Noodling around at Bones

I’d already been out for a working lunch, out for drinks, then out for more drinks. Stopping in at the office, I got word that the James Beard Foundation had announced its semifinalists for the restaurant and chef awards, and that Bonanno was on the list. The announcement had just…

Live blogging St. Patrick’s Day from the Fainting Goat: Happy Birthday to me!

This from a guest bar blogger: Hey all, we’re having a great time here in Denver!!! We’re discussing social networking and demographics, the future of journalism, and politics. Woo!!! We have found out that the 18-25 age demographic isn’t as brain-dead as previous thought. They may actually have some positive impact on this planet, but it’s too early to tell. Thoughts?

Get cracking! LoDo’s Delectable Egg is now open weekend nights

The Delectable Egg at 1642 Market Street is now capturing the night owl as well as the early bird. The latter have been flocking to this restaurant since 1982, going for hearty breakfasts and wholesome lunches before the Egg closed mid-afternoon.This location still closes at 2 p.m. — but for…

Chuck E. Cheese’s wants you to snap

  I love Chuck E. Cheese’s, but not for the reasons you might think.Several years ago, when my now nine-year-old son was still enamored of cheap carnival games, shitty pizza raked with rubber cheese and wasting quarters in the gumball machines, he was a certified Chuck E. Cheese fan.It all…

Go for the green today — the green chile at La Fiesta

You can eat green and get green at La Fiesta these days. The Mexican lunch joint — which took over an old Safeway in Curtis Park more than forty years ago and has been serving great green chile and other Colorado-style Mexican dishes ever since — is giving diners $5…

A quick sketch of Sketch

I stopped by Sketch last night, the new wine bar in Jesse Morreale’s project at the old First Avenue Hotel at First and Broadway. Technically, it doesn’t officially debut until March 20 (and from then on, will be open from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. seven days a week), but…

Centro dinner pairs Chilean wine

The Big Red F restaurant group has been making some big noise in the past few weeks, what with Hosea Rosenberg of Jax winning Top Chef and the opening of Happy Noodle House. Now Centro Latin Kitchen, whose sous, Melissa Harrison, was also a Top Chef contestant, is hosting a…

Go green at 8 a.m. today

If you can’t find fun today, you’re not looking. A good place to start — and end — your St. Patrick’s Day celebration is Katie Mullen’s, the new – and giant – Irish pub at 1550 Court Place, which will be bringing in Irish entertainment all day after opening at…

The List: Crazy concepts…but they work

Shazz was a weird one to review. While I was both flummoxed and annoyed by the goofy, jazzy, half-Zen philosophy espoused by the restaurant’s website, some servers and owner Benny Kaplan, I absolutely loved the food. Which got me thinking… what other restaurants have what should have been a crippling…

Colt & Gray, a new gastropub, slated for May

Where the hell is it?I asked myself that question a half dozen times while aimlessly driving down Platte Street searching for Colt & Gray, a new gastropub opening in late May at 1553 Platte Street in the Platte River Valley. It wasn’t that I couldn’t find the address: The numbers…

Castle Rock gets its Goat

The Celtic Crossing at 363 Village Square in Castle Rock closed a couple of months ago, leaving that town without an Irish bar. The Barking Goat to the rescue! The pub just opened in the Celtic Crossing space last Thursday, and although it’s not technically an Irish bar, it will…

Something else to learn from the Great Depression

I am continually astounded by the depth of food, the many levels of meaning it can have to anyone — no, everyone. Food is about culture, memories, competition, entertainment and so much more. And it tells stories that words never could: If a picture says 1,000 words, then a dish…

Bring out your best (by March 19)

Just got a copy of a restaurateur’s plea to his regulars: OK, last chance to rock a new vote: voting ends on Monday. This one is way important if we could win https://www.westword.com/polls/bestof09/. On last page is best new restaurant, type in HIS RESTAURANT HERE but if you do vote,…

Milking It: Cookie Crisp

Cookie Crisp General Mills Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: Whole grain corn, corn meal, corn starch and corn syrup — in other words, a helluva lotta corn — mashed together and pressed into light brown, slightly puffy discs with what looks like a light sprinkling of powdered…

Kevin Taylor goes for seven

Word came down from on high late last week that Kevin Taylor and his Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group will be adding a seventh name to their reconstituted roster of super-high-tone food-service operations.  Let’s run the numbers, shall we? First, there’s Taylor’s namesake, the flagship Restaurant Kevin Taylor at 1106 14th…

Aw, shucks: Jax kicks off oyster week in Denver

Slurp this: On Sunday, March 15, Jax Fish House in Boulder hosted its eleventh annual oyster-eating contest. Today the fun moves to Denver, where Jax Fish House at 1539 17th Street is kicking off its own oyster week, with a $35 prix fixe menu by chef Sheila Lucero, eleven oysters…

Don’t be confused by two markedly different Marco’s

On your Marco’s, get set, bake!  Last month, a Marco’s Pizza opened in Broomfield. Only one problem: We already have a Marco’s. Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria, at 2129 Larimer Street, which Jason Sheehan gushed over last October. I called the new Marco’s and asked manager Amie Peterson if she knew about the…

Chefs go up front today for Operation Frontline

Chefs Up Front, a benefit for Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline, brings twenty top chefs to the Colorado Convention Center at 5:30 p.m. today, March 15. The participating restaurant/chef combos include Andrew Lubatty of Avenue Grill, Pete List of Beatrice & Woodsley, Sean Huggard of Black Pearl and Encore, Dylan…

Aaron Whitcomb goes south to Yia Yia’s Euro Cafe

“Seriously, you left Strings for this?”We were sitting at the bar at Yia Yia’s Euro Cafe (8310 East Belleview Avenue in Greenwood Village), Aaron Whitcomb’s newest place of employment, when the words just kinda tumbled from my mouth — in part, I suspect, because I had just eaten lunch at…

Hi*Rise opens today

I stopped by Hi*Rise yesterday, hoping to grab a sandwich, but as the sign in the window promised, March 14 was the opening day — “Seriously.”Owner Doug Anderson said his place will definitely open at 6 a.m. this morning. And Hi*Rise will be much more than a bakery — although…

Brats for a good cause, and other Saturday events

Today, March14, Sunflower Farmers Market at 1980 East County Line Road in Highlands Ranch is hosting March Madness, firing up the grill and selling brats to benefit the Make a Wish Foundation. For info, call 303-243-5060. The Kitchen Table Cooking School at Landmark in Greenwood Village will put out an…

Go Organic!…and get coupons

Go Organic!, a comprehensive organic food education group, wants you to eat better. It also wants to help you learn why you should, and what “eating better” means. So in conjunction with King Soopers, Go Organic is offering a coupon book that can be picked up at stores, or by…