Chef Christopher Cina Joins Punch Bowl Social Team

Robert Thompson’s Punch Bowl Social team continues to add some of Denver’s top culinary talent. Earlier this summer, chef Matt Selby signed on as the regional executive chef for the growing brand, and now Christopher Cina has come aboard as national culinary director. Cina will oversee the culinary teams at…

Boulder Seafood Temple Wild Standard Reboots Menu Concept

Chef Bradford Heap, owner of Salt and Colterra in Boulder, unveiled his sustainable seafood eatery, Wild Standard, at 1043 Pearl Street last fall with a clever, dim-sum-style service model that allowed guests to pick and choose from items on a rolling cart and trays brought through the dining room. Successful…

Construction Watch: River and Woods Takes Shape in Boulder

If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to blow right past the tiny cottage at 2328 Pearl Street in Boulder. The facade sits slightly below street level after decades of progressive road improvements, and most of the building slopes down and is hidden by trees on either side, giving little…

First Look: Vail Valley Welcomes Harvest by Kelly Liken

Since closing Restaurant Kelly Liken in May, 2015, chef Kelly Liken has been pretty quiet on the culinary scene, until now. At the end of June she launched Harvest by Kelly Liken, a laid-back, seasonal eatery located right off the Sonnenalp Club’s golf course. “Opening Harvest in Edwards seemed like…

Hosea Rosenberg on Blackbelly, Top Chef, Chile and Picking Peas

The restaurant business is a notoriously hard one. The job is physically demanding, hours are long, and shifts fall on nights and weekends, when everyone else is off. Most people wouldn’t call this fun. But Hosea Rosenberg isn’t most people — and not just because he’s one of the rare…

100 Favorite Dishes: Sweet Corn Mezzaluna at Bar Dough

No. 77: Corn Mezzaluna at Bar Dough Pizza, pasta, a handful of entrees and a collection of appetizers: not much to grab your attention on the menu at Bar Dough, right? Italian joints are scattered across Denver’s culinary landscape like flecks and clumps of shaker cheese atop a bowl of…

A Neighborhood Bar Without a Neighborhood: Shelby’s Bar and Grill

In a city searching for authenticity and identity amid the constant barrage of shiny condo buildings springing up out of the skeletons of old hospitals and storefronts, new breweries opening on a seemingly daily basis, and a plethora of hipster restaurants opening in old warehouses, neighborhood bars are comforting reminders…

Reader: Blue Moon Brewery Is Like Dining in a Construction Zone

Blue Moon Brewing Company, a subsidiary of MillerCoors, has been pouring beer at the Sandlot inside Coors Field since the ballpark opened in 1995. Twenty years later, Blue Moon just opened its own brewery and restaurant at 3750 Chestnut Street in the River North neighborhood. Notes Robert:  With all the modern…

Afia Grill Goes Beyond Typical Middle Eastern Fare

Denver seems to have a love-hate relationship with Middle Eastern cuisine, stemming in part from confusion over the term “Middle Eastern” itself. This nebulous geopolitical label has little to do with the borderless culinary world, where dishes transform and evolve over generations and from region to region. Here in Denver,…

Coperta Opens Tonight in Uptown

Last week, we talked to Aileen V. Reilly and her brother, chef Paul C. Reilly, the owners of Beast + Bottle who have been getting ready to open Coperta, their new Italian eatery at East 20th Avenue and Logan Street. Even as late as last Friday, the two didn’t have…

Dickinson Plaza Bites the Dust in LoHi

The Highland neighborhood is changing, and changing fast. At the start of the year, tenants at Dickinson Plaza suddenly learned that Henry Dickinson had sold the complex at West 32nd Avenue and Tejon Street that had been in his family for 115 years  — long before the area was dubbed…

Lady Justice Brewing Will Open as a Community-Supported Brewery

Three women are planning to open a tiny brewery, Lady Justice Brewing, in the small Denver suburb of Mountain View this August that will serve as fundraising tool for local charities. And instead of a taproom, the brewery will offer memberships, delivering beer to customers once a month. This business…

Aurora Company Highlights Burmese Cuisine and Refugee Issues

Each year, hundreds of refugees fleeing war, persecution and violence arrive in Denver looking to start a new life. Many of those are Burmese (more than 3,000 since 2007, according to Project Worthmore), including Zin Zin, a talented cook who has partnered with Denverite Marin Toscano to help other refugees…

First Look: Blue Moon Brewing Company Opens in River North

Blue Moon Brewing Company, a subsidiary of MillerCoors, has been pouring beer at the Sandlot inside Coors Field since the ballpark opened in 1995. And now, more than twenty years after the first drops of Belgian-style white ale were spilled in Denver, Blue Moon has opened its own brewery and…

Reader: Korean Food Is Overpriced Everywhere — Too Bad

The surprise of the Denver dining scene this summer — so far — was the opening of a new Korean restaurant, Soban, in Aurora. The eatery comes to Colorado from Los Angeles, where it wowed many fans of Korean cuisine — including restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. Says Dave:  The L.A. place is great,…

Fifteen Tastiest Events on Denver’s Culinary Calendar, July 25-29

It’s that time of year again: Colorado’s own Rocky Ford cantaloupe will be rolling onto shelves at supermarkets near you starting today. Grab a few of these favorite melons, then check out the juicy culinary happenings around town, including these fifteen tasty events. Monday, July 25  The West End Tavern will…