2052 Stout Street has been a bar for as long as matters. It was the Punch Bowl for damn near forever—an old boxing bar famous for the landscapes painted on all the booth-backs by wandering artist Noel Adams, who traded art for drinks and sandwiches, and for the number of…
Steve Crecelius Panzano, at your service Word is out on the third annual Denver Restaurant Week, February 24-March 7. The culinary celebration has boomed from 83 restaurants the first year to 125 last year to 150 this year. All are offering multi-course dinners for $52.80 for two ($26.40 for one),…
In my year-end roundup, I shared my shock that Windows Cafe — the all-veggie, pan-Asian eatery that had opened in the embattled 12200 East Cornell space in Aurora that had already swallowed the likes of Maruti Narayan’s, Denver Woodlands and Boudreaux’s Bayou Buffet — was still open. As it turns…
There’s almost nothing in the world I love as much as a plate of pancakes. My wife, a good book, that first cigarette in the morning, and driving fast on desert highways with no cops in sight — they all edge out pancakes, but not by much. Pancakes are definitely…
Even by the admittedly lax rulebook I use in this job, Toast (see review, page 41) was not in line for a review. It’s been open all of six weeks, and standard operating procedure for most critics calls for a restaurant to be open at least two months, usually three,…
Generally speaking, members of the Institute of Drinking Studies do not espouse shallow thinking and judgment based on superficial qualities. But like all guys, we give the benefit of the doubt to women with large bosoms and/or risqué wardrobes. We also will side with our home team no matter who…
Before it opened, Snooze seemed like one of the greatest ideas in the world — a hip, eclectic downtown breakfast bar with fancy pancakes, a jumped-up menu of comfort classics and incredible late-night hours on the weekends. A place where we could get bacon and eggs at 3 a.m. and…
Toast is the greatest breakfast bar in the world. Am I being a bit hyperbolic here? Yes. I know I shouldn’t say it’s the best in the world because I haven’t yet been everywhere in the world. I shouldn’t even say it’s the best in Colorado because it’s conceivable that…
I’d been to John Holly’s Asian Bistro before. Several times. Since it opened three years ago, I’ve eaten in the slick, smooth dining room, waited in the entry for takeout orders of Yushan pork, steamed vegetables and sushi. But I never thought about reviewing the place until I spoke with…
When I parked outside John Holly’s Asian Bistro (see review), I counted thirteen restaurants within my line of sight on Park Meadows Drive. Remarkably, most of these were local, not national chains: Brewery Bar III, Anthony’s Pizza, a sushi bar, a Japanese restaurant. Even more remarkable, a P.F. Chang’s China…
Mama, please let your babies grow up to be cowboys. I’ve always had a thing for cowboys, so I should have known we were in trouble when we sat down in the Cowboy Bar — a temporary saloon that sets up in the Hall of Education basement during every Stock…
Sitting in a strip mall in southeast Denver, Palace is surrounded by RV dealerships, bars that start serving at 7 a.m., used-car lots and dry cleaners. In this neighborhood, a good diner would not be shocking, nor would a couple of burrito places, maybe a decent joint for barbecue or…
Late word from Greg Goldfogel over at Ristorante Amore in Cherry Creek, who took possession of the former Sambuca address at 1320 15th Street (shown above) after New Year’s Eve. Goldfogel had already started a massive turn-around of the space (redoing the bar, tearing up floors, re-covering or replacing most…
There are some restaurants where the world does not intrude — rooms where time does not pass, weather does not change, current events go unnoted. Often inadvertently, these restaurants have successfully stopped time — a trick that mad scientists and evil super-geniuses have been attempting since forever with dark matter…
Okay, so the big man may not have granted all the Christmas wishes I outlined in this space two weeks ago (although I’ve heard there’s some interest in the pros’ market idea), but I don’t mind — because someone gave me the massive, two-volume set of cookbooks from El Bulli…
In our continuing effort to make the world more amenable to the foibles of drinkers, the Institute of Drinking Studies is preparing a proposal for the National Institute of Health that’s certain to get us a large discretionary grant, since health care today is all about prevention: prevention of heart…
I love some restaurants (like Pho Saigon, reviewed on page 39) because of the way time stops just inside the front door. I love other restaurants for the way they predict the future. And then there are places like Pho 79, which are all about the moment, this meal. Pho…
There are some restaurants where the world does not intrude — rooms where time does not pass, weather does not change, current events go unnoted. Often inadvertently, these restaurants have successfully stopped time — a trick that mad scientists and evil super-geniuses have been attempting since forever with dark matter…
This has been a helluva year for restaurants, full of adventures and tragedies, good times and bad. Although the rest of the economy continued to bump along, the restaurant economy picked up in a big way — and for reasons that no one has yet been able to adequately explain…
“You’re invited December 31 to the rawest fucking New Year’s Eve party! Leave the expensive hype and boring shit to the amateurs…bounce your ass all over the dance floor.” I’m willing to bet that this is not how Dick Clark envisions a “rockin’ New Year’s Eve.” In fact, the only…
By now you’ve dug out from under the mounds of wrapping paper and leftovers generated over the last few days and are almost ready to return to work so that you can start paying the minimum payments on your credit cards. Sure, Christmas is wonderful, especially for kids, but the…
At the Palace Arms, I could easily spend two, maybe three thousand dollars on dinner without feeling cheated. A thousand dollars on the appetizer course alone. Another twelve hundred on a bottle of vintage bubbly wine. A couple hundred on soup, an entree and dessert. If I really wanted to…
