Guess where I’m eating?

Last night a very good friend of mine, who happens to be pregnant, was looking at all the snaps in my camera, most of which are food shots, and commenting about how she could never eat this, or that, or that other thing, because oh my god, that’s so gross!…

Chef and Tell: John Broening

“We’ll have head cheese at Olivéa on Friday — I expect to see you there,” summoned the e-mail. The note, short and to the point, was from John Broening, executive chef at Duo and Olivéa — the former a restaurant in Highland with a field-to-plate, seasonal approach to food, the…

A bucket of fun at Oceanaire Friday

The Denver Post has a story today about how to have a clambake in your back yard. Even easier: head to Oceanaire, in downtown’s back yard at 1400 Arapahoe Street, on Friday, August 14, when the restaurant will host “A Taste of Nantucket — in a Bucket!” The traditional New…

Going green at Organixx

“Sustainable, eco-friendly, reusable, recyclable, fair trade, natural, energy efficient, organic, local, green, low-impact, fresh. These are words that inspire us at Organixx. From the building materials that surround you in our dining room, to our food product choices, culinary procedures and sanitation practices, we strive to have those words define…

The mysteries of Sheehan’s desk

That picture above? That’s my desk as it existed this morning, shortly after I was told that I was going to have to move that glorious collection of crap, box it all up and put it in storage while the Westword offices are remodeled. I love my desk. Seven years…

It’s a city of chaos at Kaos

Jon Edwards, co-owner of Gaia Bistro, isn’t particularly happy with the City and County of Denver.  Edwards, along with his business partner, Patrick Mangold-White, had hoped to open Kaos, a little pizza operation in the small wedge of space at 1439 South Pearl Street that formerly held Nosh, by the…

Menu mystery: Who made the Cesar salad?

When I Googled “Cesar salad,” Google asked me if I intended to search for the correct spelling of the item in question, which, of course, is a Caesar salad. I’m guessing that the restaurant whose menu is in the snap above didn’t use Google (or an old-fashioned dictionary) when creating…

Emilio’s loses the Super Chef sign

Someone has been stealing letters from the marquee at Bastien’s — but Emilio’s, the Mexican joint at 338 East Colfax Avenue, lost an entire sign. Yes, the classic Super Chef sign (right) that belonged to the original diner on this corner, and was lovingly restored when Emilio’s took the space…

The mystery of the missing letters on Bastien’s marquee

The e-mail came yesterday from an East Colfax restaurateur insisting that we had to run out, like now, to snap a picture of the marquee in front of Bastien’s, the antiquated steakhouse at 3501 East Colfax. “You have got to put a picture up on Cafe Society,” demanded the e-mailer…

Golfin’ for good (with good eats)

Sometimes hitting a ball with a stick is just hitting a ball with a stick; sometimes it is more. On Sunday, August 23, the Lake Valley Golf Club (located at 4400 Lake Valley Drive in Longmont) is hosting the Danan Schufman Open, a benefit for The Danan Schufman Fund. Schufman…

Civic Center Eats: Forte Farms

Native peaches belong on a short list of the best things about Colorado. The Forte Farms stand has other things as well — plums and tomatoes — but the peaches are the real draw. In the five or ten minutes I was standing there at last Tuesday’s Civic Center Eats,…

3014 opens in the former Senger’s

Senger’s on the Fax closed very quietly — and quickly — last month, with a sign on the door at 3014 East Colfax Avenue noting that it had been seized for nonpayment of taxes. But now the space is open again as 3014, under the ownership of Nick O’Sullivan, one…

231 Milwaukee back on the market…again

The space at 231 Milwaukee Street that most recently held Bar Luxe and Euro is empty again — except for all the ghosts. Over the last thirty years, this address has been home to everything from the Kiva (great green chile recipe) to the Bay Wolf to Vartan’s Jazz to…

Tonight: The Denver Five dish it out at D Bar Desserts

The Denver Five, a platoon of five local chefs who cooked together earlier this year at the James Beard House in New York City, and then decided that they’d like to cook with one another — yet again — in each other’s hometown restaurant kitchens, gathered at Lola two weeks…

Ask the Critic: Where to hit happy hour?

This week’s Ask the Critic question came in via the Cafe Society twitter feed from LizKeg: “Trying to decide where to go for happy hour.  Any good suggestions for a downtown spot?”It ain’t exactly downtown, but I am a big fan of the happy hour at the Fainting Goat because,…

Bra[n]don’s Pub set to reopen

All the necessary information is contained in that one picture above.  Yes, Brandon’s is reopening (finally) at 955 Lincoln Street after a delay of several weeks.  Yes, it is “for real.”  Yes, it will be doing so on Friday, August 14 at 3 p.m. And yes, it appears that the…

Ten years of Colorado Proud

In 1999, the Colorado Department of Agriculture introduced the Colorado Proud Program, an initiative focused on furthering local products. It’s rare that a government program is way ahead of the curve (especially when it applies to food), but that’s exactly what this program was. Colorado Proud had three goals when…

Tonight: Frasca chef recreates Top Chef Masters menu

Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson, the exec chef at Frasca Food & Wine, the restaurant at 1738 Pearl Street that’s the best in Boulder (and possibly Colorado), was rather unmercifully booted from Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters back in mid-July after he failed to seduce the judges with his deep-fried, speck-wrapped pineapple…

Biker Jim’s, Rioja and Table 6 all on the national radar

While y’all already know that Westword’s Cafe Society blog is far and away the best place to digest all your local food and restaurant news, it just so happens that three of our favorite food places — Rioja, Table 6 and Biker Jim’s — got some well-deserved love and ink…