good Irish bars in this town. Though my piece about the Celtic Tavern and the following column about how to open a proper Irish bar have only been out in the world for a…
Okay, so I have a little more info now, courtesy of someone who talked with the chef (through translators) just the other day. Come to find that the chef who bailed out of Super Star is the new owner of Star Kitchen (along with his wife) — the two of them…
But this time, it doesn’t have to do with how much I love Super Star or how much I am looking forward to the opening of the new Super Star-related joint — Heaven Star — up in the sticks. No, this time I’m tracking some staff changes because I just…
On Sunday nights, the Celtic Tavern is closed and Delaney’s is open. On Mondays, Delaney’s goes dark and the Celtic handles any disappointed Delaney’s drinkers. Every other night of the week, though, these side-by-side theme bars, which already share owners, share the same crowds, as well — a Celtic concentration,…
Fish fry is not just a food. Fish fry is a sacrament, a religious and cultural duty carrying with it a freight of comfort and damnation. To some kids (like this kid) who grew up in certain families in certain neighborhoods in the gray twilight of dying working-class towns filled…
As I note in this week’s review of the Celtic Tavern, Denver doesn’t have a truly great Irish-American pub. But having spent some time working in good ones and a lot of time propping up the long oak in same, I have a few ideas on how to create a…
I started the year at O’s in Westminster, sucking mango-vodka purée out of shells of frozen vanilla, eating matsutake mushrooms and razor-shaved snails and drinking champagne by the bottle. I started the year at Bar Americain in midtown Manhattan, checking in on Rebecca Weitzman (ex of Cafe Star and since…
Good eyes from S.R., my new favorite deep-cover operative in the South Pearl ‘hood, who came back strong from the holidays with this little tidbit: “Just an FYI . . . there is a notice for application for a liquor license at The Chocolate Berry (1890 South Pearl Street, Denver)…
A couple weeks back, I looked into the bloody implosion of the Santa Fe Tequila Company’s two-outlet chain. And while talking with partner William Kennedy and getting the inside story on exactly how and why this concept had failed so spectacularly and so quickly, I also got from him a personal…
I’m breaking the rules this week. First, I review an already reviewed restaurant: Table 6. And here, I’m writing a Second Helping for a restaurant that never got a first helping. Why? Well, I don’t much like rules, even ones I’ve made for myself. I do like ballsy moves, though,…
I once thought that Table 6 was close to a perfect restaurant. I came to this conclusion early — before the drama, before the place got tagged by John Mariani as one of the 21 best new restaurants in the country in Esquire; before every other critic out there started…
This week’s review of Table 6 (609 Corona Street) represents the first time I’ve done a full-length piece on a restaurant I’d reviewed before. The first ran on November 11, 2004, just after Esquire critic John Mariani crowned Table 6 one of the 21 best restaurants in the country. My…
It’s been three weeks since I wrote a word about this season’s Top Chef on Bravo. Know why? Because it has been so boring and so contrived and so stupid that the episodes themselves were painful to watch — making me less than excited about the notion of then rehashing…
I have done my time at Table 6. Under the old owner and old chef and with the new kids in place. I’ve been there for drinks when, already drunk, I’ve worn out my fun elsewhere and stopped in for a hit of warmth and comfort. I’ve seen [Aaron] Forman…
Just got off the phone with one of the managers at 3 Sons, which is all decorated for the holidays. And come the new year, the family who owns the Italian eatery finally has an (estimated) move-in date for their new location. May 1 is what the Scarafiottis are looking at,…
I’ve talked about a lot of the town’s French restaurants this week, but one has been left out in the cold: Aix. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the most important is that Aix is no longer really a French restaurant. It was once. Seared foie gras,…
For photos from inside Brasserie Felix, go to westword.com/slideshow. You know what they call French food in Paris?” the chef asked, repeating his shtick. “What, chef?” I responded, my fingers sore and shredded from peeling hard-boiled eggs under tap water, my brain numbed from hours of prep. I’d heard the…
