ZaZa’s Pizzeria opens in the DU neighborhood

There are nearly a half-dozen pizzerias slated to pop up all over Denver within the next several months, including Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza, a new joint from celebrated New York chef and restaurateur Charlie Palmer that’s taking over a portion of the former Big Game space. In addition, Slices will open…

Guess where I’m drinking?

Margaritas are a dime a dozen in this city, but a margarita shaken with an avocado? You’ll find that in only one restaurant in Denver. Even weirder than the margarita itself is the fact that I really liked it — and wouldn’t think twice about ordering it again. Can you…

Reader: Five beers later, the Deluxe skillet was mine

Hot sauces? Steak knives? Wallpaper? Yesterday, Lori Midson dished the dirt on “Dining thieves: Weird and crazy stuff people steal”. And while Cafe Society’s readers aren’t quite the scofflaws described on seattle.eater, her post still collected a few interesting admissions…as well as this from GFTW: This is all small beans…

Alpha Zeta Wine Dinner at Amaro Drinkery Italia

Amaro Drinkery Italia, 2785 Iris Avenue in Boulder, will pour on the charm — and pour out the Alpha Zeta wines — at tonight’s five-course dinner. The meal starts at 6:30 p.m., and each course will be paired with wines from the Veneto region of Italy. Tickets are $79; for…

The Szechuan specialties shine at Chef Liu’s in Aurora

So, have you been to China?” I was sitting at the small bar in Chef Liu’s Authentic Chinese Cuisine on a slow Sunday evening, waiting for the feast that Vincent — my inquisitor, and also Chef Liu’s waiter, bartender and host — had ordered for me from the Chinese dinner…

Four Sunday pre-game meal suggestions for Tim Tebow in Denver

Miami, the city that hosted Tim Tebow’s high-school championship game, his national championship game and, only yesterday, the Tim Tebow Revival Hour, is just the starting point on the Tebow Man of the People tour. Tebow is now tasked with winning on Sundays. In that, umm, spirit, here are the…

Boulder’s Amu brings on a new chef, Mune Taira

Six years ago, Japanese restaurateur Nao-san took the sliver of space next to his raucous Boulder sushi joint, Sushi Zanmai, and built the tea-garden-like Amu Sake Bar and Restaurant, an authentic izakaya that serves an array of Japanese dishes — but no sushi — to the few patrons able to…

Foodography from Russell’s Smoke House

Russell’s Smoke House, Frank Bonanno’s new shrine to smoked meats, opened softly on Friday, but on Saturday, the staff was gearing up for a busy night, But first, there was a fantastic food tasting orgy that I was lucky enough to attend, stomaching my way through tender prime rib, sweet…

Kelly Whitaker tends an urban garden at Pizzeria Basta

Kelly Whitaker, chef-owner of Boulder’s Pizzeria Basta, spent every summer of his childhood on a farm — and he hated it. “My grandfather was a farmer, and I spent every single summer on his farm, but I hated vegetables, and my family was the kind that said, ‘You’re going to…

Pig & Block Charcuterie opens in Highland

Earlier this year, Jeff Bauman and his brother, Marc, signed a lease on a small storefront at 2009 West 32nd Avenue with the intent of opening a charcuterie and butcher shop. But after a myriad of construction and electrical issues stonewalled the process, the brothers, who are the grandsons of…

Guess where I’m eating?

There’s never a night that this incredibly popular restaurant isn’t perpetually packed, but on Friday night, it was nothing short of a madhouse, thanks to scores of visiting parents in town for a yearly event and a gaggle of women celebrating a fiftieth birthday party. Can you guess where I’m…

Artichoke and green-olive tapenade for a snack on Meatless Monday

​​No one’s saying you have to go meatless just because it’s Monday — but as an incentive to join the growing Meatless Monday movement, we’re featuring an animal-free recipe each week. Appetizers and small plates tend to be meat-and-cheese heavy, but this tapenade is completely plant-based; serve it on top…

Reader: Larimer Square could soon be Bonanno Square

Frank and Jacqueline Bonanno opened Russell’s Smokehouse on Friday in a subterranean space in Larimer Square; the barbecue joint shares an entry (Wednesday’s Pie) with Green Russell, as well the speakeasy’s emphasis on contemporary cocktails. But the meaty menu — including lamb’s neck and trout wrapped in bacon — is…

Rose for a Cure at the Palace Arms

It’s that time of year — the time when “fill-in-the-blank-for-the-cure” events start filling up your calendar. Tonight’s Rose for a Cure at the Palace Arms, the elegant restaurant in the Brown Palace Hotel, will have you in the pink, with pink-inspired hors d’oeuvre, pink wine and cocktails, plus live jazz;…

Have a taste for truffles? Cured has you covered

Ah, fall. The leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter, pie and soup are back on the menu, and coats and boots are back in the stores. And across the pond in France and Italy, it’s also the height of truffle season…