Restaurant Roll Call: All the Openings and Closings in Denver in February

February was a tumultuous month for established Denver restaurants, with name changes, rebrandings, moves and closures both temporary and permanent. We lost longtime favorites in Jus Cookin’s Restaurant, DaLat Vietnamese Cuisine and the Trinity Grille downtown. Meanwhile, quaint Cherry Creek cafe So Perfect Eats went on an extended hiatus while…

Reader: Torchy’s Is the Voodoo Doughnut of Tacos

Yesterday Mark Antonation offered a tale of two tacos, comparing a pair of taco joints in the 1000 block of Broadway: the modest Quijote’s and Torchy’s, an Austin-based import that has many fans and was a hot-hot spot when it opened earlier this year. But some Denver diners feel burned…

Aw, Shucks: The High West Oyster Fest Returns to Boulder Tonight

The High West Oyster Fest has been offering oyster enthusiasts a chance to spend a night shucking and slurping since 2013, and the mollusk mayhem returns to the Boulder Theater from 6 to 9 p.m. today. The fourth annual event will feature oyster shucking and eating contests, music from Denver DJ Styles…

Chef Kyle Foster Plans Southern Restaurant for Larimer Street

Southern food is becoming a growing trend in the Denver restaurant scene, with Bread-N-Butter opening last week in Uptown and fried chicken, biscuits, barbecue and Low Country cuisine hitting menus across town. A couple of weeks ago, a Facebook page simply named Julep appeared in my feed, so I fired off…

Cocktail of the Week: Booze With a Buzz at Amethyst Coffee

No Sleep Till Denver at Amethyst Coffee Amethyst Coffee cranked up the coffee pots for the first time last February, serving cups of espresso and pastries at 1111 Broadway in the Metlo complex. And two months ago, owner Elle Taylor secured a liquor license, adding a hand-picked assortment of spirits…

First Look: The Tavern Platt Park Is Now Pouring on Old South Pearl

The Tavern Hospitality Group launched the latest in its string of bar-and-grill-style eateries yesterday when the Tavern Platt Park opened on Old South Pearl Street. The newest Tavern joins Izakaya Den next door and Fourteen Seventy-Two across the street to make the block one of the city’s prime indoor-outdoor destinations, since each…

Cowbobas Relocates to DaLat Space on South Federal Boulevard

The intersection of South Federal Boulevard and West Evans Avenue is only a few blocks from my house, so I drive past Cowbobas Steakhouse and Boba Smoothies nearly every day — often wondering how much longer everyone’s favorite Vietnamese steakhouse can survive. So last night when I saw a cherry…

A Tale of Two Tacos on Broadway: Torchy’s and Quijote’s

A big, loud, flamboyant and insanely popular taco shop landed in the Golden Triangle last month. The dazzling sign of Torchy’s Tacos lights up the night like a marquee looming over that other Broadway (the one in New York City), and a line of curious taco-philes stretches from the order…

Oskar Blues Goes Big With Major New Barrel-Aging Program

Oskar Blues has little secret brewing in the back room. Well, make that a big secret: a big barrel-aged one. Over the past three months, the Longmont-based beer maker has been filling and stacking hundreds of bourbon barrels with a couple of its concoctions. Although Oskar Blues has had a…

Playa Azul Goes Dark on South Federal Boulevard

Weekends are generally a busy time on Federal Boulevard, with parking lots packed at every Vietnamese and Mexican joint on the strip — even the ones with empty dining rooms during the week. But as the sun set on Federal on Sunday night, the lights didn’t come on at Playa…