Review Preview: Interstate Kitchen & Bar

Americana is a pop culture celebration of this country’s history, a glorified representation of such symbols as Route 66, fried chicken and the blues, sexed up in a way that panders to our collective consciousness and makes us proud of a past we may never really have experienced. And Americana…

Japoix has a new chef — and a new menu focus

When I first ate at Japoix for my review, a server told me that the restaurant’s name came from a desire to emphasize the marriage of Japanese and French cuisines, the focus of then-chef Jay Spickelmier, who’d done stints at Spago and Jing before moving to Japoix when it opened…

Guess where I’m eating?

True, there’s an abundance of roughage masking what lies underneath, but once you pluck the lettuce from the heap, you’ll discover a quartet of flautas, devoid of grease, swiped with crema and logged with deliciously spiced potatoes. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first…

Two wines that prove old world still rules

There’s been a lot of debate in the wine world of late, the gist of which revolves around whether popular, top-selling new world wines deserve their acclaim. It’s an interesting debate, for sure. Are Napa Valley cabs every bit as good as their Bordeaux-based brethren? For that matter, should fruit-forward,…

Tonight: Kanpai sake dinner and seminar at TAG

TAG, Troy Guard’s restaurant in Larimer Square, will host Kanpai: An Educational Sake Dinner and Seminar tonight. The three-course meal, served with both sake and information about the drink, starts at 6 p.m. and costs $100; for more information, call 303-996-9985 or go to www.tag-restaurant.com. For information on dozens of…

Today: Sketch celebrates two years on First Avenue

Sketch celebrates two years at its current home at 11 West First Avenue — and six years in business — at an anniversary party today featuring live music, drink specials and more. For details, call 303-484-9305 or go to www.sketch-restaurant.com. For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit…

Spanky’s Roadhouse is a grimy good time

Interstate Kitchen & Bar might have been designed to invoke a classic roadhouse, but it’s a hip — and clean — rendition. Not so Spanky’s Roadhouse, a faux roadhouse that opened in the University of Denver neighborhood more than twenty years ago — and has the grime to prove it…

First look: Food porn from TAG|RAW BAR

At exactly 11 a.m. today, the doors of TAG|RAW BAR, located in the newly remodeled Larimer Square walkway, swung open, and by 11:30, the orange sherbet seats at the pint-size raw bar were jammed with chefs, including Lola’s Jamey Fader, curiosity-seekers, tourists and regulars from TAG, the whimsical Larimer Square…

Naked Pizza expanding into Denver and Boulder

New Orleans-based Naked Pizza has grown quickly, thanks to a savvy, semi-political social-marketing strategy and even savvier mission, “to transform the nutritional profile of the fast food industry by providing an all-natural pizza,” according to its website. The company started in a Katrina-ravaged area of the Big Easy in 2006…

Former Chopsticks China Bistro owner opens Tao Tao Noodle Bar

When David Lee’s Chopsticks China Bistro, in Greenwood Village, was seized by the state at the end of last year for non-payment of taxes, it left a major void in Denver’s culinary scene; Chopsticks was one of the few places that served authentic, homemade xiao long bao — dumplings packed…

Guess where I’m eating?

It used to be that no other macaroni and cheese in Denver rivaled the decadent, white-trashy version dished out at Tom’s Home Cookin’, but then, last week, I discovered a formidable competitor in town that might — dare I say it — even be better than Tom’s. Can you guess…