Toke of the town: Mary Jane’s Pizza

Could be a fight to the finish to see which storefront pizza joint opens first: Denver Pizza Company — whose owner, Mark Huebner, can focus on finishing his Golden Triangle spot now that he’s been booted off The Bachelorette — or Mary Jane’s Pizza. Mary Jane’s is located at 2013…

A free donut for dad

Show your appreciation for your dad on Father’s Day — without spending a cent. Take him to a LaMar’s Donuts outlet on Sunday, June 21, when any father will be given a free glazed or cake donut…

Huebner off the Bachelorette, back on pizza

We’ve spent a lot more time looking at the home of the new Denver Pizza Company — a few blocks away from the Westword office at 309 West 11th Avenue — than we have watching The Bachelorette, even though one of the swains vying for Jillian Harris was from Denver:…

Wake-Up Call: Same old song

Governor Bill Ritter took a break from his budget-busting business last week to pop by the Paramount Theater, where he presented Loretta Lynn with a plaque commemorating her induction into the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame. The Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame? Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it,…

Wake-Up Call: Juneteenth, round two

For decades, Denver could boast the largest Juneteenth festival in the country, an annual commemoration of the day that slaves in Texas finally learned they’d been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation — celebrated in Five Points, the heart of the city’s African-American community. But over the years, Juneteenth in Denver…

The name game continues at Hickory Prime

Gallagher’s held down the corner of 15th and Arapahoe for a decade. But one day last fall, the steakhouse pulled the franchise, and building owner Bruce Rahmani replaced Gallagher’s with the locally operated (by J.G. “Lupe” Gonzales) 5280 Steak House, which quickly changed its name to Hickory Prime Steak House…

A fish story at Oceanaire’s Celebrate Alaska dinner

At last night’s “Celebrate Alaska” seafood dinner at Oceanaire, winner of the Best Seafood Restaurant in the Best of Denver 2009, we were stumped by the statement that Alaska ranks second-highest of all fifty states for production of seafood. What state could possibly rank higher? We googled as we swilled…

Wake-Up Call: Senator for a day

Back East for a conference, Mayor John Hickenlooper popped up to Canada, where his cousin, George Hickenlooper, is filming Casino Jack, a movie based on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff that stars Kevin Spacey. John Hickenlooper was the inevitable star of another George Hickenlooper project, Hick Town, a sweet and savvy…

A Snoball’s chance

Get a taste of history when the Original Snoball Shack parks outside the Black American West Museum at 3091 California Street from11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The New Orleans-based franchise will be serving up a hundred flavors from its Snoball tent, and all for the…

Meet and greet at Civic Center Eats

The recent rains have greened up — and cleaned up — Civic Center Park, which was looking good for today’s first installment of Civic Center Eats, the weekly market and cafe that’s moved to mid-day Tuesday this year. The lineup of booths should increase through the summer, but already includes…

3 Sons finally back in business

Here’s one for the books: 3 Sons is back in business, and even beat the June 20 opening date promised last week on its web site. In fact, it’s serving as of today in its new location at 14805 West 64th Avenue in Arvada…

A sixth Five Guys coming to Colorado Boulevard?

Barack Obama loves Five Guys, the 400-outlet burger chain that got its start in D.C.; Jason Sheehan wasn’t such a big fan when he did a taste test of Aurora’s Five Guys and the Counter down in Park Meadows. Sheehan was such a not-big fan that he returned to Five…

Wake-Up Call: King for a day

Both Governor Bill Ritter and Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien were out of town yesterday (he to the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Utah, she to an education confab in North Carolina). And who did that leave in charge? By the Colorado Constitution, the State Senate President. But Brandon Shaffer, who…

Pasta Jay’s adds an outpost in Lone Tree

Pasta Jay’s has opened a new restaurant at 9226 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree. That makes three for the Boulder-based business, which didn’t have much luck when it made a brief foray into LoDo, at 1435 Market Street (now the Pour House Pub), more than a decade ago, but…

The White Way Grill lands in Lakewood

The White Way Grill, a classic diner created by Valentine Diners, a Wichita, Kansas-based company that produced “portable steel sandwich shops,” is back in business in Lakewood. Sort of. The White Way was an Aristocrat model, purchased for $3,300 back in 1948 (Valentine made diners between 1938 and the late…

Wake-Up Call: We’re not in Kansas anymore

Today’s the last chance to vote for the next selection in the city’s sixth One Book, One Denver reading program — and no, despite the wacky weather lately, not to mention yesterday’s funnel clouds over downtown Denver, the Wizard of Oz is not one of the possibilities. The 27 eligible…

Not-So-New Urbanism: Prospect

The Congress for the New Urbanism is holding its annual conference in Denver June 10-14, complete with bus tours of our most well-known new-urbanist enclaves. But how do you judge walkable, neighborhood-based developments? Is it by the diversity (or lack thereof) of their residents, the number of parks nearby, their…

Rest in peace, Stella Cordova

Stella Cordova celebrated her hundredth birthday on April 20. But she’s the one who gave Denver the gift: Chubby’s, the old drive-in at 1231 West 38th Avenue that she turned it into a neighborhood icon, as well as a purveyor of the town’s hottest, meanest green chile.Stella kept an eye…

Simms Steakhouse update

Details are finally coming in on the Simms Steakhouse redo. According to the announcement, the restaurant “is now splashed with deep hues of red, turquoise, green and brown and adorned with unique lighting, creating a sleek new ambience with a modern, yet welcoming feel.” (Judging from the photo above, the…

Simms Steakhouse opens today

Two decades ago, Simms Landing was still a dining destination, because the view overlooking Denver was so spectacular you could almost ignore how mediocre the food was becoming. (That view even rated a few pre-web archive Best of Denver awards.) And in the intervening years, the place was still packed…

Wake-Up Call: Just imagine that

The film stories keep unrolling in Denver, where the Denver Film Society is trying to rebuild after a morale-deadening miss at installing a new executive director, and the just re-established state film office starts the process of luring moviemakers to Colorado. Still, as Imagine That, the Eddie Murphy filmed here…

Stripping down strip clubs

Yes, mom-and-pop places are suffering in today’s economy — but so are strip clubs! According to a story by former Denver Post writer Kris Hudson in today’s Wall Street Journal, the country’s two publicly traded strip-club chains have been hit hard by the recession, and are now “catering to a…