Jim Cohen The Empire Lounge & Restaurant 816 Main Street, Louisville 303-665-2521 www.theempirerestaurant.com Pizzeria da Lupo 2525 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder 303-396-6366 www.pizzeriadalupo.com This is part two of my interview with Jim Cohen, chef/owner of The Empire Restaurant and Lounge and Pizzeria da Lupo. Part one of that interview ran yesterday…

No. 68: Risotto frutti di mare from Firenze a Tavola Upstairs, in the convivial, bright-lit dining room of Parisi, the tables are littered with irresistible airy pizzas and housemade pastas, frilly salads and hearty sandwiches, and there’s not an empty seat in the house. Downstairs, in Firenze a Tavola, the…

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. “It’s winter, so…

Trotted the kid out last night for Chinese food, which, for him, is sesame chicken — “the best in Denver” according to the menu, a declaration that may be the largest overstatement so far this year. And since I can’t stand the stuff, I ordered from the dim sum menu,…

Jim Cohen The Empire Lounge & Restaurant 816 Main Street, Louisville 303-665-2521 www.theempirerestaurant.com Pizzeria da Lupo 2525 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder 303-396-6366 www.pizzeriadalupo.com This is part one of my interview with Jim Cohen, chef/owner of The Empire Restaurant and Lounge and Pizzeria da Lupo. Part two of that interview will run…

Ah, bacon. Savory, delicious bacon. Not only is it one of our favorite foodstuffs in the free world, but you can do just about anything with it, not the least of which is designing a makeshift bra. But above all else, it’s the one thing that steadfastly makes us too…

I stayed as far away as I could last night from the Valentine’s Day shit show, choosing instead to plop my ass down on a stool at a neighborhood bar, where I drank pear cider, did shots of Fernet-Branca, listened to a mellow band and noshed on bacon-wrapped meatloaf. Can…

Every year, in the July issue, the editors of Food & Wine magazine announce who they believe are the top ten best new chefs in the country — chefs like Fruition’s Alex Seidel, for example, who was named a 2010 Best New Chef and strutted his culinary prowess at the…

No. 69: Mais pizza from Pizzeria Locale “This is the oven that nearly bankrupted us,” says Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, peering into the behemoth Stefano Ferrara oven, a floor-to-ceiling labor of love, shipped direct from Italy, that’s constructed from volcanic rock culled from Mt. Vesuvius. It’s a stunning piece of craftsmanship that,…

Mile High Pizza Pie, the downtown pizzeria currently hustling a 7.5-pound calzone that, should you successfully stuff it down your piehole, will likely cause your heart to stop, is offering a gentler, kinder Valentine’s Day pizza to make your heart beat faster. For the remainder of the day, the pie…

Weird. Just weird. That was the overriding observation last night at Skew, the globalized food-on-a-stick restaurant that Ton Phairatphibon opened at 2070 South University Boulevard exactly one month ago. A small crowd, assembled on the patio, puffed on smokes, shook their heads in unison and talked quietly among themselves, looking…

It’s hard to find a bona fide bouillabaisse in this town, and while the bath of seafood in the above pic didn’t bowl me over, it was a valiant attempt — if not exactly ooh-la-la. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer…

No. 70: Curried split pea soup from Modmarket Laptop geeks? Everywhere. Colorado-centric surfaces, most of them reclaimed, recycled or re-purposed? Definitely. A futuristic, fashion-forward restaurant design? Yes, that, too. Bubbling brick-oven pizzas, housemade sparkling waters, organic iced teas and leafy salads mixed with good-looking, mostly organic ingredients? Check. A vegan,…

On the last night of 2010 — New Year’s Eve — Charles MacDonald, the former chef de cuisine of Z Cuisine, the superb (and proper) French bistro in Highland pioneered by chef/owner Patrick DuPays and his wife, Lynnde, cooked his last dinner on the line. MacDonald had just accepted a…

Ever time I blow through the door at this, one of our favorite Denver restaurants, I fall completely head over heels for the menu, easily one of the most playful and provocative in the city, in part, thanks to the chef, who continues to push the culinary envelope, dropping bombshells…

This, we think, could be a golden opportunity to plant a wet, sloppy kiss on the hot guy (or girl) standing behind you in line, with whom you then make messy burrito love. All metro area Qdoba Mexican Grill locations (with the exception of the Vail store, which opens Monday)…

No. 71: Celery and lime popsicle from Spuntino Cupcakes? Done (unless you’re Chris Romer or one of his minions). Pies? Yes, I adore them, especially when they’re plumped with fresh fruit. But, as of about noon yesterday, I’m hot, like California boys on California “Gurls,” for popsicles. But not –…

The best thing about yesterday? The pies that flanked the tables during an early morning meeting that revolved — around what else? — food. The two slices in the above snap — banana cream and apple drizzled with caramel — made for a sweet breakfast this morning for a kid…

Antonio Gorjoux Cherry Cricket 2641 East Second Avenue 303-322-7666 www.cherrycricket.com This is part two of my interview with Antonio Gorjoux, the kitchen manager of the Cherry Cricket. In part one of that interview, Gorjoux dishes on the day he nearly got fired, eating cow-eye tacos, and the secrets behind the…