“The staff wanted to make a whiskey,” explains Eric Dutton, bar manager at Vesta Dipping Grill. “It’s what we drink.” Dutton discussed that very sentiment with Todd Leopold of Leopold Brothers, and a casual desire soon turned into a full-scale restaurant project: Leopold invited the staff down to the distillery…
Late yesterday afternoon, the opening crew of Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, Robert Thompson’s new French restaurant at 1512 Curtis Street, assembled in the kitchen to get a taste of executive chef Sergio Romero’s menu, which Thompson calls “everyday French comfort food.” Le Grand, he says, “is not trying…
There are a handful of unusual, newly-released and very rare, Colorado craft brews on liquor store shelves right now — if you can find them. Syzygy Barrel-Aged Black IPA Crabtree Brewing, Greeley This one is just landing in stores today after a release party last week. It’s an 8 percent…
Upslope Brewing in Boulder began canning a fifth beer this month, but it will only be served in at Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace, the Boulder restaurant operated by the Big Red F Group, which also runs Lola, West End Tavern, Zolo Grill and Jax Fish House. Centro will…
A lot of you Cafe Society readers have declared mad love for the joint where the above snap was shot. I can only assume that you never order the Tampiqueña, the flesh of which was strikingly close to the color of an elephant, which is say, it was very, very…
Kevin Taylor Restaurant Kevin Taylor at the Hotel Teatro 1106 14th Street 303-820-2600 www.ktrg.net This is part two of my interview with Kevin Taylor, executive chef of Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Prima Ristorante, Limelight, Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, Palettes at the Denver Art Museum, and Rouge, in the Teller…
Steve Horner, the anti-ladies’ night crusader who gave Denver bars fits a few years ago when he complained about their deals for women, has moved on to Las Vegas, where he’s filed complaints against six casinos, arguing that their free pool party offers for women are discriminatory. A new law…
Instead of making food to pair with a specific beer, why not make a beer that pairs with a specific food? That was a question Peter Reinhart posed when he was filming Boulder’s Pizzeria Basta for Pizza Quest, his pizza blog. Patrick Rue, master brewer at The Bruery, happened to…
Cafe Society had people talking, and squawking, yesterday, about everything from Rockbar’s new plans to Sean Kenyon’s mezcal-tasting trip to the Pinyon’s commitment to local ingredients to how to get the best service at wine shops. But one comment in particular stood out, for both for its erudition and its…
Drink for a good cause tonight at Wine & Wishes, a benefit for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at the Cable Center, 2000 Buchtel Boulevard. The party starts at 6 p.m. and costs $75; for more information, go to http://cowish.ejoinme.org/myevents/2011winewishes/tabid/277294/default.aspx. For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online…
Boulder seems close to saturated with Italian restaurants, but someone in the market thinks there’s room for another entrant: a new eatery called Tossa is currently being built in the Arapahoe Village Shopping Center. The 56-seat space has just had its building permits approved and has applied for a hotel-restaurant…
Sean Kenyon knows how to pour out both drinks and advice. A third-generation bar man with 25 years behind the bar, he is a student of cocktail history, a United States Bartenders Guild-certified Spirits Professional and a BAR Ready graduate of the prestigious Beverage Alcohol Resource Program. You can often…
This week’s review took me to Castle Rock, where Crave Real Burgers has reinterpreted the hamburger, using the ground beef patty as the basis for a variety of massive — and unique — creations. Here, to go with the review, is a little foodography. For more photos of Crave, check…
Can you smell that? It’s the odor of fresh hops reaching their peak at hop farms on the Western Slope. And many of these farms — which include San Juan Hop Farms in Montrose, Rising Sun Farms in Paonia, Misty Mountain Hop Farm in Olathe, Jack Rabbit Hops in Hotchkiss…
Leave it to the creative crew at Euclid Hall to come up with yet another way to stop traffic. The fanciful tavern, bastion of beer and food hall at 1317 Fourteenth Street has just erected a new sign, but lest you think it’s of the banal square, rectangular, octagonal or…
For some of us, spending an hour strolling up and down the aisles of our neighborhood wine store is like a little slice of heaven. Between filling up carts with our latest vino obsessions and ogling that magnum of Veuve we can’t possibly afford, a wine-buying spree is perhaps second…
Denver’s rolling explosion of craft-beer taps is celebrating its first anniversary, since several restaurants that fueled the movement opened a year ago this month. And while one of these new beer bars, Uptown Brothers, didn’t make it, others — like Euclid Hall, Freshcraft, Stoney’s and Hops & Pie — are…
Kevin Taylor Restaurant Kevin Taylor at the Hotel Teatro 1106 14th Street 303-820-2600 www.ktrg.net This is part one of my interview with Kevin Taylor, executive chef of Restaurant Kevin Taylor, Prima Ristorante, Limelight, Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, Palettes at the Denver Art Museum, and Rouge, in the Teller…
By Monday, September 12, when the Denver Broncos host the loathsome Oakland Raiders at the former Invesco Field at Mile High, Rockbar, the deliberately divey dance club and watering hole (and Susan Sarandon’s favorite hangout during the 2008 Democratic National Convention) at 3015 East Colfax Avenue, will have completed a…
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge, formerly (and briefly) known as the Quiznos Pro Challenge, kicked off Monday in Colorado Springs and comes to Denver on the race’s final leg Sunday. The finish line will be on Broadway next to the State Capitol, but the last leg of the route will…
The Global Business Travel Association is in town, and the city threw a big welcoming party for the travel planners Sunday at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, where they were served a drink that could have been a contender in the Colorado Cocktail Project — which Marnie Ward won with…
Steve Horner has moved his anti-ladies’ night crusade to Sin City (lots of luck there!) and Las Vegas resident Michael Marstellar, for one, doesn’t appreciate his manly efforts to shut down female-friendly pool parties. In response to yesterday’s update on Horner, he writes: Is there anyway to get in touch…
