There’s far more emphasis on the menu than on the cocktail syllabus (as it should be) at this contemporary restaurant, but the tequila-based, berry-muddled drink pictured in the above snap was a huge hit with everyone at our table. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. In honor of…

Earlier this week, I posted a snap depicting an avalanche of restaurant receipts, all from meals that I’d eaten away from home in 2010. And I asked Cafe Society readers to guess exactly how many meals that amounted to, along with the total tab of those receipts. No one got…

When Cochon 555, the nationwide, heritage breed pig-off, trots into town on Sunday, April 3, it won’t be just five Colorado chefs battling it out for the “Prince or Princess of Porc” title. In addition to Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bisto Vendome); Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken); Lachlan…

When San Francisco food blogger Sabrina Modelle heard about the earthquake and tsunami devastation in Japan, she reacted the same way that most of us did: staring, dumbfounded, at the horrific images on the television screen, or listening in disbelief to the coverage on the radio. And it was while…

Years ago, when I was the restaurant critic at 5280 magazine (then a startup without a big budget), I spent way more money eating out than I actually got paid, which always came as a major shock during tax time (and made me wonder why the hell I ever wanted…

It’s completely fitting that this restaurant, where the above snap was flashed, has deviled eggs on its menu. That’s it: That’s all you get. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into…

Mel and Janie Master, who owned the original Mel’s Bar and Grill in Cherry Creek, until it shuttered in 2007, were back in town yesterday to host a Mel’s reunion at the Egg Shell of Cherry Creek — the space at 235 Fillmore Street where Mel’s resided for more than…

During our weekend travels through Cherry Creek, we spotted the above sign adhered to the window of the former Aera Studios, directly above the still shuttered Q Worldly Barbecue at 2817 East Third Avenue. “Vinue Food and Wine Bar,” it reads, along with an announcement that it will open this…

“Tonight’s the night, as Neil Young would say,” quips Joe Kaplan about tonight’s episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, in which Guy Fieri, the bleached-out blonde whose hair resembles the scrappy, canary-colored bird from Charlie Brown, brakes at the Bagel Deli, the decades-old shrine to Jewish comfort food that Kaplan…

There are those of you who read this blog and undoubtedly assume that all I eat is pork, every which way, and tacos — usually with pork. And for the most part, you’re right, but there are occasions when I’ll forgo my obsessions to sink into a salad. Can you…

It’s been a long time coming, but they’re baaack! Restaurateurs and long-wedded couple, Mel and Janie Master, whose original, groundbreaking Cherry Creek food temple, Mel’s Bar and Grill, was one of the Mile High City’s most revered restaurants until it shuttered in 2007, when the duo relocated to be closer…

Joining the throngs of kids on spring break this week is the staff of Encore, who are taking the week off to revive their mojo, while executive chef Paul Reilly creates a new menu and spruces up the joint. “A la Barolo Grill style, I’m giving the staff a week…

Cochon 555, the porkeriffic national competition that trots into Denver on Sunday, April 3, recently announced the five Colorado chefs combating for the Prince of Porc title: Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bisto Vendome); Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken); Alex Seidel (Fruition and Fruition Farms); Frank Bonanno (Bones, Green…

There’s no such thing as too many taquerias, which is exactly what Mario and Gricelda Valles thought when they opened Tacos El Fogon last month at 1145 South Federal Boulevard, along a strip of asphalt that already lays claim to more taquerias than you can fling a tortilla at. “My…

Our recent wave of warm days (how much longer can it last?) makes me want to noodle around, and here, at the restaurant where the above pic was snapped, I did exactly that. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the…

After getting derailed by a rogue electrician, Biker Jim wasn’t sure that he’d be open by the first home game of the Colorado Rockies, but after years of hustling wieners from a cartel of downtown carts, he unlocked the doors to his brick-and-mortar, a long labor of love — and…

No. 64: Chongqing Chicken from East Asia Garden Some of the best cooking in Denver comes from restaurants that are completely off the grid — those with generic names, facades as forgettable as last night’s one-night stand and featureless dining rooms where the color scheme clashes. East Asia Garden, which…

“This restaurant is my passion, I own the real estate — we have zero debt — and as soon as I get the money that was stolen from us back from the banks. I’ll reopen Skew.” Those were the words of Ton Phairatphibon, the former owner of Skew, 2070 South…

Enrique Socarras Cuba Cuba 1173 Delaware Street 303-605-2822 www.cubacubacafe.com This is part two of my interview with Enrique Socarras, executive chef of Cuba Cuba. In part one of this interview, Socarras raps on integrity, stomaching raw bacon and his new Boulder restaurant. Best food city in America: I’m going with…

Talk about getting your just desserts! And, no, we didn’t wipe the plate clean, but we did mange to make a small, rather insignificant, dent. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered…