Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society…May ushered in a slew of new restaurant openings and saw out a couple more.Jason Sheehan asked for advice on where to wine and dine herbivore guests while still being able to indulge his meat-eating needs.The staff at Jonesy’s EatBar and the…

Great Divide celebrates its fifteenth anniversary

When Brian Dunn organized his business plan back in 1993, he was worried about being late to the game. A half dozen other microbreweries had already started here, selling small batches of craft brew to the hops- and malt-loving denizens of downtown Denver. But it turned out Dunn was right…

Free beer at Rialto Cafe today for all you tweeters

If you follow Rialto Cafe on Twitter (@rialtocafe), then you already know that the restaurant at 934 16th Street is handing out free brews today to its Twitter groupies. If you’re just learning about this deal from reading our blog, here are the details: Between now and 4 p.m., belly…

Crack a Big Green Egg at Ace Hardware Alameda Station

Spring is in full swing and summer’s almost here, which means that eggs are hatching all over Denver – Big Green Eggs. And Ace Hardware Alameda Station will play the part of a giant nest on Saturday, June 6, by hosting a Big Green Egg cook-off. Made by an Atlanta-based…

Join the party animals at the Infinite Monkey Theorem

On Sunday, you can get drunk on some monkey at “The Secret Tutelage of the Primate Nation.”No, this isn’t some weird segment from Bizarre Foods: It’s a wine-and-food event (two of them, really) at the Infinite Monkey Theorem Urban Winery, the facility that Ben Parsons opened last summer in the…

Get a free lunch for a flock from Chipotle

Denver radio station Hot 107.1 FM is currently holding a “Chipotle Office Invasion” contest, whereby if you’re willing to part with all your personal information — phone, address, date of birth, etc. — by registering on the station’s website, then you (and up to 24 of your colleagues-in-cubicles) might get…

The Squeaky Bean adds a non-squeaky Greek rotisserie

As Jason Sheehan reported yesterday, sometime this summer Yanni Stavropolous will move Yanni’s, his Greek taverna, from the strip mall at 2223 South Monaco where it’s been for eighteen years to the Landmark development in Greenwood Village. But not all of the equipment is making the move. The Squeaky Bean,…

Free donuts!

I’m sure you’ve had the date marked all year: Today is National Donut Day, an observance started by the Chicago Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the “lassies” of World War I – women volunteers who served donuts to soldiers behind the front lines in France. Today, head over to…

It’s a big weekend for local food and wine events

It’s gearing up to be a big food and wine weekend, kids. On Saturday, Ace Hardware, Alameda Station, 417 South Broadway, is holding its first-ever “Big Green Egg” grilling competition, a smoking and grilling face-off between students from the Art Institute of Colorado and other participating hopefuls, all of whom…

A Bonacquisti toast to First Friday

As part of the ever-expanding effort to pump a little “spirit” into the venues that host Denver’s First Friday events in several arts districts around town, the Artwork Network showroom, 878 Santa Fe Drive, will sell glasses of wine and bottles from the Bonacquisti Wine Company, beginning with the First…

New home for Yanni’s

Spent the afternoon chasing down yet another restaurant world rumor, and this one? It turns out to be true. Yanni’s, the opa-and-ouzo Greek taverna, is finally abandoning its home of eighteen years — a strip mall at 2223 South Monaco — and moving out for the new Landmark development. According…

Burrito Giant’s giant burritos served with a side of gym equipment

I first heard about the giant burritos at Burrito Giant, 4501 West 38th Avenue, from poster “Penguin 18,” who commented on a recent Westword blog about the breakfast burrito wars between Jack-n-Grill, 2524 Federal Boulevard and Santiagos XII, which just took up residence directly across the street from Jack’s joint…

Q & A with Robert Kenner, director of Food Inc.

On June 23, Denver will host an advance screening of Food Inc., a documentary that asks a seemingly simple question: Where does our food come from? It turns out that the answer is incredibly complex, possibly depressing and definitely surprising. So was my conversation with director Robert Kenner:…

Candy Girls: Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M’s

What’s summer without a blockbuster movie sequel and tie-in candy from Mars?  We spotted these weird little guys at the 7-Eleven on Third and Broadway and snatched them up.  Odd combination of flavors?  Check.  Made-up word in the description? Check.  Dubious thematic connection to movie? Check.  Let’s roll…

Golden City Brewery’s beer garden is easy and breezy

Relying on a sardonic sign, inscribed with the words “2nd Largest Brewery in Golden” and an arrow directing potential beer imbibers to its off-the-beaten path location in a residential Golden neighborhood, Golden City Brewery is everything that Molson Coors isn’t: a ramshackle roadhouse that hands out free pretzels (hey, nothing’s…

Barolo Grill makes Nation’s Restaurant News hall of fame roster

New York-based food industry publication Nation’s Restaurant News just announced its 2009 Fine Dining Hall of Fame winners, and Barolo Grill, Blair Taylor’s Italian restaurant at 3030 East Sixth Avenue, was one of ten temples of gastronomy inducted into the elite winner’s circle. But while Taylor was “hugely, hugely, truly…

Malbecs and tenderloin tonight at Morton’s, LoDo

Tonight, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Morton’s The Steakhouse, 1710 Wynkoop Street, is recruiting grape gurus for its “Greeting from Argentina: Malbec Tastings” event featuring five malbec wines, plus hors d’oeuvres, including cheeses, sliced tenderloin with chimichurri sauce, broiled sea scallops with apricot chutney and miniature hot chocolate cakes. It’s…

XO is finally a go at the Jet Hotel

There is no such thing as bad barbecue. Even bad cherry pie is better than no cherry pie at all. And I’ve never met a cheeseburger I didn’t like. I’ve met plenty I didn’t love, but when you’re in a cheeseburger kind of mood, even a Mickey D’s double is…

Happy Noodle House is trying — sometimes too hard

The nouvelle noodle bar is a fad that’s been building for years among the trend-humping foodies — a business model built on the restaurant industry’s love of all things Asian, on the passionate lust for getting ten or twenty dollars for two bucks’ worth of noodles, on the same cook’s…

Blueberry Homo Martini at Mo’s

I could be a homosexual man trapped in a heterosexual woman’s body. The fact is, I love gay boys. I’m the quintessential “fruit fly,” formerly and less attractively known as a “fag hag.” And as such, I love a great gay bar. I hate to stereotype, but not only does…

More Is Less at Centro Latin Kitchen

It was raining when Laura and I ducked into Centro. We’d already eaten twice at Happy Noodle House over the course of the long weekend and had gotten our fill of pickles and noodles, so we were looking for something a little different, a little more south-of-the-border. But mostly, we…

Cheba Hut finds itself in a sticky situation

Got the munchies? Don’t worry, Cheba Hut plans to sell plenty of Kind, Kush and Chronic on the Sixteenth Street Mall starting this summer, along with Acapulco Gold, Panama Red and the White Widow. “The White Widow, man,” says store owner Matt Clark-Johnson. “Chicken, bacon and ranch. It’s our most…