If you ask Foad Aftahi what he thinks about Denver’s Persian restaurant climate, he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. “I don’t think you’ll find any good Persian restaurants in Denver,” he claims. And that, he insists, is why he opened Chicken Kabob, a tasteful, contemporary, fast-casual Persian restaurant…

Last weekend, I strolled through a Front Range farmers’ market (one that I’d never been to), and after picking my way through baskets of beautiful tomatoes, tri-colored carrots and beets, I came face-to-face with a food truck I’d never seen — a truck that turns out a damn good breakfast…

“Let’s just put it this way: The restaurant isn’t closing, but new partners are coming in, and they don’t need me,” begins the conversation with Michael Long, the now-former executive chef of Aria (and before that, Opus), the restaurant he opened last December in Cherry Creek…

I haven’t heard a word about this new neighborhood, strip mall Italian restaurant, whose parking lot is more often empty than full, but the romantic, dim-lit dining room, coupled with the pastas emerging from the kitchen, makes it worth a visit — even if the service is a bit quirky…

Scott Yosten Steakhouse 10 3516 South Elati Street 303-789-0911 www.steakhouse10.com This is part two of my interview with Scott Yosten, exec chef of Steakhouse 10. Part one of my interview with Yosten ran in this space yesterday. Favorite food city: Chicago. The ethnic boroughs and neighborhoods turn out the best…

A few years ago, Joel Cline, a Denver chef who’s cooked at Castle Pines golf club, the long-gone Adega and the recently shuttered Argyll, was eyeing a space in downtown Littleton, where he planned to open a crepe cafe. But while he was pondering the situation, Penzys Spices, a national…

I’m always on the lookout for new Indian restaurants, and at this recently-opened Indian emporium located in a part of town that most foodniks bypass, I found the usual suspects, including a lamb vindaloo that was passable but certainly not fiery. Alas. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus:…

Scott Yosten Steakhouse 10 3516 South Elati Street 303-789-0911 www.steakhouse10.com This is part one of my interview with Scott Yosten, executive chef of Steakhouse 10. Scott Yosten has seen it all: a maître d’ who could acquire any drug you could ever want, another maître d’ who had the social…

There are nearly a half-dozen pizzerias slated to pop up all over Denver within the next several months, including Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza, a new joint from celebrated New York chef and restaurateur Charlie Palmer that’s taking over a portion of the former Big Game space. In addition, Slices will open…

Margaritas are a dime a dozen in this city, but a margarita shaken with an avocado? You’ll find that in only one restaurant in Denver. Even weirder than the margarita itself is the fact that I really liked it — and wouldn’t think twice about ordering it again. Can you…

Russell’s Smoke House, Frank Bonanno’s new shrine to smoked meats, opened softly on Friday, but on Saturday, the staff was gearing up for a busy night, But first, there was a fantastic food tasting orgy that I was lucky enough to attend, stomaching my way through tender prime rib, sweet…

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve skulked out of a restaurant with my handbag stashed with menus, and, on one occasion, back when I was the restaurant critic at the Rocky Mountain News, a chef — who’s no longer in Denver — caught me red-handed and went ballistic…

Earlier this year, Jeff Bauman and his brother, Marc, signed a lease on a small storefront at 2009 West 32nd Avenue with the intent of opening a charcuterie and butcher shop. But after a myriad of construction and electrical issues stonewalled the process, the brothers, who are the grandsons of…

There’s never a night that this incredibly popular restaurant isn’t perpetually packed, but on Friday night, it was nothing short of a madhouse, thanks to scores of visiting parents in town for a yearly event and a gaggle of women celebrating a fiftieth birthday party. Can you guess where I’m…

“Is the food good?” That’s what the guy who was hanging the signage for Russell’s Smoke House, Frank Bonanno’s new restaurant in Larimer Square, wanted to know earlier today. He, along with everyone else who’s been anticipating the opening of the smoke house, can find out tonight, when Russell’s, located…

A few nights ago, while searching for a parking spot near a South Broadway bar, I found myself slamming on my brakes when I saw a house on Cedar — 61 West Cedar to be exact — that was decked to the skulls and scarecrows with Halloween paraphernalia. It was…

In this week’s chef and tell interview with Jensen Cummings, the exec chef of Row 14, he sings the praises of Alamosa striped bass, which he procures from Colorado Catch located in — where else? — Alamosa. “It took a trip to Alamosa, in a plane that I’m pretty sure…

Each week, in my chef and tell interviews, I ask our kitchen magicians what they’d like to see more of in Denver from a culinary standpoint — and several of the chefs admit that they long for better delis and sandwich shops. After having a sandwich at the shop where…

When Cezary Grosfeld moved to the States six years ago from Poland, he went shopping at a Target store, where he found himself wandering down the nail polish aisle, a display that befuddled him. “I couldn’t figure out why it was called ‘polish,’ or, rather, why it was Polish,” quips…

Some people don’t like to ratchet up their frankfurters with a heap of toppings, preferring instead to stick to the bare basics — like ketchup. 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…

Jensen Cummings Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar 891 14th Street 303-825-0100 www.row14denver.com This is part two of my interview with Jensen Cummings, exec chef of Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar. Part one of that interview ran yesterday. What you’d like to see more of in Denver/Boulder from a…