When the Inventing Room opened at 2020 Lawrence Street just over a year ago, chef/owner Ian Kleinman was subleasing a small space from what was then Lower48 Kitchen, and became Pop’s Place after that Best of Denver award winner closed.  But Pop’s Place didn’t last long, either — and now…

While the official opening of the new Maddie’s at 2423 South Downing Street is still a few days away, owner Gayor Geller hosted a couple of practice runs over the weekend, giving neighbors a sneak peek at the interior of the 1950s gas station he converted into a fun, diner-style space. Retro…

Morrison Road in the Westwood neighborhood (between Alameda Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard) has long been populated by taquerias, nightclubs and Mexican bakeries and butcher shops. But going to the diagonal strip of road was never a fun proposition, as a run-down trailer park and junk yard put a tarnish on…

While much of the newly named Union Station North neighborhood is still a warren of road construction and building projects, a number of new restaurants have been slated for ground-floor retail spaces that will soon be completed. One of those is located at 16th and Wewatta streets, where Frasca Food…

Lechuga’s has been a north Denver Italian institution since long before Chuck Lechuga and Rachel Vigil bought the place in 1989; the building at 3609 Tejon Street previously housed Carbone’s Italian Bakery as far back as 1961. Sydney Stroup bought the place in 2014 — keeping the Lechuga’s name — and…

The wait is over for Capitol Hill residents; the chicken has landed. White Fence Farm is now serving lunch and dinner from its newest quick-service location at 1025 East Ninth Avenue. For more than forty years, the original White Fence Farm was a solo operation, until founder Charlie Wilson sold…

Chefs Alex Figura and Spencer White are ready to unveil Dio Mio Handmade Pasta to the public at 4 p.m. today at 3264 Larimer Street in RiNo. The counter-service eatery will serve traditional and “Dio Mio style” pasta dishes along with an array of small plates that are grounded in Italian…

Gayor Geller opened Maddie’s in 2013 at 2423 South Downing, naming the tiny breakfast eatery after his daughter. Maddie was just a toddler at the time and only three years have passed since then, but her namesake restaurant has grown up. Later this month, Geller will unveil a brand-new version…

Ellen Daehnick was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and has fond food memories of her years there — and she wants to share those food memories with you. She’s been making caramels and other sweets under the Helliemae’s name for the past few years, but on Saturday, November 19,…

Two very different kinds of barbecue joints just celebrated their first year in business, proving that Denver is hungry for traditional smokehouse grub — no matter the style. Globe Hall serves Texas-style barbecue from a 120-year-old bar in a hidden Globeville neighborhood, while GQue Championship Barbecue serves lunch and dinner from a strip-mall location at a busy intersection in Westminster.

Why isn’t the Denver Police Department clearing out this urban encampment? Well, for one thing, these folks are camping in Glendale, not Denver, and for another, they’re on private property. That parking lot belongs to a brand new Chick-Fil-A that’s about to hatch at 430 South Colorado Boulevard, right next…

Josh Wolkon was only 25 when he took out a sizeable loan to open an edgy restaurant called Vesta Dipping Grill in an up-and-coming part of downtown that people were just beginning to call LoDo. Nearly twenty years later, those loan officers are looking pretty smart as Wolkon has not only…

In our story about Colorado chefs and butchers who are turning out some world-class cured meats, we threw out quite a few sausage and meat names — some of which aren’t very common outside of Italy. But you’ll hear them more frequently at various specialty shops around town, which are…

Watching mold grow is the epitome of a boredom-inducing activity — unless your passion is making dry-cured meats. Then you notice every new speck of fuzz on your coppa, lonza, guanciale and sopressata. You catalogue with fascination the daily creep of white film over sausage casings and whole pork cuts…

The Little Pub Company has been running neighborhood bars since the Spot Bar & Grill opened in the mid-’90s at South Pennsylvania Street and Bayaud Avenue. Most are unassuming joints with basic bar food and a drink roster that flirts with crafty without ever getting esoteric — after all, a…

There are dive bars and then there are neighborhood bars. What’s the difference? Sometimes it’s difficult to define. But we knew that the Kentucky Inn had phased from a dive to something a little more genteel after the Pearl Street watering hole was purchased by Dave Bryan and Lisa Bryan,…

No. 45: Hisbiscus-Flower Tacos at Comal Comal opened last month in the TAXI development in RiNo, with the dual missions of serving home-style Mexican cooking while giving Globeville and Elyria-Swansea residents career-oriented job training. The restaurant calls itself a heritage-food incubator, which means that menus shift regularly but always include recipes…

Chef/restaurateur Kevin Morrison is a believer in understated simplicity, at least when it comes to naming his eateries. His first Denver success came with the Spicy Pickle, which he founded and ran until the chain went public and he sold out of the business. Next came Tacos, Tequila, Whiskey (better…

The sunny cantina at East Sixth Avenue and Clarkson Street seems custom-built to draw taco lovers, what with its ample patio space and indoor-outdoor bars. Lime XS made taco Tuesdays work for a number of years, but the new name and concept, the $5 Buck Drinkery, that moved in last…

No. 45: Jungle Curry at Aung’s Bangkok CafeChef Aung Kyaw is Burmese by birth but learned to cook Thai cuisine from a restaurant chef while living in Thailand as a refugee from his home country. And what a teacher that chef must have been — or what a good student…

Chef Darren Pusateri has worked in his fair share of Denver kitchens, including the Squeaky Bean when it moved to its current downtown location in 2012. Now he’s back at the Bean as the new executive chef after two years at the TAG restaurant group. Squeaky Bean co-owner Johnny Ballen…