In this week’s Chef and Tell interview, Lori Midson talks with Wayne Conwell, owner/chef of Sushi Sasa, which opened in the summer of 2005 just off Platte Street, a pioneer in what would soon grow into one of the town’s biggest restaurant neighborhoods. But while Sushi Sasa specializes in raw…
What goes better with wine and chocolate than women? It’s the perfect trilogy. And from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. tonight, Dove House, 1055 South Public Road in Lafayette, will offer Wine, Women and Chocolate, featuring chocolate, wine and cheese samplings. Tickets are $30; attendees are encouraged to donate gently used…
Tonight the Denver Central Library, 10 West 14th Avenue Parkway, will host a Mixology Showdown: Whiskey and the Wild West. Seven restaurants are going to duel to be named the Best in the West; each restaurant will bring a signature whiskey cocktail and happy-hour appetizer. The fun runs from 5:30…
I haven’t totally fallen for Lou’s Food Bar, which I review this week, and my initial lust for Green Russell has ebbed, at least temporarily. But from my initial meal at Bones, which Frank Bonanno opened in December 2008, it was love at first bite, and my fondness for the…
Just got off the horn with Nelson Perkins, the executive chef/owner of Colt & Gray, who wanted to let us know that the kitchen is turning out something extra special tonight: Duck balls! And just in case you were wondering, these aren’t your every day duck balls dropped from the…
Last weekend’s back-to-back Cinco de Mayo and Kentucky Derby party shenanigans left us feeling more than a little ready to lay off the sauce for a minute. Yet by noon on Sunday, there we were, staring down the wine list at brunch, feeling that familiar urge. That’s when it hit…
Last week, we wrote that Wu-Tang Clan member and solo rapper Ghostface Killah made a sort-of surprising move by okaying the use of his name on a beer made by Boulder-based Twisted Pine Brewing. Ghost just asked that Twisted Pine sent him a few cases of the incredibly spicy beer,…
Marilyn Megenity has done such a fantastic job turning the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, into a creative community outlet — offering dancing, live music, poetry slams, solstice celebrations, eco-friendly festivals and much more — that it’s easy to forget that the Merc is also, well, a cafe. With coffee…
Bryan Dayton is gearing up to rewrite the vodka martini-heavy drink list at Madison Street, and we can’t wait to see what the bartender has in store. In the meantime, there’s at least one cocktail already on the roster that we hope he considers keeping (and if he is going…
American Craft Beer Week is a beer drinker’s paradise, a week that celebrates small (and a few not-so-small) independent brewers around the country. There are a huge number of events going on this year in the Denver/Boulder area — not to mention the rest of the state — so not…
Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. Rhubarb season is…
Wayne Conwell Sushi Sasa 2401 Fifteenth Street 303-433-7272 www.sushisasadenver.com This is part one of my interview with Wayne Conwell, executive chef/owner of Sushi Sasa. Part two of this interview will run tomorrow on the Cafe Society blog. While his toddling friends were chowing down on burgers and pizza, Wayne Conwell…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with almost 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can…
When Laura Shunk recently visited Green Russell, our Best Contemporary Cocktail Bar in the Best of Denver 2011, she discovered that the subterreanean speakeasy not only has a new menu, but someone new in the kitchen, too: legendary local chef Sean Kelly. Turns out that just-as-legendary restaurateur Frank Bonanno, who’d…
Denver’s food-truck scene was already revving up before the The Great Food Truck Race landed in town this past weekend, and the contrast between the out-of-town characters, including the grilled-cheese whizzes behind Roxy’s, and our homegrown crews had Denverites hungering for more. As Jason said: I’ve always found that one…
Aria will host Dueling Cuisine: Science vs. Art, as chefs Michael Long and Ian Kleinman face off and prepare a four-course feast. Each course will feature on ingredient with two preparations by each chef. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and costs $89; for more info, call 303-377-4012. For information…
How was everything?” The server was looking at me expectantly, eyes flicking to the half-eaten plate of spaghetti, thick noodles lying listless in a lumpy tomato sauce that was beginning to separate, orange grease coagulating on the surface. I looked up. “Fine,” I said, giving the restaurant code word for…
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited for a place to open than I was for Green Russell. I’m a fan of the cocktail movement, even with all of its occasionally snob-tastic and overpriced nuances, and a sexy cocktail den, with pre-Prohibition libations and aloof, attractive bartenders spilling facts…
Frank Bonanno has built a formidable empire in Denver over the last decade, expanding out from his original spot, Mizuna, into Luca d’Italia, Osteria Marco and Bones. Last year, the restaurateur gave the city two new concepts: Green Russell, a speakeasy in Larimer Square, and Lou’s Food Bar, a roadhouse…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with almost 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can…
Along with all the usual suspects offering Tuesday night taco deals in this town, you can add a less conventional spot: Row 14 just announced Taco Tuesdays, when it will add a board of tortilla-wrapped meats and salsas to its usual list of charcuterie, brandade fritters and duck crepes…
Breckenridge Brewing is hitting the airwaves with a TV campaign spoofing the big boys of the industry and the gimmicks that they use to sell beer. The four Truth in Beervertising ads feature Breckenridge head brewer Bob Harrington delivering one-liners in a deadpan voice that skewers the cold-indicator systems used…
