The mission of the United States Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. The agency oversees the cleanup of asbestos in buildings and chemicals in our soil or drinking water, for example. It provides grants to government agencies and companies that want to clean up landfills,…
No. 96 Baum cake at Glaze by Sasa 1160 Madison Street 720-387-7890 When the original Glaze bakery closed earlier this year, it was like losing a friend we’d just met. The intricate and time-consuming method — not to mention the special oven imported from Japan — caught our attention at…
Welcome back, Americans. We ardently hope you return to us full of leftover barbecue and slightly sunburned. There are a few good shows this week, starting with legendary jazz drummer Tootie Heath with his new backing band (two-thirds of the Bad Plus). They’ll play Dazzle a couple nights this week…
As a follow-up to her review of Gozo this week, Gretchen Kurtz explained how the Mediterranean-inflected restaurant almost opened in California’s Sonoma County instead of Denver. Restaurateur Frank Jolley IV must have discerned a level of maturity in the collective palate of Front Range diners, since the eatery landed smack…
No. 97 The Greggers tongue sandwich at Olive & Finch Eatery, Bakery & Market 1552 East 17th Avenue 303-832-8663 Beef tongue: the name says it all. You’re eating a part of the cow that does the eating. If not cooked properly, it can taste like it’s from a cow that…
Janus FilmsOn this week’s Voice Film Club episode, film critics Alan Scherstuhl, Amy Nicholson and Stephanie Zacharek race through the latest (and the most terrible) Transformers movie (2:01), Earth to Echo (13:14), and Tammy (16:30). They then discuss Life Itself (21:54), a film about the life of the late Roger…
The Fourth of July might mean fireworks, hot dogs and apple pie to some folks, around the parts music will be a big part of that. If you’re down with a 90-minute drive, there’s the South Park Music Festival, which kicks off today and runs through Saturday while Umphrey’s McGee…
In 2013, more than 250 restaurants opened in metro Denver, everything from ambitious crowd-pleasers like Old Major and Best of Denver winner Lower48 Kitchen to a smattering of out-of-state doughnut houses. While 2014 might not be quite on pace to top last year’s opening numbers, there’s been no shortage of…
Suffice it to say that America has had its share of unethical politicians. From small-town mayors caught with their hands in the till all the way up to presidents caught with their hands elsewhere, this country seems to breed shameless politicos. Just in time for Independence Day, fifty writers and…
Every year, we celebrate the impossibly dense and diverse Denver music scene with the Westword Music Showcase and Westword Music Awards. We brought those to a close last week with our awards ceremony; you can find a list of all the nominees and winners at backbeatblog.com. We’re starting to think…
Westword’s Anthony Martin visited two urban farms and Denver Urban Homesteading, a farmer’s market in the heart of Santa Fe Boulevard’s warehouse district, and talked to farmers and retailers attempting to make a living from reclaimed land, small spaces and a Denver client base looking for alternatives to industrially produced…
It was a busy weekend for taco lovers in Denver. Hard on the heels of Thursday’s Top Taco contest came the Denver Taco Festival, which had more tequila and tacos then even a hardcore eater could handle — along with tiny dogs and wrestling. Photographer Danielle Lirette was there to…
No. 98 Cochinita Pibil at Work & Class 2500 Larimer Street 303-292-0700 It’s possible that every menu item at Work & Class, the raucous but welcoming homage to American slow cooking — with a healthy dose of Mexican flavors — could make our 100 Favorite Dishes list. The kitchen’s spoon…
More than two dozen new eateries opened in June, everything from Argyll Whiskey Beer, the ambitious reincarnation of Robert Thompson’s original Argyll in Cherry Creek, to the modest Kolache Cabin to an East Colfax Avenue outlet of the popular Sassafras. But while Sassafras is thriving in Jefferson Park, Corner House…
Our Mutual Friend knows that street food goes well with beer, so it hosted a Food Truck Fiesta in its parking lot on Final Friday in RiNo. On June 27, multiple local food trucks were on hand to serve cupcakes, burgers and more at this block-party style affair. Photographer Ken…
There are some excellent shows in town this week as we lead up to Fourth of July weekend, including Fitz & the Tantrums two-night stand at the Ogden Theatre, Sarah McLachlan at Red Rocks, as well as Zeds Dead and Dada Life co-headlining at Red Rocks…
You’ll soon be able to get Denver’s Best Veggie Burger in the RiNo/Ballpark neighborhood — because Park Burger, the homegrown chain that got its start when Jean-Philippe Failyau opened his first spot in Platt Park five years ago, is on the move again. See also: Park Burger’s veggie burger remains…
The little brick storefront tucked under a looming tan awning at Iliff and Havana isn’t exactly an eye catcher. Perhaps that’s why restaurants — including Sumo Sushi and Seoul Dook Baegi — haven’t had much success gaining a foothold. Newcomer (at least to Denver) Tofu House is the latest to…
Here at Schmuck of the Week headquarters, we’ve heard plenty of excuses for bad behavior. But few of them are as weird, weak and creepy as the one allegedly offered by Neil Cleary, a staffer at Denver International Airport, for surfing for child pornography while on the job: “Getting old…
Number 99: Gurage kitfo at Megenagna Ethiopian Restaurant 307 Ironton Street, Aurora 720-532-0266 Kitfo — finely minced beef seasoned with the Ethiopan herbed clarified butter called niter kibbeh and the tongue-searing spice blend called mitmita — originated in the foodways of the Gurage people of southern Ethiopia. The deceptively simple…
The mighty King Rat turns twenty this weekend and will celebrate with a pair of unusual shows at Three Kings. If you go to nothing else this weekend, we advise you go there. But we understand if you go to Red Rocks instead for Widespread Panic’s annual weekend getaway in…
On this week’s episode of the Voice Film Club podcast, Voice film critics Alan Scherstuhl and Stephanie Zacharek, along with L.A. Weekly film critic Amy Nicholson, discuss rom-com Begin Again (2:26), starring the always-interesting Mark Ruffalo. They also talk about the biting rom-com parody They Came Together (15:47), which might…
