Ask The Critic: What’s on your bookshelf?

I tore through Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, Eating Animals, and then sat back and watched the weak-willed and easily influenced suddenly declare their vegetarian sovereignty with a blood-streaked smile on my face and a bloody rare cheeseburger in my hand. Novella Carpenter’s Farm City was one of the best food…

Guess where I’m eating?

Talk about a warming trend! We’re heading into the holiday season, a time of red and green chile cheeseburgers. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Every Friday, anyone who gave the first correct answer to any of the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts will be entered in…

Behind the bar with Erin Clark at Jax

Erin Clark used to work in the advertising industry; today you’ll find him behind the bar at Jax, at 1539 17th Street in Lodo. And although he hasn’t won any bartending awards, “my family really, really likes me,” he says. “I think.” Now serving: Erin Clark…

Canned pumpkin becomes an endangered species this holiday season

Is this the apocalypse or what? Last week, Eggo devastated Jason Sheehan, school children and bachelors everywhere by reporting that a massive waffle shortage was taking place. And now Libby’s and Nestle have put the kibosh on their canned pumpkin production for the rest of the year. That’s right. No…

100 Favorite Dishes: Burrata from Osteria Marco

As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com. Number 91: Burrata from Osteria Marco…

Restaurant Kevin Taylor snags Denver’s only Forbes Four Star rating

Kevin Taylor’s eponymous restaurant has attained Denver’s first Forbes (formerly Mobil) Travel Guide Four Star rating, making it into the first round of 2010 winners named since the Mobil brand moved to Forbes. The Forbes Travel website describes the insane criteria process for rating hotels, spas and restaurants, which sounds…

Jay Spickelmier out at Jing

Back in September, during the Mile High Chef Competition at Dish-the Westword menu affair, Jay Spickelmier went knife-to-knife against Argyll GastroPub chef Sergio Romero in a spirited battle to see who would saunter away with the Pillsbury Doughboy-esque statue of distinction. At the time, Spickelmier, who emerged victorious, was the…

Sweet talk with Hi Rise Bakery’s Sammy Marquez

Boy, are our cheeks pink. Turns out that our guy in Paramus can only lay claim to the bagel and some pastry recipes baked at Hi Rise, 2162 Larimer Street. Head baker Sammy Marquez is the on-site, flesh-and-blood man behind many of the sweets, including several that we featured on…

Tonight: Soup’s on at the Kitchen Table

Learn how to prepare warm winter meals at “The Secrets of Soups: Legumes,” a class that will offer up recipes for white bean and cheddar soup, Appaloosa bean medley soup, and charred minestrone. The lesson runs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Kitchen Table, 5375 Landmark Place in…

Mark & Isabella bites the dust

The phone kicks callers over to a cheery-voiced hostess talking about the hours of operation and the happy-hour specials, but take a cruise by the website and the news is very plain, typed out in black against a plain background. “mark & isabella has closed its doors” That’s all there…

Culinary calendar for the week ahead

As always, our online Food & Drink listings contain dozens of culinary events across Colorado, including where to eat Thanksgiving dinner if you don’t feel like cooking but still want to feast. A taste of what’s ahead:…

Update: Ondo’s opens today

That picture there? That’s what Ondo’s looked like a few weeks ago. The space at 250 Steele Street was still coming together, and even as recently as last week, there was no set menu because no one on staff had actually been able to get into the kitchen to cook…

Perky Cups owner: Just call me Chief Bikini Inspector

Fresh off the breasts heels of last Friday’s news that Perky Cups has opened in Aurora, at 12101 East Iliff Avenue, comes Perky Cups owner and self-described Chief Bikini Inspector, Jason Bernal, mouthing off for the cameras, while his bikini-clad buttercups awkwardly reassure Barbara Bush types that all is well…

Say adios to Tosh’s Cantina

Bummer. Tosh’s Cantina, which opened in March in Marina Square, at 8101 East Belleview Avenue, has gone dark and empty, which, to be frank, isn’t even slightly surprising considering the off-any-beaten-path location which — let’s face it — utterly and completely sucked. Still, it’s sad to see it shuttered, especially…

Guess where I’m drinking?

My love of Manhattans is no secret — but the happy hour at this downtown establishment is not nearly as well-known as it should be. Four-ounce well Manhattans, vodka/gin martinis, cosmos and lemondrops for just $6 each — and a great happy hour menu as well. So on a gloomy…

Dan Aykroyd rocks Lincoln’s Road House

On Friday night, I went to Lincoln’s Road House to see Dear Marsha play its last gig (the frontwomen are moving away, and the band will be no more). The club was packed, and a rumor quickly ran through the crowd that Dan Aykroyd, who was in town for a…

Dirty sauce: NYC restaurant owner goes postal on staff, media

​If you haven’t heard about NYC restaurant owner Vadim Ponorovsky and his epic acts of douchebaggery, get ready for a story that plays out like a white trash reality soap opera. Podorovsky, who owns a restaurant called Paradou, told his waitstaff to start collecting e-mail addresses from the guests in…

Ten London fast food joints that should come to Denver

In case you’ve been living in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, and haven’t heard the news, Chipotle is opening its first London store in April of next year. This got me thinking…which, if any, Brit-Based fast food joints might be cool to have in our humble burg? I haven’t been to…

Cafe Colorado now serving in Cherry Creek

Although Earls has yet to make its debut, just up the block at 287 Columbine Street, Cafe Colorado is now open for business, serving coffee, sandwiches and other snacks for the shopping-fatigued. And while its patio may not be as “vibrant” as the one promised at Earls, there are still…