Food & Drink

We’ll publish our first review by our new Cafe critic, Gretchen Kurtz, next week, and in the meantime, you’ll have plenty of chew on when our point/counterpoint on tipping appears here tomorrow. But as commenters and critics alike know all too well, there’s never any shortage of material on Cafe…

Beau Simmons, the executive chef of Jonesy’s EatBar, has spent a large part of the long, hot summer tending to his garden in Highland, a verdant plot that takes up the majority of the back yard of the home that belongs to Leigh Jones, the owner of Jonesy’s. Simmons, who’s…

First things first: Ceviche, when prepared correctly, is, quite simply, my favorite thing to eat. My mother made it all the time when I was growing up, and my sole reason for going to the coastal cities of Mexico on spring break in college had nothing to do with beach…

Dish: Westword’s annual eating orgy is set for next Thursday evening, September 6, in the Sculpture Park at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. And what’s a party without pizza? Sexy Pizza has accepted an exclusive invite from Cafe Society scribes to attend…

Northwest Denver is changing quickly, so quickly that Linger, which we voted Best Restaurant Patio With a View less than five months ago, has already lost some of that view. The new residential/retail complex going up…and up…on Boulder Street has not only obscured the view of downtown that Lola enjoyed…

Over the weekend, I had a sudden urge for doughnuts, a sweet treat that I yearn for once, maybe twice a year. In this case, I went a bit overboard, ordering four…but only succumbed to the one filled with lemon cream. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone…

Your parents always warned you not to take candy from anyone in a van, but ordering fondue from a friendly couple in a lime-green, converted VW van is not only safe, it’s highly recommended. Taylor and Krystianne Vaughn have figured out a way to make gooey melted cheese and velvety…

Cafe Society dished out four Guess Where? contests last week, including a still-unidentified platter of tacos forested with a surplus of lettuce — or “rabbit meal,” as one commenter quipped. In addition, we showcased a cup of hazelnut chocolate ice cream wreathed with a multitude of toppings from Pinkberry as…

Quinoa is one of the best sources of protein for a non-meat-eater. It’s a complete protein, and when you mix in black beans and veggies with a little lime juice and toasted cumin, you’ve got a salad mix that tastes quite a bit like a Chipotle burrito bowl and is…

Planning the menu for a new restaurant is only one of the challenges. you have to design the proper setting for that food, a setting that will draw people in — and keep them there, as Chris Utterback reported in his piece on Semple Brown Design’s work with restaurants. “Part…

The 29th annual Taste of Colorado gets under way at Civic Center Park this Friday and runs through September 3. The end-of-summer festival is known for celebrating unusual foods — rattlesnake brats, wild-boar sandwiches, curried goat, beet burgers and chocolate-covered bacon, for instance — but the fair also features dozens…

Earlier this year, when I interviewed James Van Dyk, the executive chef of Lucky’s Cafe, a breakfast and lunch joint in Boulder, he mentioned that in the year he’d been cooking at the long-standing cafe, an extension of Lucky’s Market, he’d significantly changed the menu, “transforming it,” he said, into…

Last year L’Asie Fusion Bistro changed its name — to Odyssey Asian Bistro + Sushi. Now it’s changed names again, as well as management and menu. The Sixth Avenue spot is now called Odyssey Italian Restaurant, and the focus is on Italian fare…

The crowning burger at Wednesday night’s Denver Burger Battle, at least according to the restaurant industry judges — Hosea Rosenberg, Jenna Johansen, Daniel Asher and Max MacKissock — was the meat candy from Larkburger, Thomas Salamunovich’s fast-casual empire of artisan burger joints that got its start in Edwards, just a…

In March, we gave a Best of Denver award to Liks at the Bookery Nook, calling it the “Best Save of an Independent Bookstore.” But as it turns out, adding Liks ice cream to the offerings at the Bookery Nook wasn’t enough to save the shop. After three years, the…

The Denver Burger Battle smoked up Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Wednesday night, and while Boulder-based Mateo, one of the participating combatants in the friendly feud, didn’t saunter off with a winning trophy, the French-inspired burger received very good word of mouth — and one of you, along…

I was tempted to post the “before” photo, which shows absolutely nothing but lettuce, but then you’d think I was eating in a jungle. Actually, even with all that superfluous greenery dispersed across the plate, it still looks like a jungle. But the tacos — wholly average tacos — are…

We Americans waste food — and lots of it. A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council’s food and agriculture program determined that Americans discard 40 percent of the food supply every year, and the average American family of four annually throws away an equivalent of up to $2,275…