Getting saucy for brunch at Shells and Sauce

A cozy bistro in Congress Park, Shells and Sauce is primarily known for its dinners of Tuscan pasta and seafood plates, but it also offers a weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with a variety of fresh Italian takes on beloved brunch favorites. Oddly enough, though, it’s the…

Beer, beer and more beer on this weekend’s culinary calendar

The craft-beer scene has exploded in Colorado, and this week the second-largest craft-beer maker in the country is in Denver to celebrate the industry. Sierra Nevada invited every craft brewery in the nation — nearly 3,000 in all — to participate in seven regional celebrations for Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp…

Video: How to make Denver’s best burger

Denverites are mad about burgers. Both fast-casual counters and upscale burger restaurants keep opening around town, and most of them are packed on a regular basis. But we also know a good burger when we sink our teeth into one; the mediocre joints don’t last long. Our current favorite, which…

A grilled cheese with pretensions from the Comfortable Food truck

Comfortable Food, a truck I caught up with at Civic Center Eats today, serves food under the motto “Zero pretension, 100% deliciousness.” My lunch, though, was definitely operating with pretensions, even delusions of grandeur. Not content to be a simple grilled cheese sandwich, this one had evidently seen the world…

Kolache Cabin again rolling in dough on South Santa Fe

It’s been a wild ride since the Kolache Cabin rolled onto a vacant lot at Alameda and South Santa Fe Drive last month. The mobile food joint quickly found fans who’d been craving kolaches since the area’s last major purveyor, Kolache Factory, closed a few years ago. But then last…

Little Man Ice Cream celebrates its millionth scoop tonight

Paul Tamburello, a developer who’s done several landmark projects in LoHi (and even coined that nickname), drew inspiration from his own past when he created Little Man Ice Cream back in 2008. His grandfather had owned an ice cream store in Chicago in the 1930s, and he thought the edge…

Happy Hour: The 9th Door’s Spanish siesta is a snooze

Call it the original happy hour. Though its been falling out of practice in modern Spain, the siesta has influenced the country’s food culture over the centuries. Spanish restaurants often offer a prix fixe menu during the 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. lunch break, when office workers flee en masse to…

Curtis Park Creamery II shuts down in Aurora

The Curtis Park Creamery has been slinging budget Mexican fare in the Curtis Park/Five Points area for over forty years. And in January 2013, the owners finally opened a second location in Aurora, calling it, not surprisingly, Curtis Park Creamery II. But now you’ll have to head back to the…

You’ll go hog-wild for the barbecue sauce at Ragin’ Hog

When I eat barbecue, I often skip the sauce so that the meat’s smokiness can come through. But when I do squirt on sauce, I don’t always want the sweet, thick version that’s common in these parts. Colleen Van Tuyl, chef-owner of Ragin’ Hog BBQ, understands this. “Colorado is a…

100 Favorite Dishes: Biscuits from the Denver Biscuit Co.

No. 90 Biscuits from the Denver Biscuit Co. 141 South Broadway 3237 East Colfax Avenue 303-337-7900 The Southern biscuit is one of the hardest baked goods to master; they invariably come in one of two versions: perfect or just plain wrong. Working with butter and flour takes years of experience;…

Kings BBQ is pleased to meat you

“Have you been here before?” asked the girl at the counter of Kings BBQ when we first walked into the modest spot in Wheat Ridge. We shook our heads. “Then I’m going to tell you something that’s not very helpful: Everything is good.” Owner CJ Johnson, a Texan with roots…

Udi’s updates restaurant names at all locations

After doing business for twenty years under his first name, Udi Baron and his family sold Udi’sFoods (the gluten-free and granola portion of their bakery empire) earlier this year, and with it the name Udi’s. The company held a contest to pick a new name for its cafes and bakeries,…