The word chautauqua is Iroquois for either “two moccasins tied together” or “jumping fish,” depending on which historical linguist you believe — and its first use by non-Native Americans was to name a lake in western New York. Later the word referred to an institute for Sunday-school teachers, one that…
The waiting game: Restaurant service continues to be a hot topic, especially since folks with fewer dining dollars want to spend their money somewhere, anywhere, that doesn’t treat them like dog poop on the bottom of a shoe. Although the service was just fine at Chautauqua Dining Hall (see review…
I got my first taste of French kisses and Jolly Rancher candy at about the same time. In seventh grade, the adventurous girls counted on Jolly Ranchers for both fuel and breath-freshening. I smell a Jolly Rancher today, and I’m back stealing kisses in the bleachers with Leslie Henry, the…
Q: Where can I find real flour and/or corn tortillas ‹ meaning ones made with lard and not vegetable shortening? A: Nowhere that I could find in town. As Fred Paz, manager of wholesaler Tortillas Mexico (which has a retail outlet at 840 West 11th Avenue, 303-623-7875), points out, “Once…
When I was a growing up in a very white-bread section of Pittsburgh, our choices for an ethnic dining experience consisted of a pizzeria, a Chinese restaurant that nobody went to because, well, who knew what they were doing in that kitchen, and Isley’s, which poured a red sauce that…
The restaurant business is like the Mafia: Every time you try to get out, they pull you back in. For Sean Kelly, “they” comprise an unholy alliance of Denver diners eager for his food, along with his own insatiable desire to cook contemporary Mediterranean cuisine for people who appreciate the…
Q: Service at Denver restaurants just keeps getting lousier. Is there a place we can go where we won’t feel like cattle bothering the servers with our presence? A: I’ve never had better service than at Tante Louise (4900 East Colfax Avenue, 303-355-4488), although my experiences at Mizuna (225 East…
Kevin Taylor has a challenge on his hands: filling one of the most gorgeous, but difficult, restaurant spaces in town. When Taylor first took on the elegant old 17th Street bank lobby back in 1997, he turned it into Brasserie Z, an upscale French bistro that served Mediterranean-inspired New American…
The reign of Spain: Kevin Taylor isn’t the only restaurateur who’s cooking with a Spanish accent. In what could be the fastest turnaround since, well, since Taylor turned Zenith into Nicois (see review above), Sevilla closed its doors at the Icehouse (1801 Wynkoop Street) just last Friday and will reopen…
The American Dairy Council is all wrong: If your fridge isn’t holding bottles of Karl’s Farm Dairy milk, friend, you haven’t got milk. Not the flavor-packed, country-wholesome heaven-in-a-glass stuff from Karl’s, the tastiest milk to grace an upper lip. “It’s the best milk I’ve ever had,” says Bernice Magill, a…
Q: What’s a good place with selections for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians? A: Most of our better restaurants offer at least one vegetarian option, but that one can get old. Radex (100 East Ninth Avenue, 303-861-7999) usually has a good choice of non-meat pastas, risotto and vegetable-based dishes, along with…
Thank heavens we’ve almost shed the Year of the Snake. As in most cultures, Chinese lore rarely regards snakes as a good sign. In China, the snake represents cunning and evil, which pretty much sums up our 2001 (or the Chinese year 4698). On February 12, the year 4699 begins,…
More open-and-shut cases: For every restaurant that closes, another one is born. Belly-up is Fins Fish House (550 Broadway), which floundered for a while before its death notice was finally posted on the front door last month, declaring the place closed for non-payment of taxes. This fall, Fins owner Anthony…
Q: Where should we go to eat for Chinese New Year? A: Chinese restaurants usually go all out for the New Year, often offering a prix fixe meal or special dishes, so it’s a good idea to make your reservations now for this year’s February 12 celebration. Besides Akebono, my…
What do a salesman from Texas, John Elway and a pot of New Mexican green chile have in common? They were all instrumental in convincing Jack Martinez to turn a little chile shop on Federal Boulevard into his own New Mexican eatery, Jack-n-Grill. “I was supplementing my income by selling…
When I moved to Denver nine years ago, I didn’t realize that there were regional variations to green chile, much less recognize all of their nuances. The sophisticated interplay of heat and flavor found in the New Mexican chile served at Jack-n-Grill, for example, would have been lost on me…
After two years of dreaming, I can finally say it: I am an Egg man. My newly achieved status hinges not on some acid-inspired, Lennon-ish trip, but on a real-world thrill. I now own a Big Green Egg, the Pamela Anderson of smokers, the Martin guitar of grills. Never heard…
Q: I’m trying to find out about the new restaurant in Boulder owned by the chef who started out at Citrus. A: That chef is Seamus Feeley, who now owns Mateo (1837 Pearl Street, Boulder, 303-443-7766) with partners Matthew Jansen and Brett Zimmerman. At Mateo, Feeley offers the French provincial…
Meating a need: After a recent trip to New York, Mayor Wellington Webb came down with a bad case of the corned-beef blues — the inevitable result of eating big, fat sandwiches filled with the good stuff in NYC and then returning to the vast deli wasteland that is Denver…
Q: Where can I find Scandinavian food? A: Head for the hills, to the Tivoli Deer in Kittredge (26300 Hilltop Drive, also known as Highway 74), a charming, romantic place to eat the foods of Denmark, Norway and Sweden while sitting under the heads of formerly very live deer. The…
Eat a bloody steak or couple with a cowboy: Those are the two things that suddenly seem eminently appealing every January when the National Western Stock Show rides into town. I’m otherwise involved in a relationship, though, so a bloody steak it was, and I started looking around for where…
Thai cooking celebrates freshness, flavors, textures and colors, and nowhere is this more evident than in the street food of Thailand. Eating on the street is so popular in that country — for natives and tourists alike — that entire guidebooks are devoted to the possibilities (Thai Hawker Food, It…
