Happy New Year!

Cafe Society is off doing important research for the new year, stuffing in the snacks and pouring down the drinks, all in an effort to find new tidbits to tantalize you with in 2010. But if you haven’t yet made plans for this last day of 2009, not to worry;…

A rearview look at the year in food

It was the year of the gastropub, the year of the gourmet hamburger joint and cupcake shop, the year of the noodle bar. For me, it was the year of the book, the year I lost my father, the year I found out it was to be my last year…

A toast to a law firm providing free taxi rides

Michael Sawaya has your number — and it’s the number of any cab company in metro Denver. If you grab a cab on New Year’s Eve rather than getting behind the wheel after having too much to drink, he’ll reimburse you for that cab ride. All you have to do…

Tomorrow: Last chance to be Beerdrinker of the Year

Tomorrow is the deadline for nominations in the Wynkoop Brewing Company’s fourteenth annual Beerdrinker of the Year contest; find all the details at www.wynkoop.com. December 31 is also the last day you can participate in the Grab and Give Program at the Whole Foods at 900 East 11th Avenue: Purchase…

Samba Room gets some fresh blood

Just got word that the Samba Room (1460 Larimer Street) will be starting off the New Year with some new blood and fresh energy in the back of the house. Gabe Stallone, ex of Vesta, Steuben’s and, most recently, Izakaya Den, called on Monday to let me know that he’d…

Tonight: Parisi offers an end-of-December discount

Parisi, the beloved restaurant at 4401 Tennyston Street, is looking at a big night on New Year’s Eve — or Cenone di Capodanno, as they say in Italy. “We can’t serve our New Year’s Eve menu two days in a row due to its special ingredients (can you say cured…

Guess where I’m eating?

Voulez-vous poulet avec moi? The best things in life may be frites, but the chicken comes close at this bistro. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: On Friday, anyone who gave the first correct answer to any of the past two week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts will…

Cooking with Pete: winter solstice salad

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. For the next…

Garhing to go from mo po tofu to Hong Kong Barbecue

Garhing, the honest-to-Jesus Chinese restaurant at 1048 South Federal Boulevard that took over the space formerly belonging to JJ Chinese Seafood Restaurant, another honest-to-Jesus Chinese chow house that relocated to 2500 West Alameda, is shuttered. No more deep-fried pork intestines, bamboo fungus, Cantonese-style porridge or mo po tofu. According to…

Rats! The top five ways to cook rodents, Food TV-style

For food news in 2009, it’s hard to beat this rat’s tale: The Australian version of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here put an Italian chef and a British actor in the Outback, where they saw dinner scurrying by. They pounced on the rat, ate it — and were…

Stranahan’s whiskey: Things I’m gonna miss…

When I arrived in Colorado seven and a half years ago, there was no Stranahan’s, no Colorado whiskey to speak of, and no war in my soul over what to order when I pulled up before the long oak with a taste for whiskey and some time to kill. I…

Tonight: Finish the Tour de France at Z Cuisine

At 5 p.m. tonight, Z Cuisine, 2239 West 30th Avenue, hosts the last installment of the Z Cuisine Wine Tasting Series, which has followed the Tour de France. This final leg will take you from the wine varietals of Tonnerre through Annecy, Alsace and Savoie, and finish in Paris. The…

Kazmos Lounge to close this weekend

It’s inevitable: On January 1, some restaurant suddenly closes its doors, leaving customers wondering what happened and employees wondering where they’re going to collect their paychecks. But Kazmos Lounge is not skulking off into the night. Instead, it’s throwing a helluva goodbye party this weekend. “It was a heartache,” owner…

Year in review: One perfect meal in 2009

It was the year of the gastropub, the year of the gourmet hamburger joint and cupcake shop, the year of the noodle bar. For me, it was the year of the book, the year I lost my father, the year I found out it was to be my last year…

The Mexican picks his Mexican restaurant in Denver

This week, Gustavo Arellano reveals his list of must-visit Mexican restaurants across the country. And n Denver? “Go to the Original Chubbys,” he advises. “What makes it so bueno? It’s a real paisa with buen diente the one who is making the suggestion and not a pinche bolillo who thinks…

Oh, thank heaven…for free coffee New Year’s Eve

For the 22nd straight year, participating 7-Eleven stores will be offering free 12-ounce cups of coffee and other hot beverages (including cappuccino and hot chocolate) between midnight on December 31 and 6 a.m. January 1. How do you know if a store’s participating? There will be a sign in the…

Guess where I’m drinking?

These wine glasses wobble, but they don’t fall down, which is a very good thing if you’re like me and insist on making every point with your hands. At which bar did I manage to keep my glass upright? Special bonus: Every Friday, anyone who gave the first correct answer…

Last Denver Trail Dust bites the dust

It’s now safe to wear ties in the southern ‘burbs, because Denver’s last Trail Dust Steak House has bitten the dust. A call to the restaurant at 7101 South Clinton Street in Centennial nets you just this: “The South Denver Trail Dust has closed for business.” The north Denver Trail…