January 16, 1919: a day filled with sorrows — and nothing to drown them in. Congress had just passed the Eighteenth Amendment, outlawing alcohol in hopes of ridding the land of drunkards, mental illness and poverty. But the Prohibition plan rallied for by rural Protestants and the Anti-Saloon League backfired,…
The owners of Mile High Pizza Pie closed up shop downtown this fall when rents went sky-high on Stout Street, and headed for Highland. Along the way, they not only changed locations, but also altered the name and concept, as Mile High morphed into Mile High Italian Deli. “Like Tony’s,”…
No sooner had we posted our Restaurant Roll Call for November that news of more closings started rolling in. Marie’s Cafe has shut its doors after 35 years, ending a Boulder breakfast institution. The spot had been in the same family — natives of Czechoslovakia — since 1979, but after…
“Are you open?” “When are you opening?” “I can’t wait until you open!” I lost count of how many eager people passed through the doors of Olive & Finch earlier this morning, their hopes high that Mary Nguyen’s new Uptown restaurant, a casual European-style cafe, was actually selling the muffins,…
Pints Pub claims to have the largest collection of single-malt whisky outside of Britain. The twenty-year-old Golden Triangle mainstay also has plenty of authentic English paraphernalia, including a British phone booth in front of the building. Which last week got a new outfit, in honor of Doctor Who’s fiftieth anniversary…
Before Highland morphed from a modest northwest Denver neighborhood into the hot restaurant incubator that it is today, there was bang!, which started dishing up fried chicken and meatloaf back in 1996. See also: Read our 1997 review of bang!, “Big Bang! Theory”…
Highland remains hot as a restaurant ‘hood and Jefferson Park is one of the town’s up-and-coming dining destinations — but its location on the edge of both areas didn’t cast any glow on 5th Sun Cafe and Lounge. And now this Mexican restaurant has gone dark. See also: 5th Sun…
After binging on turkey and all the fixings last week, I shoved the multiple pounds of leftovers in the refrigerator (thanks, Mom!) and headed out for something completely different: a spicy Thai green curry with pork. And judging from crush of bodies anxious to get a table — the wait…
As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…
Mirror, mirror on the graffitied wall — which is the hippest hangout of all? Denver is suddenly bursting with hipster neighborhoods, spiraling out from the longtime center in Capitol Hill to South Broadway, LoHi and the burgeoning RiNo area. And not only are these neighborhoods home to cool coffeehouses and…
The owners of Namaste India, which Gretchen Kurtz reviewed last week, are both from Nepal and say they make their food the same way they would back home — but while the fare is solid, it’s also a little stolid. Namaste’s kitchen does stock ginger, cumin, turmeric, cardamom, coriander and…
It is never too late to learn how to cook, and Dan Witherspoon — executive chef and director of the Gourmet Spoon and the Seasoned Chef Cooking School — will show you the ropes in his two-part class, Basic Skills Every Cook Should Know, that starts today at the Seasoned…
We’ve spent the past few months looking for the best of the local web — and seen plenty of your Instagram food photos (please, just stop with those). And now, it’s time to celebrate. This Thursday, December 5, Westword is throwing a party in honor of the coolest chefs, diners,…
Upper Larimer is experiencing a serious case of sugar shock now that Sugarmill, a new dessert bar and lounge from Noah French, pastry chef of TAG, is teasing everyone who walks through the door with extravagant display cases of cookies and cupcakes, French macarons and fat muffins, cakes and croissants,…
Westminster’s fourteen-story city hall building and bell tower was designed in 1988 to resemble London’s famous Big Ben, located in the Palace of Westminster, and the owners of Westminster Brewing, which opened last weekend, liked the tie-in so much that they incorporated the tower into their logo — and specialize…
On Wednesday, after showing off the space to friends and family tonight and tomorrow night, chef and restaurateur Troy Guard, who owns TAG, TAG Raw Bar, Tag Burger Bar and Sugarmill, will open Los Chingones on Upper Larimer, directly next door to Sugarmill, a dessert bar. Los Chingones, a whimsical,…
Weary holiday shoppers got a break at Brewery Rickoli’s Black Friday Relief Party on November 29. The get-together featured beer specials and a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich competition. We were there to take photos of the post-thanksgiving festivities…
Dessert is rarely in the cards when my family eats at Indian restaurants. On occasion, I’ll get the carrot pudding known as gajar halwa, but without something chocolatey to tempt my spouse and kids, they usually pass and I content myself with another bite of saag and cup of chai…
Anytime you use kale — or any other green, for that matter, from collard to mustard — you’re left with stems that most people throw away. But you can saute these, much like the leafy parts of the plant, with some very simple ingredients for a fiber-rich (and nutrient-laden) side…
Back in 2011, when Laura Shunk, Westword’s former restaurant critic, reviewed Mama Sannino’s, an old-school Italian restaurant tucked behind an Arvada strip mall, she wrote that although the joint had been open for just six years, the romp of regulars, all of whom seemed to know one another by name,…
Masterpiece Deli, whose original location in Highland has been such a hit, opened a second spot this morning in Uptown at 1710 Sherman Street. And if you hurry over there before 11 a.m., you can get a free small coffee from Novo Coffee as part of the grand-opening celebration. See…
Love it, or loathe it, green chile is a Denver table staple, and while we all have our undisputed favorite places to get our green fix (El Taco de Mexico is mine), the restaurant squad from Food & Wine magazine just unleashed their own picks for the “Best Chili in…
