Food & Drink

The Tasterie Truck, soon to rev up and sell sweets on Boulder’s streets, started as a dream. “One night, I dreamt I’d started a cupcake truck with a friend,” owner Shannon Aten says. “The next day, I called her up and said we should make it happen.” Aten was entrenched…

On Saturday, Il Mondo Vecchio’s Mark DeNittis, Denver’s high priest of salumi (and the newest member of FIVE), ushered a half dozen meat-heads into his laboratory, as part of a whole hog hoedown that exposed voyeurs to a 190-pound, Blue Butt beast that sacrificed himself in order to feed us…

Ah, Twitter, where rumors spark rumors. Last Friday, @GuruDenver posted a tweet hinting that Colt & Gray, one of our favorite local dining dens and watering holes for pig trotters, charcuterie, cheeseburgers — which won a coveted Best of Denver award — and clever cocktails, might be shuttering. And on…

“I’m done. Finito. I’m out.” That was Enrique Guerrero, chef/owner of Mangiamo Pronto!, describing his departure from the downtown Italian cafe that he opened in 2009, a year after he introduced Santa Feans to the same restaurant — a properly restorative food temple that turns out fantastic housemade pastas, one…

Pat Boone, beloved oldies crooner and now carnally inclined entrepreneur, recently made his own offering to the religious community: discounted “Pastor Appreciation Steak Gift Boxes” from his Colorado Springs-based Pat Boone’s All American’s Meats. Parishioners could make nice with their spiritual shepherds by hooking them up with either a box…

It’s not easy finding Laotian food in Denver, as Laura Shunk discovered after her recent return from a trip to Southeast Asia. On the hunt, she dropped by Edgewater’s US Thai, which has an owner from Laos, a chef who’s cooked all over Thailand, some seriously hot food, and lots…

Cafe Society served up five Guess Where contests last week, which ranged from San Francisco, where Lori Midson devoured oysters and Anchor Steam at Hog Island, to Larimer Square, where Nancy Levine tested the pineapple-infused vodka at Ocean Prime (which looks a lot like the pineapple-infused vodka at both Capital…

I’ve always been a little suspicious of Fabio’s charm, his hand-kissing, and constant assertion of his Italianness, but he sure hit his stride this week in the Top Chef All Star Restaurant Wars. As his team’s maitre d’, he was warm, stylish, and intensely competent, charming the customers and displaying…

After returning from a trip to Southeast Asia, my first order of business was to ask if anyone knew of a place where you could get Laotian food in this city. In the meantime, I decided to satiate my craving with Thai food, since Laotian cuisine is basically Thai done…

Earlier this week, I was in San Francisco, eating, drinking (and subsequently, drunk tweeting) and awkwardly, dazedly navigating my way — along with 17,000 other foodniks — through the bazillions of aisles at the 2011 Winter Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food and beverage trade show in North America…

As the immigration debate rumbles on in this country, more than one pundit has pointed out that closing our borders could have a devastating effect on our economy, since industries built around labor employ large numbers of workers from foreign nations. This is particularly true of the restaurant industry, where…

Masalaa, the all-vegetarian Indian mainstay at 3140 South Parker Road in Aurora, reopened on January 6 after closing for some repairs. “We were doing maintenance work,” says Masalaa’s Sameer Desai. “There was a leakage from the kitchen to the outside dining area. We had to fix it and make sure…

While Rachel Kesley, the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell interview, isn’t a vegetarian, WaterCourse Foods, the restaurant whose kitchen she presides over, is strictly vegetarian. The menu, a mash-up of vegetables, grains, tofu, seitan, tempeh, cheeses, pastas and Mexican dishes, has a legion of devoted followers, many of…

Tony’s Broadway Market Bistro will host an Italian family dinner on Thursday, January 27 — and owner/founder Tony Rosacci will be there, making this definitely a family affair. “Tony invented this,” says Stuart Stevenson, general manager of the market and bistro. “It’s a good night with lots of people to…

I love the pineapple-infused vodka served at a certain Denver steakhouse, love it so much that I’ve stopped in at every outpost of this chain I’ve found across the country. But recently, I discovered pineapple-infused vodka in a surprising location. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who…

Just because you eat gently does not mean that you comment gently. As the discussion continues over the Chef and Tell interview with Rachel Kesley of WaterCourse Foods, the knives are coming out. And the thoughtful, creative Kesley is apparently fresh meat. Exhibit A: This post from fraggle303:…

Just over a month ago, Hanna Raskin, restaurant critic at our partner paper, the Dallas Observer, raked the entire Dallas dining scene over the coals. In a lengthy diatribe, she explained why the industry in the city was “broken.” Hot on the heels of that, John Kessler, critic at the…