New menu for Chad Clevenger at Mel’s

I had a rough time of it when last I found myself under chef Chad Clevenger’s care at Mel’s Restaurant in Greenwood Village. But my experience was nothing compared to how Clevenger and his crew must’ve felt once my review of the restaurant came out. Still, I have to give…

Guess where I’m eating? Before and after

Jonesy’s EatBar has some great fries. The mac-and-cheese fries in particular, served with a nice sprinkling of bacon on top. At the moment, they are probably my favorite fries in the city. The picture above? It shows my second favorite fries in the city — smothered with green chile, topped…

Chili Verde liquor license just one step away

Chili Verde, the Mexican restaurant that opened this summer at 3700 Tejon Street, has a lot of things going for it. It has a lovely space, friendly service, and a menu that’s like a dream for anyone looking for a real taste of Southern Mexican and Pueblan cuisine. One thing…

Dive time on Larimer Street

You could once find the city’s best dive bars along Larimer Street, but gentrification has claimed most of those, leaving only the Star Bar at 2137 Larimer and now El Charrito, which has made a comeback at 2100 Larimer. This longtime Larimer haunt is only open after 7 p.m., and…

Chef and Tell with Sean Kelly of LoHi SteakBar

“Nothing that goes on my menus gets there by accident,” insists Sean Kelly, executive chef of LoHi SteakBar, the packed-to-the-rafters restaurant and watering hole that opened in June in Highland. “I have a tendency to make sure that everything is researched, and I try to be as true as possible…

It’s almost beer time at LoHi SteakBar

As if you needed another reason to go to LoHi Steakbar. The Highland eatery at 3200 Tejon Street has introduced Beer O’Clock during its weekday lunch hours. Beginning at 11 a.m., PBRs and Coors Lights are a just a dollar a piece; the price goes up a quarter every hour…

What’s the worst way to get a bartender’s attention?

Osteria Marco bartender Michael McGill hates being whistled at when someone wants his attention. As he told Westword’s Nancy Levine in this week’s Behind the Bar column, “I’m not a dog.” Not every bartender is as cool as McGill. Still, no matter how he or she acts, that barkeep holds…

What’s cooking: Pete Marczyk moves the earth with mushrooms

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. This is the…

Guess where I’m eating?

So far as I know, there’s exactly one restaurant in the state whose entire menu is devoted to food from Sri Lanka. It’s a cuisine that’s heavily influenced by Portuguese and Dutch colonies, and somewhat similar to Indian culinary traditions — except that where Indians cook with ghee and yogurt,…

Tonight: Indulge in five courses at Argyll GastroPub

Head over to Robert Thompson’s Argyll GastroPub, 2700 East Third Avenue, at 7 p.m. tonight for a five-course wine dinner featuring an array of truly decadent dishes paired with the perfect wines. Menu items include Goose Point oysters, a peach-and-goat-cheese tart, smoked trout, autumn salad, monkfish, lamb chops and a…

It gets worse: A week in Italian food

Of all the entrees, only one was even vaguely edible: a piece of swordfish, nicely cooked, napped with a chive crème fraiche – and mounted on a ratatouille that was like mush and bled oil like it’d been knifed on its way out of the kitchen. But still, somewhere in…

Visiting dietitians keep special requests to a minimum while in Denver

The annual American Dietetic Association Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo is drawing to a close in Denver. One of the world’s largest organizations of food and nutrition professionals, the ADA focuses on the latest food-service trends and nutrition science information. Naturally, I was curious to find out if convention…

Pho Bowlevard set to bowl over Littleton

Okay, so the name is downright silly, and the curious location — a sketchy strip mall with more vacancies than occupancies — doesn’t appear to be prime real estate for a new restaurant, but the sign is up at 5950 South Platte Boulevard for Pho Bowlevard Vietnamese Grill.According to owners…

What the crappy treats you give out on Halloween say about you

At first, handing out lame treats on Halloween seems like a victimless crime. Kids are already getting bags of candy as it is, so what’s the harm with one fewer awesome treat. Part of the harm is that they’re not the victim, really–you are. You, your house, your cars, your…

Solar-powered deliciousness coming to a Chipotle near you

Chipotle is going verde — er, green. The Denver-based burrito chain plans to install solar panels in approximately 75 of its restaurants over the next year. Solar sites include Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and, of course, Denver. Chipotle says the restaurants were selected based on their electricity consumption, solar- power…

Lenny’s on Lincoln offers curbside service

The staffers at Lenny’s Sub Shop at 726 Lincoln Street watch a lot of traffic roll by their windows every day, especially at rush hour, when that traffic rolls very slowly. So what did these enterprising sandwich makers do? They set up a little curbside stand where a Lenny’s employee…

Tonight: Duo’s last farm dinner of the season

Tonight marks the last in a series of farm dinners at Duo, 2413 West 32nd Avenue, the Highland restaurant where John Broening was cooking before unleashing the kitchen at Olivea, Duo’s sister restaurant at 719 East 17th Avenue. But tonight, Broening will be back in his former galley, now run…

Behind the Bar with Michael McGill of Osteria Marco

Michael McGill grew up in Kansas City and moved to Boulder for college, where he poured his first drinks. He has been behind a bar since 1998, and today can be found managing the bar at Osteria Marco in Larimer Square. Now serving: Michael McGill. How did you get into…

$10k for grabs through Jamba Juice sweepstakes

Want a chance to win $10,000? Just watch for the Bananaman. Jamba Juice has started its Feel Good Moment Campaign and Sweepstakes. From now through the end of December, you’ll be able to win the dough through a variety of ways: telling the smoothie giant your ideal feel good moment,…

Bitter Bar’s James Lee places fourth

Hosea Rosenberg may have won last season’s Top Chef, but his luck didn’t hold for Big Red F colleague James Lee, the Boulder mixologist who placed fourth at this weekend’s Iron Bar Chef contest at the annual Santé Restaurant Symposium in New York. Which means Lee didn’t get the $1,000…