Tonight: Celebrate Beaujolais at Mile High Station, Le Central

From 6 to 10 p.m. tonight, the French-American Chamber of Commerce and Alliance Francaise de Denver will celebrate this year’s release of Beaujolais and other French wines, with a culinary challenge showcasing French-inspired cuisine by top local chefs. The fun’s at Mile High Station, 2027 West Lower Colfax Avenue, and…

Tonight: Family-style Italian at Tony’s Market

We all know you can buy food at Tony’s Market, but at 6 p.m. tonight, you’ll be eating inside the store at 950 Broadway, which is hosting an Italian family dinner. The meal, $30, features crostine di salmone, melanzana alla parmigiana, rosbif in Barolo, insalata d’indivia and panna cotta con…

Barbecue: It’s what’s for breakfast at Cabin Creek

Colorado has recently gone through something of a barbecue boom. Sure, there are places like M&D’s that have been around since forever, but over the past five years, Colorado in general (and Denver in particular) has seen a surge in joints that exist for the greater worship of the smoker…

Update: Ondo’s sets a new opening date

Just got off the blower with Curt Steinbecker (that’s him in the funny hat up there, standing beside his wife, Deicy) of Ondo’s, the Spanish tapas restaurant that I’ve been waiting forever for at 250 Steele Street (in the former home of French 250). Okay, so maybe it hasn’t quite…

Waffle-pocalypse!!! An open letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President. As you are no doubt aware, the Kellogg Company recently announced that it is experiencing a catastrophic waffle shortfall owing to a sort of “perfect storm” of circumstances: scheduled maintenance and upgrades to their army of waffle-making robots, flood damage in the vast waffle fields of the…

Guess where I’m eating?

I love flapjacks as much as the next person (maybe even more), but the smoked salmon, red onion and caper pizza that you see in the above snap is seriously, deliriously delicious. And it’s just one of several breakfast pizzas on the new brunch menu at a Denver restaurant that’s…

Falling for autumn dishes in Denver

As someone who hails from the Midwest and has never lived in a place that didn’t have seasons, I take seasonal food very seriously. Last year a friend visiting from southern California stared at me in bewilderment as I savored the first batch of strawberries from the farmers’ market. While…

Chef and Tell with Brian Laird of Barolo Grill

“It was a step off the cliff for sure, but at the same time, I just knew that I was a good fit for the job,” says Brian Laird of Barolo Grill, the Northern Italian restaurant whose kitchen Laird has cooked in for the past twelve years — the last…

What’s cooking: Turkey time with Pete

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. Last month, Pete…

Tonight: Wine and white truffles at Cru

Although most crops have been harvested for the year, there are still truffles in the forests of Oregon. Celebrate this wintertime abundance at a $69, five-course dinner at Cru Wine Bar, 8433 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree, that will pair Barolo wines with Oregon white truffles and a speech…

Guess where I’m eating?

Sometimes what we like is a little comfort food, even when the sun’s shining. This homey macaroni and cheese dish might seem small, but it packs a satisfying wallop of creamy goodness set off by a crunchy topping. The side salad is just a bonus. Can you guess where I’m…

Getting personal at Paradise Asian Cafe

It’s what you like that matters. And I like science fiction movies and books about sailing ships and celebrity memoirs and amateur pornography. I like music made in the years that music really mattered to me — those years I spent in high school and in kitchens and had very…

Anthony Bourdain photo-cutline winner revealed!

Twenty-eight hours and sixty-five entries later, we know one thing for sure: You people out there in Hotcakesland certainly do love your dick jokes. And your Colfax jokes. And your vegan jokes. And your vegan-on-Colfax dick jokes… Still, we had to go with just one caption for our last set…

Serious Eats chimes in on Denver’s “unique food trends”

Denver got a shout-out last week on the food blog www.seriouseats.com, which listed what they believe to be four unique food trends in our fair city. Our fast casual chains, microbreweries, green chile, and Beau Jo’s all get mentions. But while we appreciate that they resisted mentioning Rocky Mountain oysters,…

100 Favorite Dishes: Pho from Pho 95

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. No. 96 Pho – any pho — from Pho 95…

Den Deli and Seafood aims to open the day after Thanksgiving

Rotisserie ducks and chickens, traditional Asian noodles bowls, a fresh fish counter, pastries, ready-made sushi and rolls, sandwiches, prepared foods, bento boxes and fresh-blended juices come to Platt Park the day after Thanksgiving. That’s when Den Deli and Seafood Market is slated to open at 1501 South Pearl Street, directly…

Ten ways you can improve your server’s life (and your service)

The New York Times blog “You’re the Boss,” ruffled the apron strings of restaurant servers nationwide when it ran Bruce Buschel’s two-part list of things restaurant staffers should never do. As someone who worked the FOH for 14 years, I have two words for Buschel: Bitch, please. While Buschel made…