Wine at Rialto, pig at Parisi

Celebrate the wines of South America at Rialto Café, 934 16th Street, from 5 to 7 p.m. today, March 18, when exotic wines will be paired with chef-created specials. The event, $25, is part of Rialto’s Wine Club; for more details, go to www.rialtocafe.com. And over at Parisi, 4401 Tennyson…

Go for the green today — the green chile at La Fiesta

You can eat green and get green at La Fiesta these days. The Mexican lunch joint — which took over an old Safeway in Curtis Park more than forty years ago and has been serving great green chile and other Colorado-style Mexican dishes ever since — is giving diners $5…

A quick sketch of Sketch

I stopped by Sketch last night, the new wine bar in Jesse Morreale’s project at the old First Avenue Hotel at First and Broadway. Technically, it doesn’t officially debut until March 20 (and from then on, will be open from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. seven days a week), but…

Wake-Up Call: No Swetsville

Even in a state full of stunning scenery, many of Colorado’s most remarkable sights are man-made. A castle made out of stuff in southern Colorado. A tower filled with stuff out on the plains in Genoa. And north in Tinmath, just off I-25 by Fort Collins, the Swetsville Zoo, a…

Go green at 8 a.m. today

If you can’t find fun today, you’re not looking. A good place to start — and end — your St. Patrick’s Day celebration is Katie Mullen’s, the new – and giant – Irish pub at 1550 Court Place, which will be bringing in Irish entertainment all day after opening at…

Castle Rock gets its Goat

The Celtic Crossing at 363 Village Square in Castle Rock closed a couple of months ago, leaving that town without an Irish bar. The Barking Goat to the rescue! The pub just opened in the Celtic Crossing space last Thursday, and although it’s not technically an Irish bar, it will…

Bring out your best (by March 19)

Just got a copy of a restaurateur’s plea to his regulars: OK, last chance to rock a new vote: voting ends on Monday. This one is way important if we could win https://www.westword.com/polls/bestof09/. On last page is best new restaurant, type in HIS RESTAURANT HERE but if you do vote,…

Aw, shucks: Jax kicks off oyster week in Denver

Slurp this: On Sunday, March 15, Jax Fish House in Boulder hosted its eleventh annual oyster-eating contest. Today the fun moves to Denver, where Jax Fish House at 1539 17th Street is kicking off its own oyster week, with a $35 prix fixe menu by chef Sheila Lucero, eleven oysters…

Chefs go up front today for Operation Frontline

Chefs Up Front, a benefit for Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline, brings twenty top chefs to the Colorado Convention Center at 5:30 p.m. today, March 15. The participating restaurant/chef combos include Andrew Lubatty of Avenue Grill, Pete List of Beatrice & Woodsley, Sean Huggard of Black Pearl and Encore, Dylan…

Hi*Rise opens today

I stopped by Hi*Rise yesterday, hoping to grab a sandwich, but as the sign in the window promised, March 14 was the opening day — “Seriously.”Owner Doug Anderson said his place will definitely open at 6 a.m. this morning. And Hi*Rise will be much more than a bakery — although…

Brats for a good cause, and other Saturday events

Today, March14, Sunflower Farmers Market at 1980 East County Line Road in Highlands Ranch is hosting March Madness, firing up the grill and selling brats to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation. For info, call 303-243-5060. The Kitchen Table Cooking School at Landmark in Greenwood Village will put out an…

Wake-Up Call: Fly-by celebs headed to prison

Joe Nacchio isn’t the only one going to jail. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger denied Nacchio’s request to remain out on bail pending a petition of his conviction to the Supreme Court. The former Qwest CEO, who ran a Denver-based company but kept his home in New Jersey, has…

Rock and soul tonight — with chile and wine

You can party like a rock star at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 191 Inverness Drive West in Englewood, at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Friday, March 13, at a special four-course meal featuring wines made by the legends of rock and roll, including Mick Fleetwood. Price for the one-time dinner…

240 Union sets the table for Table Mountain Animal Center

240 Union (which now bills itself as “a creative grill”) is hosting its second annual “percentage day” to benefit Table Mountain Animal Center. Until 10 p.m. tonight, 240 owner Michael Coughlin will donate 25 percent of all food proceeds to the center, which helps more than 10,000 lost and homeless…

Wake-Up Call: Justice for Sister Dorothy?

Dorothy Stang died many thousands of miles from Denver, murdered in the Amazon rain forest, but her story resonates here in Colorado. Her brother, David, lives in Palmer Lake, and has spent years trying to find justice for his sister, a 73-year-old nun who had spent decades working with the…

Sweet talk from Keegan Gerhard and other tasty events

There’s quite a smorgasbord of food-related fun tonight. “Taste Test: Random Encounters in the History & Science of Food” returns to the Lab at Belmar, 404 South Upham in Lakewood, at 6 p.m. today, March 12, when the focus will be on…sugar. Keegan Gerhard, pastry chef, Food Network host,owner of…

The White Stuff

My personal history of Colorado skiing stretches back almost fifty years, to the days when my parents would leave their children at home with a babysitter in suburban Chicago, in order to hop first on the Denver Zephyr, then the Yampa Valley Mail, changing their clothes in a railcar filled…

Wine Cellar coming to Highland

There’s more action at the edge of Highland, the area around Lola/Vita that developers are dying to dub LoHi. The Red Door, the hip store at 2556 15th Street (right at the corner where 15th becomes 29th Avenue), is now closed, its windows covered with brown paper. And written on…

Wake-Up Call: Whine and cheese

It is a shame that Steve Horner no longer lives in this state, because the anti-ladies’-night crusader would have found a warm welcome — a very warm welcome — had he shown up for last night’s “ladies-only” wine-tasting at Venue. The event was designed to aid the free flow of…