Cafe Society dished out four Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a lovely charcuterie and cheese plate from Central Bistro & Bar, to a lackluster bowl of gumbo (described as a “Salmonella and trichinosis combo” by one irritable commenter) from Ted’s Montana Grill, to a plate of crab legs…

“No, no, no, no, no!” That was the initial response from Steve Redzikowski, co-owner and chef of Boulder’s Oak at Fourteenth, when Bryan Dayton, his business partner and beverage director, first approached him about opening a new restaurant in the Source, a smorgasbord of independent restaurants, specialty food and bottle…

The signature signs of a city that’s on the culinary fast track reside in its willingness to take aggressive risks, push infinite boundaries and continually adapt to a fickle dining public whose expectations are always on the upswing. Denver is that city — a major metropolis that refuses to slow…

What defines an essential restaurant? Several opinionated friends and I were recently discussing that topic during dinner at a trendy newcomer that’s amassed a flurry of flattery since opening its doors. It’s a restaurant-of-the-moment, but will it still be relevant in six months? Will the crowds continue to jam the…

Seven Denver-based food trucks, including Quiero Arepas, Pink Tank, Orange Crunch, Hey PB&J, Big Kiwi’s Gourmet Eats, El Toro the Tot and Street Eats 5280, are getting their fifteen minutes of fame this week and next as filming crews from Eat St., a meals-on-wheels show hosted by James Cunningham that…

If you’re a Baltimore Ravens fan, it’s likely that that your mood was nothing short of crabby after the Broncos completely crushed the defending Super Bowl champions in last night’s season opener. But the Ravens weren’t the only ones to crack under pressure. My crab legs did the same thing,…

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 a spacious kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. “It’s back to school…

Had this been dinner rather than a kickoff to dinner, I still would have been blissfully happy, but as it turned out, this was just the excellent prelude to a wonderful meal that followed. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to…

Crickett Burns The Truffle Table 2556 15th Street 303-455-9463 truffletable.com This is part two of my interview with Crickett Burns, chef of the Truffle Table; part one of our chat ran yesterday. Most noteworthy meal you’ve ever eaten: When my family and I were in Denmark for a long stay,…

When a chef wants cheese (or any other food product for that matter), there’s one man to whom they turn: Nicholas Farrell, a former chef who’s spent the past nine years as a sales rep for Italco Food Products, four of which have also been devoted to managing a wholly…

“I started making charcuterie in 1980 while training under a master chef, and it fascinated me so much that I just never stopped,” says Brian Polycyn,” chef and author of Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing and the James Beard Award-nominated book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and…

Crickett Burns The Truffle Table 2556 15th Street 303-455-9463 truffletable.com This is part one of my interview with Crickett Burns, chef of the Truffle Table; part two of our chat will run tomorrow. “I can count on one hand the number of times we ate the same thing for dinner,…

Yes, it looks pretty, but food, as we know, isn’t just about appearances. Flavor counts — a lot — and in the case of this paella, there wasn’t much flavor, if any, to be found, making me wonder if the kitchen was completely bereft of saffron, paprika, garlic, onions, salt…

There can never be too much pho, yo? Just a few weeks ago, Pho Real opened in Littleton, and now, Pho 007, another Vietnamese noodle parlor, has unlocked its doors at 389 West Littleton Boulevard, in the former space of Jade Dragon. The menu, which includes several starters, twelve variations…

Cafe Society dished out five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from an Italian beef sandwich from Mustard’s Last Stand — a sandwich that was shredded to pieces by commenters — to a plate of burrata and beets from Locanda del Borgo that had commenters salivating. We also featured a…

What defines an essential restaurant? Several opinionated friends and I were recently discussing that topic during dinner at a trendy newcomer that’s amassed a flurry of flattery since opening its doors. It’s a restaurant-of-the-moment, but will it still be relevant in six months? Will the crowds continue to jam the…

“This heirloom tomato salad represents me as a chef, pure and simple,” says Carrie Shores, exec chef of Table 6 and the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell interview. The salad, a dish on the restaurant’s current menu “is how I eat every day, and now is the perfect…

Aside from the misplaced green peppers (Why do they always taste like dirt?), this joint’s version of an Italian beef sandwich isn’t bad (more gravy, please) — but it definitely doesn’t outshine the wieners, for which the place is renowned. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who…

Trying to find a memorable fresh clam linguine in this city is a lot like panning for gold coins in Clear Creek (good luck with that), but as luck would have it, I struck culinary gold at this Italian restaurant, whose chef must have read my mind. Can you guess…

Justin Cucci, perhaps more than any chef-restaurateur in this city, is full of surprises. Who would have thought, for example, that the New York native whose prominent rise to fame in Denver was the result of two citified restaurants in the hip Highland ‘hood, would ever consider opening a restaurant…

Carrie Shores Table 6 609 Corona Street 303-831-8800 table6denver.com This is part two of my interview with Carrie Shores, chef of Table 6; part one of our conversation ran yesterday. Most noteworthy meal you’ve ever eaten: I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was this small hole-in-the-wall…