A swing and a miss. When we showed up at Sugar House on a Wednesday, it was closed. Had I looked at either of the Sugar House websites — www.sugarhouselounge.com, which describes a cool lounge for trendy, beautiful people who are tired of the downtown scene, and www.sugarhousedenver.com, which describes…

When I met Dylan Moore a few years ago while testing numerous drinks at Deluxe, his wildly popular restaurant, we became instant friends. I don’t know what I admired more — his cooking/restaurant, his entrepreneurial chef spirit, his amazing eye for design or his boisterous essence — but I knew…

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I loved the Hot and Cold Margarita at Cielo. I don’t remember much else about the restaurant, since the food and service were forgettable — yet for years I couldn’t find a suitable replacement for that cocktail. Plenty of places have infused tequila, but…

Meg is a childhood friend, and some days I believe that I learned everything important from her. She has been a force in my life since we met at West Middle School. We’ve experienced a lot together — everything from dating and dieting to divorce and death. One of my…

Go ahead and burn my cool card. I’ve learned to accept tattoo sleeves and tramp stamps, but I just can’t understand why people put tattoos on places they can’t hide, like necks and faces. Didn’t they learn anything from hickeys? As I said to one of my friend’s children: “Do…

Tim Harris — or Timmy, as I like to call him, shouting it out like they do on South Park — has a passion for creating delicious things for his customers at Jax. But he isn’t a chef in the traditional sense. His creations are liquid, because he’s a “bar…

I’ve got a secret — and I’m not even the governor of New York. I use Elway’s in Cherry Creek like a prostitute. Truth is, Elway’s is dependable, gives good service, and I know what I’m going to get there. Yes, the bar crowd may be a little long in…

Heaven must be missing an angel — because after one visit, I’m sure Phil’s Place came straight from heaven, the answer to my prayers. I went there for green chile but wound up staying for the unbelievably entertaining happy-hour crowd. I initially started chatting with “Greedy,” who showed me that…

The Brown Palace has been open for business every day since it debuted in 1892. I haven’t been around quite that long, but since I was a child, I’ve always loved the grandeur of the old hotel. As a little girl, I looked forward to our annual ladies’ holiday outing…

There are some nights that you just know are going to suck, and then others that sneak up on you. I had great hopes for my night at the Buffalo Rose. It was a beautiful drive to Golden: The air was crisp and clean, with a sky full of stars…

I’m one of “those” people. You know the ones. The crazy people who talk about their dogs the way other people talk about their kids. The kooks who spend thousands of dollars on doggie daycare so that Daisy or Rex won’t be home alone. The people who allow their dogs…

I love trying new places, so when a friend told me of a “great” restaurant near her home in the Denver Tech Center, I was willing to get on the highway and head down to my old stamping grounds. But as I walked in the door of Bonefish Grill and…

Ohio Pete called early last Thursday. “What time are you getting to the Cowboy Bar?” he asked. “We were there yesterday,” I told him. “But we planned our trip because we met you there last year on a Thursday,” he whined. Too bad, Ohio Pete: There’s no postponing this cattle…

I met Charlie Huang in a limo on the way to the Diamond Cabaret — which sounds a lot sleazier than it really was. A friend and I were drinking at the Funky Buddha when we met up with a group of guy friends who had a limo for the…

The first time I went to the Little Bear, I was in high school and using my new State of Kansas fake ID. Like any teenager attempting to commit fraud, I was exceedingly nervous. Back then, the Little Bear was so tough that rumor had it if you came without…

As I walked into Santa Fe Tequila Company, I felt a little like Alice falling down the rabbit hole into a magical place. Sadly, I saw no caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah, but the specialty drink list definitely winks at that wonderland with such cocktails as…

There are people who love the entire holiday shopping experience, who are excited at the prospect of going to a hectic shopping mall with other busy shoppers, perusing the tsotchkes and searching for the perfect gift that their kids will actually believe Santa made. I, on the other hand, regard…

There are certain spots that I just don’t think of as places to eat. The Rio, for example. Although I know a lot of people who for some reason like to eat there, for me, the drinks and the drinkers are the draw. Just a couple of blocks away from…

Most bars are so five minutes ago. While I love trying the trendy/beautiful-people spots, my attention span is shorter than the dresses on Dancing With the Stars. After I’ve experienced the shlock of the new, I’m usually on to the Next Big Thing or retreating to an old standby for…

When I lived in Manhattan, my office was next to one of the city’s oldest bars: P.J. Clarke’s. As a relatively new legal drinker, I was fascinated by that bar’s century-old history and the classic cocktails it served to well-heeled Midtown businessmen. And when I moved back to Denver and…

I planned a girls’ weekend up in Beaver Creek when I doubted the Rockies would even make the playoffs, let alone the World Series. So the last Saturday in October, there we were in the mountains, hunting for a place to watch game three. First we tried E-Town, but between…

As a closet Real World junkie, I was excited to visit Theorie. I’d watched The Real World: Denver and was dying to see what the new owners had done with the building that housed the show. And I heard they’d done plenty, renovating the joint from top to bottom —…