Brain drain: Teenager drinks her own intercranial fluid. Yum!

Teenager Mellissa Peacock has had a medical issue on her mind for years: migraines. She has a condition that causes her body to make too much spinal fluid; since the age of nine, she’s suffered from periodic episodes so painful that she sometimes couldn’t get out of bed. Finally, specialists…

Owners of Aurora’s Seoul BBQ to open Q Table BBQ in Northglenn

Veteran restaurant owners James and Lily Kwon opened their first Colorado place, Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, three years ago. That spot is a Korean barbecue joint that serves up a traditional feast, complete with complimentary banchan side dishes, grilled meats and hot pots, and sikhye, a…

Beer and weather: How to drink your way through seasonal confusion

The seasons in Colorado run together like oil and antifreeze on the floor at Jiffy Lube. At the supermarket, Halloween candy debuts in August, while the temperatures are still in the high 90s. Watermelons mix with peaches, while raspberries, pumpkins and roasted chiles mingle awkwardly but respectfully, like football players…

Guess where I’m drinking?

The name of the above cocktail is the same as a former longstanding Italian restaurant in Denver that served its last meal two years ago. Made with whiskey, honey and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and garnished with a basil leaf and rope of red pepper, it’s not an Italian cocktail, but…

Video: Sik Gaek’s live octopus hot pot

Between meals at Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, I went to New York City, and some friends and I made the trek out to Queens to experience Sik Gaek, a Korean barbecue joint that’s gained nationwide notoriety for its gimmickry — including booming Korean pop, yelling servers,…

Dick’s Hickory Dock is back in business

After years on the back burner, Dick’s Hickory Dock — aka “Mountain Barbeque and Brew” — is back in business in Kittredge. The lineup includes live music on the weekends and smokin’ barbecue Thursday through Sunday, which you slather to your own specifications with a variety of homemade sauces…

Seoul BBQ is an unexpected take on traditional Korean barbecue

When I first walked into Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street, an Aurora spot owned by veteran Korean restaurateurs James and Lily Kwon, I was expecting to dine in a restaurant that, like so many traditional spots from that country, put as much emphasis on the novelty of the culture’s…

My Pizza Peel now Mile High Pizza Pie

We puzzled over the My Pizza Peel name when the pizza joint opened in March 2009 at 1645 Stout Street. And although we were soon informed that the “pizza peel” was the long-handled shovel used to pull a pie out of the oven, that didn’t sell us on the name…

Coohill’s will open next August in LoDo

Four years ago, in 2006, Tom Coohill, the former Western regional chef and director of culinary standards for Levy Restaurants at the Pepsi Center, left the armpit that some people call Pittsburgh and moved to Denver. “My wife and I had a vision of moving out west — we’re both…

Food porn from ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

Last night, after a series of soft openings, Lon Symensma and his crew from ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, which opens today at 1555 Blake Street, hosted a final party that flowed with wine, beer and champagne and strutted dishes from Symensma’s Asian-inspired menu. Everything that came out of Symensma’s state…

Ask the bartender: All about bourbon

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…

Four delicious French wines to pair with pork

Pork is having a moment. Meals featuring bacon in every form imaginable — including chocolate-dipped — have become de rigueur. Restaurants of every stripe are showcasing menus littered with sausages, charcuterie, salumi, pork belly and suckling pig. And perhaps one day, if you are very, very lucky (and clearly, not…

Guess where I’m eating…green chile?

Smother love: It’s easy being green in Denver in September, when the smell of roasting chiles overrides the odor of exhaust along Federal Boulevard, and the green chile at your favorite Mexican joint carries the heat of the new harvest. For the next several weeks, Cafe Society will feature some…

Guess where I’m drinking?

For years, this establishment’s ads have featured photos of actual diners — and I’ve always been amazed that I’ve never recognized a single person. But when I visited recently, I was the one with the camera — taking this shot of the restaurant’s homemade sangria. Can you guess where I’m…

Volcano erupts in Englewood

Volcano erupted on the scene yesterday at 10440 East Arapahoe Road in Englewood, in the former home of Sushi Club and Carlos Miguel’s. This new spot features both a sushi bar and hibachi, as well as a full bar…

Tonight: Root Down hosts a raw vegan dinner

Think a raw vegan diet sounds like the most boring food choice on the planet? Root Down chef Daniel Asher hopes to change your mind with his five-course raw vegan dinner. He dishes up a different feast every Tuesday, focusing on local produce. All raw, of course. The dinner is…