The space at 1434 Blake Street has gone through many incarnations since its days as CitySpirit. But its latest transformation could be its most interesting yet: It’s now a Ukrainian restaurant, Kraine Station. “This came about from the inspiration of my mother,” explains Papi Sorrelis. “I’ve been looking for an…
Late last year, Tilman J. Fertitta, the restaurant mogul who owns Landry’s — and acquired McCormick and Schmick’s in a hostile takeover last month — announced his plans to pick up the national chain of Morton’s steakhouses, noting that the restaurants comprise “one of the most recognizable and successful high-end…
Before Tom and Diane Coohill moved to Denver a few years ago, Tom ran a couple of fine-dining French restaurants in Atlanta that garnered considerable praise. But when he decided to plunge back into restaurant ownership in this city, though, the economy encouraged him to scale back his ambitions a…
This brick building near the intersection of Speer and Federal boulevards was most recently home to Veronica’s Bases Loaded. But that dive closed long ago. Now it looks like the address could get new life…
Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que first fired up the pit more than ten years ago, when three Alabama natives — Mike Fernandez, Ben Gilbert and Jeff Kennedy — made their way to Vail and set up a restaurant to hawk the food they grew up eating. Since then, Moe’s has proliferated, and…
In the final hours before the Christmas-gift exchange, while family members made one last trip to the liquor store and put the finishing bows on their packages, I was at my computer, listlessly clicking through Open Table. I’d done most of my shopping but still had one pair left to…
What do women want from beer? That’s a question Ginger Johnson, owner of Women Enjoying Beer, has been pursuing for three years as she researches and educates consumers and producers around the country. “I was invited to speak at the Craft Brewers Conference in 2009, and that’s what really launched…
David Parry — a native of Syracuse, New York — opened his first restaurant in Parker almost six years ago with a mission to bring Denver the New York-style pizza he loved and missed. That shop, a counter service joint, gave way to a second location in Castle Rock two…
Over the last few months, I went from the worst shape of my life to the best while continuing to eat like a food critic. Don’t punch me in the face; instead, read how I did it in this series: No one trusts a skinny food critic. That sentiment was…
Jonathan Greschler, who recently landed behind the bar at Fuel Cafe, started bartending right after college. “I was in North Carolina working at a microbrewery,” he remembers. “The guys behind the bar were older than me, and they took me under their wing. We had an advantage, because it was…
Time to get your sugar high, Denver. Today is National Chocolate Cake Day, which is an excellent reason to stop into a favorite spot for a slab of something rich, delicious and, above all, packed with chocolate. Need a suggestion? Here are five places that will give you a fix…
Aleece Raw, who’d been in internet marketing since the early 1990s, suddenly found her trajectory shifting a few years ago. “I woke up to food three years ago,” she explains. “My mother and sister are cancer survivors, and I decided to go to natural chef school. I told them, ‘I…
Six months ago, Eric Dutton, bar manager at Vesta Dipping Grill, unveiled a Vieux Carre he’d let sit in wood for a few weeks — the first barrel-aged cocktail we’d seen on a Denver menu. Since then, though, we’ve noticed barrel-aged cocktails popping up on a handful of lists, making…
Brothers Todd and Scott Leopold have been distilling since 1999, but only in the last two or three years have they really had the freedom to exercise their creativity in the market. “We’ve been in the business for thirteen years, and it’s almost like there weren’t bars for the first…
A friend once trained under a master sushi chef for a couple of years, and it was mesmerizing to watch her work a knife around a vegetable or piece of fish. She was slow and methodical, paring precisely to shape each element of a dish into a delicate, edible work…
Always on a voyage for good sushi in this landlocked state, this week’s review took me to Hana Matsuri, a Westminster restaurant where the sushi counter is helmed by Eddie Wang, who knows his way around a fresh fish. I enjoyed much of what he cut and arranged, even if…
It’s been nearly two years since restaurateur Ed Novak retired, selling the forty-year-old Broker, one of downtown’s last fine-dining bastions, and its only surviving sibling restaurant, the Cork House Wine Restaurant, to Jerry Fritzler, a long-time employee and partner…
After readers responded to my lament about the lack of interesting ethnic food near the Tech Center, I decided to explore not just the southern suburbs, where I grew up, but the entire circle outside of Denver city limits, looking for the best ethnic restaurants in the metro area, strip-mall…
Sushi Den and Sushi Sasa long ago deep-sixed the notion that good sushi doesn’t exist in this landlocked state. These two formidable restaurants turn out exceptional dishes that rival those in any American city, seaside or not…
Richard Sandoval opened his first restaurant in New York City fifteen years ago, and since then, his empire has expanded across the United States. He currently has six spots in Colorado, including the recently opened Cima in Avon, Venga Venga in Vail and a pair of La Sandias in Northfield…
Today marks the Chinese New Year, which is a good reason to go forth into one of this city’s excellent Chinese joints and feast on meats and vegetables loaded with Szechuan peppers, a vat of soul-warming beef noodle soup, dumplings or something much, much stranger — duck tongue, pig’s blood…
How many times have you been sitting in a restaurant or standing in the aisle of an unfamiliar wine store, staring down a wine list or at a row of bottles and wondering what to get? Brett Zimmerman, Master Sommelier and owner of Boulder Wine Merchant, bets that it happens…
