When Bella Ristorante opened at 1920 Market Street back in 1995, the Italian eatery was one of the most ambitious locally owned restaurants to venture into the Ballpark Neighborhood. The concept took off — in fact, Bella opened a southeast outpost (now located at 8770 East Arapahoe Road in Englewood)…
Q: I’m getting married in the fall. Who do you think makes the best wedding cakes? A:I haven’t been invited to enough weddings to have tested every wedding-cake bakery in town, but I did get to swoon over two incredible cakes recently. One was from Le Delice (250 Steele Street,…
A cowboy walked into the bar and ordered a Bud. “Sorry, we don’t have Bud,” the bartender said. “Well, what do you have?” the cowboy asked, adjusting his hat and hitching one Wrangler-clad leg up on the stool. The bartender threw out a few microbrew names, none of which seemed…
After 41 years as a Japanese restaurant, Akebono (1255 19th Street) is turning Chinese, I really think so. Fred Aoki, who was born in California, was one of the first people to lease space in Sakura Square when it was built in 1960. Back before WWII, Aoki’s parents sent him…
Q: What’s a locally owned Mexican restaurant not far from the center of town with a nice atmosphere and terrific food? A: One of my favorite Mexican eateries is La Loma (2527 West 26th Avenue, 303-433-8300), a nearly thirty-year-old institution that serves some of the town’s best green chile and…
While waiting for our food to arrive at Tom’s Diner, we gaze out the window and watch two drug deals, one hooker pickup and a drunk depositing the contents of his stomach on the sidewalk. And our food arrives fast. “Oooh, sorry about that,” the server says as she spots…
The Tom-Tom club: Tom’s Diner isn’t the only place in town named after a true Tom cat. For almost three years now, Tom Unterwagner has been cooking up a storm at Tom’s Home Cookin’, a Southern-inspired takeout joint at 3403 Holly Street. But that location is now closed, and on…
Q: Where can you get a decent hot dog in this town, preferably one that isn’t some fancy upscale thing that costs five bucks? A: No yuppie pups at Chicago (8590 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood, 303-233-0500), where two bucks buys a big, fat Vienna beef with the works, including tomatoes,…
Diners who see their plates as half empty rarely venture into a hole-in-the-wall eatery to discover what it might offer. Those of us with a more optimistic bent, however, regard every tiny, off-the-beaten-track spot as a potential pearl. One such lucky find: Moongate Asian Grill, a very small (six tables)…
That hits the Spot: It was googie while it lasted, but the White Spot has finally closed its doors at 800 Broadway — despite the fact that those doors led into a room so California coffee-shop classic that it ranked as a true googie (named after Googie’s, a long-gone roadside…
Q: Do you know of any amateur wine clubs in Denver where people meet on a regular basis to talk about wine? A: Since our state legislature put the kibosh on wine tastings in liquor stores this past session, the most obvious avenue for organized but informal wine tastings has…
The new kid on the block is a blockbuster. The people who brought us Mizuna are far from newbies, however. Owners Frank Bonanno and Doug Fleischmann have been around the Denver dining block a few times, usually in conjunction with restaurants owned by Mel and Janie Master, such as Mel’s…
As an avid mountain biker — is there any other kind? — and beer lover, I was a guaranteed sucker for Bike & Brew America: Rocky Mountain Region (Brewers Publications, $16.95), the first in a series of six books proposed as a joint effort of the Association of Brewers (headquartered…
Q: Is there anywhere in the area where I can walk in off the street and buy a deviled egg? A: I thought I was going to lay an egg on this one, since the only place I could count on for freshly made deviled eggs was the now-defunct East…
At first glance, it would seem that the cooking of Greece and Mexico have nothing in common. The two countries are thousands of miles and an ocean apart, a distance emphasized by different terrains, different soils and different climates, which in turn translate into different agricultural practices, different ingredients, different…
Good to gone: Now that he’s had some time to think about it, Tom Moxcey says that if he had it to do all over again, he’d still open Diane’s Good to Go — but he might do things differently next time around. Moxcey closed two of his five Diane’s…
Q: Friends were recently discussing how much fun it is to go to restaurants that allow you to bring in your own wine and beer. Are there any places like that in Denver? A: Either your buddies are from out of state or they frequent local eateries that are run…
We were headed into the ladies’ room when my six-year-old suddenly backed away from the door with a surprised look on her face. “We can’t go in there,” she said, pulling the door shut. “Why?” I asked. “Isn’t that the bathroom?” She nodded. “But there’s someone taking a bath in…
Steak it to ’em: The calls have been pouring in regarding my dinner with Barry Fey at Gallagher’s (“We Came, We Sauce,” May 31), 1480 Arapahoe Street. “Unfortunately, that awful place is right near my office, so we keep winding up over there,” said Jill Delong, who asked that her…
Q: We’re going to the Aspen Food & Wine Festival the weekend of June 15 and plan to linger for a few days afterward. What’s the don’t-miss restaurant in Aspen for someone who’s never been there? A: If I were you, I’d skip the festival and spend the money on…
The next time you see a grown man walking down the street dressed in a black T-shirt, black tuxedo jacket, black shorts and spotless white sneakers (no socks) carrying a bottle of Heinz 57, you’ll know why. It’s the legendary Barry Fey, former concert promoter, current racehorse owner and always…
What’s in a name: Okay, the pathetic, prejudiced people who wouldn’t know a glace de viande if it bit them on their turned-up noses can stop sending complaints about Tante Louise (4900 East Colfax Avenue) that make the ludicrous charge that the decades-old restaurant is no longer truly French. “I…
