Community supported agriculture (or CSA) memberships can be a crapshoot when it comes to variety and quality for the price. Diehard locavores will usually persevere out of loyalty to local farms, even if weekly produce boxes become a boring slog through filler vegetables in between major harvests. But a few local…

After a quick turnaround of the old Julia Blackbird space, Spatola is now dishing up traditional Sicilian cuisine at 3434 West 32nd Avenue in West Highland. The restaurant is the work of Franco Spatola, who also owns Dolce Sicilia Italian Bakery in Wheat Ridge. Along with classic antipasti, insalate, primi and…

The Union Station Farmers’ Market kicked off its inaugural season on Saturday, June 4, with a multitude of produce, meat and prepared-food vendors set up on the plaza outside the train station on 17th Street downtown. The farmers’ market is run by Boulder County Farmers Markets, a non-profit that until…

Two years have passed since I began my exploration of Denver’s international food scene with the Ethniche series. Originally a monthly study of a single cuisine, it morphed into a look at individual dishes and their provenance, as well as a study of interpretations of specific preparations across various cultural…

A few weeks ago, we stopped in at Hamburguesas Don Jesus to check out one of west Denver’s Mexican specialists, where hamburgers are constructed street-style as they’re done in Juarez. We dug into the Torta Burger, a massive mound of beef, pork, cheese and guacamole big enough to feed two…

Driving on Federal Boulevard on a Sunday night isn’t the best idea, unless you’re into souped-up Honda Civics, Japanese motorcycles and the slow crawl of cruisers checking each other out. But at least the walking pace of traffic allows a person to have a good look around at the changes…

It was a slow week in restaurant openings and closings, with only Godfather’s Pizza making a splash on Monday in Thornton and Red Octave playing its final note on East Colfax Avenue. But we found a new eatery on West Mississippi Avenue called Fritangas La Pili serving dangerously big quesadillas…

Last week we brought news that a new Korean restaurant, Soban, had opened in May in Aurora. The eatery comes to Colorado from Los Angeles with a reputation among fans of Korean cuisine because of restaurant critic Jonathan Gold’s attentions. We stopped by Soban again this week to sample a…

The new Blue Moon brewery and restaurant is taking shape at 1910 38th Street, just a short distance north of the original Blue Moon Brewing Company at the Sandlot inside Coors Field, where the Coors-owned company got its start in 1995. Founding brewer Keith Villa expects a soft opening in the…

With the explosion of new restaurants hitting Denver over the last two or three years, heads are spinning trying to figure out which eateries are worth the time and money. Food quality isn’t the only concern; diners want a complete, seamless experience when they’re dropping big bucks for increasingly expensive…

A Mexican eatery called Fritangas La Pili recently took over a bar and nightclub space at 1733 West Mississipi avenue in the Athmar Park neighborhood, offering a few street-food specialties not found in many other Denver restaurants. Pambazos — tortas soaked in guajillo chile sauce — and sopes are a…

The joined houses at 4900 East Colfax Avenue have served as a restaurant site for decades, with the likes of Tante Louise, the Cork House and the Cork House Broker filling the space. After a brief vacancy, Red Octave Kitchen & Bar moved in, offering a more casual atmosphere with…

May has come and gone, bringing with it some new restaurants — and taking away a few.  A number of openings, closings and other changes came from some of our favorite chefs and restaurateurs this month. Patrick Mangold-White, who brought Uno Mas Cantina y Taqueria and Kaos Pizzeria to Old…

Qdoba has been a Denver staple in the fast-casual scene since it opened more than twenty years ago. If you don’t remember the name from the mid-1990s, you may recall that the company was once called Z-Tecas — and Zuma before that. Over the years, the name and ownership have…

The word “serendipity” derives from a Persian fairy tale about the three princes of Serendip, who were blessed with fortunate coincidences, so it seemed somehow appropriate that after exploring three international markets (none Persian), I serendipitously came home with all the makings for traditional Salvadoran pupusas — when I’d started…

The wait is over: Godfather’s Pizza returns to the Denver metro area today after nearly twenty years away when a new franchise of the Nebraska-based chain opens at 11 a.m. at 2350 East 120th Avenue in Thornton. While the city has plenty of other pizza options to choose from, Midwesterners…

There were plenty of Japanese eateries in the news this week, starting with Monday’s opening of Bamboo Sushi, serving certified-sustainable seafood inside Avanti Food & Beverage. For Chef and Tell, Gretchen Kurtz tracked down the globetrotting Nobu Matsuhisa to talk about his newest Matsuhisa restaurant in Cherry Creek as well…

Another Korean restaurant opened in Aurora earlier this month, which is not exactly a rare phenomenon these days. But this one’s a little different — in more ways than one.  Soban took over the space formerly occupied by K-Pub at 12101 East Iliff Avenue, bringing with it an impressive pedigree…

Not too much time passed between when Billy’s Gourmet Hot Dogs closed at 2950 South Broadway in Englewood and when new banners appeared announcing the imminent arrival of Grillerz Pub, a new eatery set to open on June 1. Manager and co-owner Kathleen Thompson says she had to move quickly to…

Menu Spanish isn’t too difficult to pick up in Denver, with plenty of Mexican restaurants — and a few Central and South American eateries — to let you work on your language skills while enjoying delicious food. But the Spanish names of meats can get a little confusing to those…