Guess where I’m eating lamb tibs with awaze?

Walk inside this Ethiopian restaurant, and you’ll encounter a sparse dining room that has all the allure of breaking the law (and getting busted), but if you can ignore the bare bones setting to concentrate solely on the food — a huge departure from the sea of sameness that you…

Flood relief and Monkey Town 4 on this week’s culinary calendar

Even with Denver Restaurant Week keeping many restaurants (and their chefs) bustling and busy, this week’s culinary calender is still brimming with important events. The tasty lineup starts with “Still Waters Run Deep: Recipes, Stories and Songs.” The Flood Relief Project asked victims of Boulder’s floods to share their experiences…

Where should you eat for Denver Restaurant Week? Behold our ten top picks

Denver Restaurant Week — the first of two this year — began in earnest on Saturday, and while there are plenty of foodniks (and restaurant staff) who bemoan the frenzied chaos of what some call “amateur dining week” (and “amateur diners”), Denver Restaurant Week is nonetheless a terrific opportunity for…

Modmarket opens today in downtown Denver

Rise and shine! The seventh Modmarket opens today in downtown Denver, at 900 16th Street. The fast-casual, farm-to-table concept opened its first restaurant in Boulder in 2009, and the homegrown chain is anticipating doubling in size this year. See also: 100 Favorite Dishes — curried split pea soup from Modmarket…

Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches opening in March in Glendale

Bruxie (pronounced Brucks-ee) Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches, a fast-casual joint that got its start in Southern California, namely Olde Town Orange, is invading Denver, opening its first store outside of California in March at 1000 South Colorado Boulevard, in the same strip mall that houses Tokyo Joe’s, Pinkberry, Modmarket and, until…

Guess where I’m eating a pork burger?

The chef sitting next to me at the bar where I ate this burger was on his day off from the line at Mizuna, and he admitted that he’d been here twice in the last week just to wrap his jaws around the pork burger stacked with wild mushrooms and…

Reader: I’m in no rush to go back to Native Foods

Yesterday we posted Veggie Girl Amber Taufen’s list of the Five Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Denver, and the result has been a red-blooded, very meaty food fight over the benefits/drawbacks of several restaurants on the list — particularly City, O’ City and Native Foods. See also: Five best vegetarian restaurants…

Favorite spots in Boulder for vegan dishes

At exceptional restaurants around town I can close my eyes, point to anything on the menu, and eat well. Often, however, getting a good meal takes a lot more thought – what is the chef’s background? what is the kitchen known for? – not to mention a little luck, since…

Guess where I’m eating bananas Foster French toast?

I usually cook breakfast at home on the weekends, but the springlike weather demanded an outdoor stroll, which led us to one of our neighborhood cafes, whose kitchen is turning out a brilliant board of breakfast dishes, including bananas Foster French toast. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus:…

Chef Andrew Selvaggio on being an answer to a question on Jeopardy

Andrew Selvaggio Live Basil Pizza, Tom’s Urban and Smashburger smashburger.com, livebasilpizza.com, tomsurban24.com This is part two of my interview with Andrew Selvaggio, chef of Smashburger, Live Basil and Tom’s Urban; part one of my chat with Selvaggio ran yesterday. Most memorable meal you’ve ever had: It was in 1983, at…

Five best vegetarian restaurants in Denver

Denver’s vegetarian food scene is getting stronger all the time. All but the most vehemently meat-centric establishments in town have something besides salad to offer veggie-lovers, and ambitious, exclusively vegetarian eateries are opening all the time — including Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant, which we review this week. When you want to…