Wake-Up Call: Remembering John Parr and Sandy Widener

In the 21 months since John Parr, Sandy Widener and their daughter, Chase Parr, were killed in a horrific car accident, I’ve trained myself not to grab the phone to call Sandy, a wonderful writer and college pal who was one of the founders of Westword, to hoot over some…

Are you Westword‘s new pot critic?

Is this the most attention you’ve ever gotten?” asked the national reporter. Westword got bomb threats when we broke the news about University of Colorado coach Bill McCartney’s daughter being pregnant by dying quarterback Sal Aunese, a story that’s gotten a second life on ESPN now that their son is…

No Big Lots skewer for Sketch

Sketch has a limited menu, but as Jason Sheehan noted in his review, what Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz (the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell) are serving there is choice. Still, when the place opened in March, we couldn’t resist suggesting that — in addition to the exotic…

Tilted Kilt goes for a liquor license

The Tilted Kilt has been called a Celtic Hooters — a label that its Arizona-based owners don’t appreciate, we hear. They prefer “The Best Looking Sports Pub You’ve Ever Seen,” the slogan on the web site. A sports pub with waitresses who wear naughty school-girl skirts. There are already 22…

Wake-Up Call: Hold your horses!

Twenty-five years ago, the Department of Defense took over 235,000 acres of ranchland in southeastern Colorado — the largest condemnation of private property in the country. And the Army’s not done yet. Six years ago, word surfaced that the feds would try to add another 400,000 acres to the Pinon…

A warm slice for a warm coat at Abo’s NY Pizza

For the next two months, if you drop off a new or gently worn winter coat at either of Gunther Mueller’s Abo’s NY Pizza locations — in Centennial at 7475 East Arapahoe Road, and in Littleton at 8440 Kipling Parkway — you’ll get a free slice of cheese pizza as…

Kevin Taylor goes ahead with catering; steaks on back burner

Last March, chef/restaurateur Kevin Taylor announced that in September 2009, he would be opening Kevin Taylor Steak in the aloft Hotel at Arista in Broomfield. It would be his seventh restaurant (if you count the one in Central City’s Teller House, which is only open in the summer), one that…

Wake-Up Call: Mile High City going to pot

Yesterday, Westword’s quest for a medical-marijuana critic made the New York Times, after already being featured in the Wall Street Journal, MSN and CNBC. My e-mail box overflowed and my phone rang off the hook. It’s funny how the national media has jumped all over this. “Is this the most…

Peeling off a recipe for Three Onion Soup

Every month, the Colorado Department of Agriculture shares a recipe created by chef Jason Morse of Valley Country Club in Aurora. The October recipe, Three Onion Soup, focuses on one of the state’s major crops and comes just in time for these suddenly cold days. In 2008, Colorado produced 270…

End of the line for Kapre Lounge

For decades, Kapre Lounge, at 2729 Welton Street, served the town’s best fried chicken. After Wilfred O. Thomas closed his place six years ago, Stage 2 moved into the space, ostensibly serving up Kapre’s old recipe — but it just wasn’t the same. And now the joint’s closed for good,…

Walnut Room under way on Broadway

John Burr, owner of the Walnut Room at 3131 Walnut Street, spent two years searching for a location for his next venture. And now the Walnut Room Pizzeria is taking shape in the former home of Freaky’s, a space at 2 Broadway that suffered a fire last year. Originally, Burr…

Wake-Up Call: Steer clear of this DMV office!

I’ve always had good luck at the Division of Motor Vehicles office at 2736 Welton Street. Sure, the tiny parking lot is a nightmare, but the DMV employees are friendly, if not always fast — and you can always take a quick stroll around Five Points if there’s a wait…

Atomic Cowboy Karl Allis wants to be a millionaire

Watch Karl Allis, restaurant manager at Atomic Cowboy and Fat Sully’s and an occasional on-air personality at KKFN (his dream is to have a show called “The Hungus Amongus”), takes a shot at winning a million bucks on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which airs at 9:30 a.m. today…

Wake-Up Call: The joy of text?

President Barack Obama just signed an executive order banning federal workers from text-messaging when they are driving government cars, or driving their own cars on government business, or using their on government phones while driving their own cars on personal business. The ban was announced at a transportation department meeting…

Mazzio exits from Icehouse Tavern

James Mazzio poured his heart and soul — and a lot of elbow grease — into Icehouse Tavern, the comfort food restaurant at 1801 Wynkoop Street that took the place of Via and opened in July, after Mazzio had done much of the renovation work himself. “I redid the deck,…

Fresko is no more

The motives were so noble: Fresko is Mexican casual cuisine, promised the menu, a unique place, an experience, and a taste only known in Mexico. Fresko is honored to be in Colorado. Fresko is genuine, culture, quality, passion, freshness, ambiance, with a staff that loves to share. Experience metropolitan Mexican…

A new tenant for the old Drift Inn

For a year, the owners of 6901 East Colfax Avenue looked for a tenant to fill what had once been the Drift Inn, then Joe’s West of Memphis BBQ, then the Spinnin’ Chicken. Now, finally, a deal’s in the works: The people behind Spicy Thai at 2235 Oneida Street have…

Wake-Up Call: A dog ate my Crocs!

For years, I fought the urge to buy a pair of Crocs, that homegrown phenomenon that has millions of people shuffling around the planet in what look like wading pools. It wasn’t the shoes’ appearance that bothered me, or the stories of people getting their Crocs stuck in escalators, or…

A square deal to save Pinon Canyon

I may have lost my camera, some of my hide and a piece of my heart in Piñon Canyon, but I also brought some of the land home with me — and not just the dirt in my boots and the cactus spines in my skin. I’ve signed up to…

A Wine Time

Balistreri Vineyards won’t be harvesting any grapes from its nearby vineyard on Washington Street this year; winter cane damage killed the crop. But the Balistreri family still has plenty of reason to celebrate today at its seventh annual Harvest Party. “We’re celebrating all the other harvests — we’ll be getting…