For years, Sunnyside — the neighborhood bounded by 38th Avenue, Federal Boulevard, Interstate 70 and Inca Street — was a food desert, with only a couple of notable Denver favorites, like the original Chubby’s, amid a handful of other taco joints and tortillerias. The growing popularity of the nearby Highland…
Winter Cocktail – A Arvada Tavern 5707 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard 303-690-6269 It’s all about balance. When you’re making cocktails, it’s best not to let harsh ingredients overpower a drink, or worse, serve a syrupy sugar bomb. At the Arvada Tavern, Adam Douglas is doing just that: crafting cocktails the way…
The never-ending market niche for unconventional food and drink preparation gadgets occasionally has a balls-out month or two, and lately it’s giving us all some of THE most unfathomable creations — and not all of the products are good. Matter of fact, most of them are creepy, crazy and mind-blowingly…
Restaurateur Troy Guard’s second incarnation of Bubu opens tomorrow in the Hangar 2 development in Lowry, just a few months after the original opened in the former home of TAG| Raw Bar off Larimer Square. This newest member of the TAG restaurant group has a brighter, more lively dining room…
It may be too late to snag a reservation at your favorite romantic restaurant, but there are still plenty of lovely options for Valentine’s Day. Read on for some of the hottest parties, dinners and even anti-V-Day events. See also: From Cookies to Cooking Lessons, Nine Tasty Events on This…
Get ready for Valentine’s Day by making your sweetie a cookie today, or sign up for a couple’s cooking class later this week. And for those who simply want a lovely time this week, with or without a mate, there are plenty of appetizing events on the culinary calendar. Keep…
Two local favorites that presaged the Denver restaurant boom by several years and garnered early attention for the city’s national dining reputation reopened this week after makeovers. Rioja swung open the doors on Wednesday to a refresh which modernized the space after ten years on Larimer Square. Fruition is doing…
No. 50: Smothered Breakfast Burritos at Chickee’s Lil Kitchen 4340 Zuni Street 720-329-3980 In a cute neighborhood with a perky name like Sunnyside, what could be more appropriate than a breakfast and lunch eatery so small you have to order from a walk-up window? Owner Harriett Sanchez might be willing…
For two decades, Taste of Thailand has been serving delicious Thai cuisine to healthcare workers, neighbors and other regulars, who all flock to the cozy dining room in Englewood; fans swear by chef/owner Noy Farrell’s “flu shot soup” to ward of winter malaise. She and and her husband, Rick Farrell,…
When you’re looking for a hearty dish that will fill you up without that, “yuck, I just ate my body weight in something I shouldn’t have” feeling, look no further than the sweet potato gnocchi at Harman’s Eat + Drink in Cherry Creek North. This seasonal dish from chef John…
Famous chefs are all over this weekend, duking it out Iron Chef-style in Cherry Creek and in your living rooms on PBS. But if you’re preoccupied by Valentine’s Day blues, Blackbird has a casual event for singles that might just lighten your mood. And on Saturday, get your chance to…
Two new cafes have opened on the west side of town, one in Lakewood and one in an appendage of Denver that pokes into the spawling suburb just off Sheridan Boulevard. The French Press Cafe and Bakery (the second branch of the original in Aurora) was forced to close in…
When it opened almost three decades ago, Paris on the Platte was a bright light on a very dim stretch. Over the years, Paris grew from a coffee house to a wine bar to a music venue to a favorite gathering place — and this block of Platte Street grew,…
Not all steaks need sauce. But some do: Filets, for example, often benefit from the added flavor. And even if a steak doesn’t need a pick-me-up, sometimes you want one anyway — just because. That’s why Butcher’s Bistro, which I just reviewed, took a step in the right direction when…
Chinese New Year falls on February 19 this year; celebrations and feasts traditionally last for two weeks (at least in China), making February the perfect month to sample your way through the city’s best noodle houses, wok kitchens and dim sum eateries. Although two of our favorites, Chef Liu’s Authentic…
Star power definitely influences our restaurant choices. Knowingly or not, names like Frank Bonanno and Jennifer Jasinski are big neon signs in our minds, flashing “Quality.” And there are few bigger stars in this town’s scene than Keegan Gerhard, by virtue of having appeared in millions of living rooms on…
Scott Spears, Arvada native and owner of Scrumptious Ice Cream, just opened School House Kitchen and Libations on Tuesday in Olde Town Arvada in a former school house originally built in 1882. The spacious bar and restaurant features a towering bar of whiskeys with bottles that line shelves all the…
We all have a knife or two in our kitchen cabinets, but it’s tough to wield a blade effectively. And you’d rather keep ten fingers, right? Cook Street School of Culinary Arts is providing an essential tool for your cooking repertoire with a knife skills class tonight at 6 p.m…
No. 51: Nashville Hot Chicken at Lou’s Food Bar 1851 West 38th Avenue 303-458-0336 On a recent trip to Nashville, Tennessee to scout potential locations for a new incarnation of his East Coast-style deli, Salt & Grinder, Frank Bonanno sampled his way through some of the city’s hot chicken, a…
Cherry Creek North was a top destination neighborhood in the 1980s and ’90s; longtime Denverites still fondly recall meals at the Fourth Story, Mel’s Bar and Grill, the Bay Wolf, Bistro Adde Brewster, Papillon and many others. But as hipper neighborhoods with cheaper rents became more popular with restaurateurs and…
Ryan Skeels pops the bung on an oak bourbon barrel and peers into the hole with a flashlight. “Oh, yeah, there’s a lot still in there,” he says. A half a bottle’s worth of whiskey sits at the bottom, having leached out of the wood in the days since Laws…
“To anyone who gives a shit” — that’s how Renegade Brewing founder Brian O’Connell began his open letter concerning Anheuser Busch’s now infamous craft-beer-bashing Super Bowl commercial and its recent purchase of two craft breweries. “Buyouts have been a hot topic lately with the recent purchase of 10 Barrel Brewing…
