Win two VIP tickets to the Denver Burger Battle

In case you haven’t heard, our esteemed governor, John Hickenlooper, proclaimed August 10, 2011, “Denver Burger Battle Day” in the state of Colorado. No, seriously. It’s true, and for Jeremy and Kelly Kossler, the brains behind the Denver Burger Battle, a beefy combat among twelve Denver restaurants, all of which…

Hops for Habitat at Plains Conservation Center

Do good while enjoying yourself tonight at Hops for Habitat at the Plains Conservation Center, 21901 East Hampden Avenue. From 5 to 9 p.m., enjoy brews from fifteen breweries, live bands, food, wagon rides, wildlife and lovely scenery. Tickets are $30; for more information, call 303-693-3621 or visit www.plainsconservationcenter.org. For…

Del Frisco’s hosts Martini & Cigar Mixer

Looking for an indulgent end to the week? Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, 8100 East Orchard Road in Englewood, will present the CBCC Martini & Cigar Mixer from 3:30 to 6 p.m. A hundred bucks buys you appetizers, cigars, door prizes, raffles and premium drinks. For more info, call 303-831-0720…

Cool Cucumber at Chinook Tavern

When Chinook Tavern shuttered its longtime home in Cherry Creek North back in the summer of 2008, many regulars were left crying in their one-liter steins, wondering where they would ever find another place to drink German beer and eat veal wiener schnitzel. Now they have their answer: The new…

Denver’s five best Chinese restaurants

It’s frighteningly easy to go very, very wrong with Chinese food in this city: for every Szechuan, Taiwanese or dim sum gem, there are at least two dollar-a-scoop joints, fast food outposts and restaurants that proffer nothing more than bastardized, Americanized versions of orange-flavored chicken and beef with broccoli. Still,…

Wazee Supper Club will celebrate 37 years in business next week

Wazee Supper Club opened its doors back in 1974 under Angelo and Jim Karagas, five years after the same duo erected My Brother’s Bar just nine blocks away. Since then, the bar and restaurant, which has since been passed from the hands of the Karagas brothers to the Wynkoop Holdings…

Colorado-based New Age Beverages puts water in a can

The same company that’s pushing the all-natural tastes of XINGtea have teamed up with the Ball Corp. to introduce a canned water. The zero-calorie Just Pure Water, created by Colorado-based New Age Beverages, comes in berry, lemon lime and orange flavors. “What we wanted to do was come out with…

Mike’s Tavern opens in former Len & Bill’s space

When Len & Bill’s went dark after fifty years, Denver lost one of its great dives. But now Mike’s Tavern has opened in the space at 2301 South Broadway. Bartender Nicole Keeney, whose father is Mike, says Len & Bill’s regulars have been coming in and telling her stories about…

Former Madison Street exec chef Rob Michels lands at Japoix

When former TAG team (and married couple) Troy Guard and Leigh Sullivan added Madison Street to their restaurant empire, they tapped a member of the TAG kitchen, Rob Michels, to serve as executive chef, where he worked alongside Troy to revamp the menu. Three months later, after the Guard and…

Round two with Andy Martinez, exec chef of Citron New World Bistro

Andy Martinez Citron New World Bistro 3535 South Yosemite Street 303-771-5800 www.citronbistro.com This is part two of my interview with Andy Martinez, exec chef of Citron New World Bistro. Part one of that interview ran in this space yesterday. Favorite restaurant in America: I don’t travel as much I’d like…

Cafe Aion and Encore host beer events

You can have a beery good time in Denver tonight. Cafe Aion, 1235 Pennsylvania Avenue in Boulder, will offer the Asher Beer Dinner, which pairs six different beers with seasonal tapas. For more info, call 303-993-8131. Encore, 2550 East Colfax Avenue, will host the Uinta Beer vs. IMT Wine dinner,…

Food porn: Tao Tao Noodle Bar

For this week’s review, I headed out to Tao Tao Noodle Bar in Aurora, where David Lee and May Sung have resurrected many of the dishes they had on the menu at the original Chopsticks China Bistro on Federal and Mississippi. Not only did I like everything I ordered, I…

Climax Jerky and other Colorado vendors coming to DIA

We’ve always been pretty cranky about the lack of Colorado-centric food items at Denver International Airport — especially Colorado-centric food items that visitors can take back home as souvenirs from this state. But that will soon change: Provenzano Resources, which is in charge of adding fourteen kiosks and 24 RMUs…