Despite 450 years in the grape-stomping business, Mexican wines aren’t exactly flying off the shelves, but the Mexican Cultural Center and Consulate General of Mexico, along with Strings, will attempt to silence your inner cynic tonight, when Strings, 1700 Humboldt Street, hosts a Mexican wine dinner. The fiesta kicks off…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Sean Yontz, executive chef of Mezcal, Tambien and Sketch. You can read part one here. Culinary inspirations: Ferran Adrià, the chef at El Bulli, because of the way he’s completely changed people’s perception of Spanish food; Thomas Keller, because of his…
You know that autumn’s in the air when restaurants start cooking hearty casseroles, soups and stews tumbling with root vegetables — carrots, turnips and parsnips — which is exactly why the shepherds pie, pictured in the above snap, immediately caught my attention. I totally dig root vegetables.Hearty, restorative and piping…
“We had a super soft opening on Monday and it went well,” says Jack Martinez, referencing the second, much larger location of Jack-n-Grill that took up residence at 2630 West Belleview Avenue in the space that had previously housed the Santa Fe Tequila Company. But while the kitchen is up…
Travel + Leisure, the glossy travel title that encourages readers to anchor down in Amsterdam, escape to the Cape and luxuriate in Italy — Santorini-style, has just released its America’s Favorite Cities issue — and the results, based on 60,000 votes, from residents and visitors alike, are in. While Denver…
This is part one of a two-part interview. Read part two here. “Hey, get up, I have something to show you,” instructs Sean Yontz as he strides into Sketch, one of the five venues he oversees with business partner Jesse Morreale. And their mini-empire will soon expand to a half-dozen,…
All I’m going to say is that the chef-owner of this Chinese restaurant, whose name is none of your business (for now), likes to clutter your table with edible gifts long before you’ve had a chance to glance at the menu — an eight-page syllabus that doesn’t include any of…
Steve Vice, the exec chef at McCormick’s Fish House and Bar, 1659 Wazee Street, is leaving that house of aquatics at the end of this week to make the leap to meat. Specifically, Vice has been tapped as the opening chef of Shanahan’s Steakhouse, which, according to Vice, is scheduled…
Back in high school, I had a little episode involving vodka and pig — as in I drank too much vodka during a “liquid lunch” and subsequently puked on a fetal pig in biology class, right after I proclaimed my love for Mr. Svenson and his Harley. My punishment was…
Despite the half-dozen “For Lease” signs posted in the storefront windows in Old Town Arvada, at least one restaurant is actually moving in. Udi’s Bread Cafe, which already has locations in Stapleton (7357 East 29th Avenue); Louisville (185 South 104th Street); Aurora (12700 East 19th Street); and north Denver (101…
Damn. Gourmet magazine, the Condé Nast publication that’s been pimping food porn for nearly seventy years, is done. The somber news, which was delivered in a memo from Condé CEO Chuck Townsend, didn’t come as much of a shock to industry insiders, many of whom have predicted the magazine’s demise…
It’s been a fantastic five years for Frasca Food & Wine, the Boulder restaurant at 1738 Pearl Street that chef Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey opened in 2004. Even now, Frasca is still the restaurant-of-the-moment, the food shrine by which all others in Colorado are judged. And…
What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society while getting your free jolt of instant java at Starbucks: A second outpost of Toast, the kick-ass pancake palace, took up residence in the former Village Inn space in Cherry Creek. Fresko, an upscale Mexican restaurant in the Tech Center…
Talk about green energy! For a slide show of Fruition Farms, Alex Seidel’s ten-acre parcel of land in Larkspur, click here. Seidel is also the chef-owner of Fruition, at 1313 East Sixth Avenue, and the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell interview…
At last week’s Mile High Chef Competition between Argyll Gastropub cooker Sergio Romero and Jing exec chef Jay Spickelmier (who emerged victorious), the hit dish of the night was Spickelmier’s Tuscan lamb and white bean soup, the recipe of which he was happy to share with us. It’s the perfect…
As you already know from spending every second of your spare time immersed in the Cafe Society blog, Alex Seidel, exec chef-owner of Fruition (1313 East Sixth Avenue), recently bought a ten-acre farm in Larkspur, where he’s producing vegetables and fruits, raising goats and chickens and, soon, sheep. He’s also…
Starbucks, the giant java company with a storefront on a street corner near you, is joining the instant coffee market with a free taste test in every store beginning at 10 a.m. today and continuing through Monday, October 5. The national chain officially introduced VIA Ready Brew, its trio of…
Just got word from Denver chef/restaurateur Michel Wahaltere that he’s been bought out of MiniBAR (222 Columbine Street), the five-month-old miniature lounge (and unofficial viewing headquarters for ABC’s Cougar Night) in Cherry Creek. According to Wahaltere, MiniBAR owner Bill Ward is “taking full control of that vision and concept.” That…
Toast owners Bill Blake and Jason Parfenoff promised that the second outlet of their excellent breakfast and lunch joint (the original Toast is at 2700 West Bowles Avenue in Littleton), would open today in Cherry Creek at 222 Columbine Street — and guess what? It actually happened.At this very moment,…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Alex Seidel, the executive chef-owner of Fruition You can read the first part of Midson’s interview with Seidel here. Proudest moment as a chef: Taking our entire staff of 21 people from Fruition to Portland, Oregon, for a food and wine…
Candy-apple-red booths (vinyl, natch), an air of intrigue, stiff drinks poured by chill bartenders and a killer jukebox that, to my ear, doesn’t promote one throwaway tune form the endearing vibe at this Denver dive that’s also the perfect spot for tucking into a dark corner and snogging. There’s a…
Gourmet, the national food porn glossy with lots of dreamboat pictures, is rumored to be going down — fast, at least according to The Observer, which reported earlier this week that the monthly, along with several other pubs owned by Conde Nast, will likely need to slash its budget by…
