Food & Drink

Cafe Society served up four Guess Where contests last week, with entries ranging from a holiday drink that stirred the finger of an unhappy drinker at the Bar Car (above) to a sad, closed restaurant at 2103 South Broadway, where no one will be eating again. For correctly identifying that…

If readers thought Kyle Garratt was whining about verbal tippers, his column about tea really landed him in hot water. One commenter stirred things up with the following: I guess bringing someone tea is pretty hard. No wait, being trapped in a mine shaft for two months because some soulless…

The lights are on but no one’s home at this sad spot, one of the local restaurants that closed in 2010. But there was more good news than bad on the dining scene this year, with many restaurants opening — and a few still hoping to squeak in before 2011…

Cafe Society writers consumed hundreds of meals in restaurants over the course of 2010, but a few really stood out. Next week, several of those writers will be serving up memories of their favorites (and we encourage you to post yours, too). In the meantime, here are my top five…

Our good deed for the holiday season: A local author — and pal of several Cafe Society scribes — is writing a book about his trials and tribulations in overcoming Celiac’s Disease, and he’s looking for other men in the area willing to talk about their experience with gluten intolerance…

Welcome to In the Weeds. Kyle will be right with you — most likely to complain about something. Usually he is pleasant, but this is his place to blow off some steam. Don’t take it personally; he just needs to vent because he’s been doing this for about thirteen years…

Caffe Boa, the restaurant in Tempe, Arizona, that served rabbit at a very special Easter dinner, is at it again, with a multi-course, not-so-tasteful menu for Christmas that’s a reindeer roundup. Chef Payton Curry claims that his holiday meal features reindeer not from the North Pole, but from our own…

Mike Adams Racines 650 Sherman Street 303-595-0418 www.racinesrestaurant.com This is part two of Lori Midson’s chat session with Mike Adams, executive chef of Racines. Part one of that Chef and Tell interview ran yesterday. Favorite restaurant in America: The Trout House, on the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon. It specializes…

We all know how the holiday gift-giving hierarchy works: Your best-effort gifts are given to people you like (or people whose asses you pucker up to the rest of the year); you give cost-effective, neutral gifts to those you pretend to like (bring on the Hickory Farms boxes of fossilized…

Nicolo’s Chicago-Style Pizza, 1205 East 13th Avenue, has completed its expansion into the space formerly inhabited by Cricket on the Hill. The joint now has more seats, slick new televisions, an arcade game and a pool table. The renovation came with a new menu: The pizza is about the only…

Just got off the horn with Michael Long, exec chef and partner at Aria, Long’s New American restaurant at 250 Josephine Street, and the news is good: After months of getting the dining room, kitchen and bar in tip-top shape, Aria will open tomorrow at 5 p.m. “My stress level…

Since it opened back in June, Comfort Cafe, 3945 Tennyson Street, has fed the community as a non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurant, offering comfort-food meals to anyone who walks through the door for however much of a donation that person can muster up. And on Saturday, it will be providing Christmas dinner…

The next generation in mobile food has arrived: In California this week, the Roving Mammoth hit the slopes at Mammoth Mountain, using a snowcat-like base to bring burritos and beverages to skiers all over the hill…

Vine Street Pub, 1700 Vine Street, is known for its brews (pouring Mountain Sun-made ales, stouts and lagers) and its hippie-friendly atmosphere. The walls are decorated with an array of mostly psychedelic band posters, and there are no televisons — although the pub does provide board games and books if…

Every year, Westword publishes a little guide called the “Best Of Denver,” wherein our writers rank the city’s best stuff, including food. Last year, the Highlands Mommies — the formidable northwest Denver parents group profiled in our cover story, “The Mommies” — did their own “Best Of” for the Highlands…

Ramon Campos, owner of Empanada Express Grill in Golden, hopes to have his second restaurant open by tomorrow, Christmas Eve at the latest. The new spot is taking over the former home of a Mexican joint at 4301 West 44th Avenue, just off Tennyson Street. And even if the doors…

This is part one of Lori Midson’s interview with Mike Adams, the executive chef of Racines. Part two of that interview will run in this space tomorrow. Mike Adams Racines 650 Sherman Street 303-595-0418 www.racinesrestaurant.com “Are you seriously going to write that?” asks Mike Adams, stretching over his chair to…