Life’s a beach at Frijoles Colorado Cuban Cafe

When Sergio and Roxanne Negrin moved to Colorado last year, they brought the beaches of Florida along with them. Because Frijoles Colorado Cuban Cafe, the restaurant they opened last summer in a Lakewood strip mall, is infused with the sunny spirit of their former home…

The Kitchen Denver sets an opening date of March 20

It’s been nearly nine months since Hugo Matheson and Kimbal Musk put together the deal to take over the old Gumbo’s space, where they planned to open a Denver outpost of The Kitchen, the Boulder restaurant they put on the West End of Pearl Street in 2004. “We want to…

Brief Jerky: Edible underwear we can really sink our teeth into

Gluttons we might be, but we’re not exactly turned on by the notion of picking candy — or, worse yet, melted fruit roll-up goo — out of our private parts, so we’ve never been partial to edible underwear. But now we’ve learned that some creative genius has invented a type…

The Negrin family brings a taste of Cuba to Lakewood

A woman dressed in purple is sitting beneath the Havana skyline, her shoulders dipping and swaying to the Cuban music pouring through the speakers. “Que rico!” she shouts after taking a bite of a rib. “Like Florida!” she exults, holding out the coffee she’s just sampled, her body continuing to…

Kim and Jake’s Cakes and Glacier Ice Cream roll out collaborations

The first cake that comes to mind when we’re considering Mardi Gras is the pancake, and there’s no shortage of venues around town that will be serving up stacks of buttermilk flapjacks in celebration of that holiday — and National Pancake Day — tomorrow. But ask Kim and Jake Rosenbarger,…

Lessons from the Spicy Pickle and other Colorado-based chains

Ask Kevin Morrison why the Spicy Pickle chain went belly-up, and the former executive of that company, who now owns Pinche Tacos, doesn’t exactly mince words. “When you have people who aren’t businesspeople or restaurant people trying to run a restaurant company, the writing’s on the wall,” he says…

GB Fish & Chips is open on Colfax — but dry until March

Three months ago, when Alex Stokeld revealed that he planned to open a third location of GB Fish & Chips in the former Deluxe Burger space next door to Mod Livin’, at 5325 East Colfax Avenue, he told us he was aiming for a February 1 opening. And that’s exactly…

Amanda Olig: Trust your gut

In this interview, Osteria Marco bar manager Amanda Olig weighs in on rye whiskey, how she got her first bartending job in Denver and what she drinks after a particularly difficult night…

La Cocina de Paula moves from LoDo to West Alameda

The first home Paula Contreras chose for her Colombian-Mexican restaurant, La Cocina de Paula, was a night club — the eatery took up residence in LoDo’s Oasis Hookah Bar & Lounge, where it peddled lunch seven days a week before the late night crowd came in. But at the end…

Mile High Spirits opens next week

A few months ago, partners Joe Vonfeldt, Chase Campbell and Wyn Ferrell revealed that they were building out a distillery in a warehouse space on upper Larimer where they’d make private label spirits for customers as well as their own line, including Elevate Vodka, Pegleg Rum and Denver Dry Gin…

Five meaty ways to satisfy carnivorous cravings in Denver

Mardi Gras is just around the corner, and while the holiday is now mostly associated with drunken sorority girls showing their, um, assets for a strand of shiny beads in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the festival used to provide a reason to stuff yourself before forty days of…

Sexy Pizza will open a second outpost on South Pearl Street

There’s been a lot of restaurant action on South Pearl Street since the beginning of the year: the Pearl Street Grill, India’s Pearl and Ototo moved out, Seven Cups dried up and Izakaya Den announced a move, making way for the Wynkoop/Breckenridge group to take over that space. Now, there’s…

The Desk will open in the former Buffalo Exchange space

Mandy Stevens has been a freelancer in the marketing and advertising sphere for years, so she knows what it’s like trying to find a comfortable place to work. “Every space I went to, the space isn’t quite right,” she explains. And that included both coffeeshops and co-working spots, where people…

At Hong Kong Barbecue, you can go whole hog (or duck)

Go back to the bathroom,” Rob whispered as he returned to his seat. “Trust me.” I’d just finished paying the check for our feast at Hong Kong Barbecue, and a trip to the restroom didn’t have much appeal. Given the restaurant’s spare decor — just a few wall hangings featuring…

Sabi Sushi, the restaurant without a restaurant, dries up

Last summer, three freshly minted Duke grads opened Sabi Sushi in Denver, the first restaurant without a restaurant, with money won from a start-up contest at their university. “First there were traditional restaurants,” owner Shaan Puri told us at the time. “Then fast-casual, then food trucks, which are traditional restaurants…