Staffing Up: A new concept for Mark & Isabella

Last week, my buddy Dave Herrera over at Backbeat debuted a new bloggity thingamajig called Recast, in which he and his guys redo the soundtracks of existing movies. First one? Blade Runner — one of the greatest movies of all time, and one with a soundtrack that already kicks some…

Ten last-call shots and what they’re good for

When the lights come on, and the only thing separating you from Hammered Enough to Want Taco Bell is one last shot, it’s good to have a plan. Hesitate, and risk the bartender reneging on his gracious offer to tack fifty more dollars on your tab. But: Know what you…

String Cheese and beer with Kyle Hollingsworth

The String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth is touring to push his new solo release, Then There’s Now, but the keyboardist/songwriter isn’t just an expert musician. He’s also a home brewer, and is teaming up with local breweries along his route for Kyle’s Beer Tour. Although the tour won’t hit Colorado…

Top ten grossest Halloween party foods

So you’re headed to a friend’s Halloween party or hosting one of your own and the pressure’s on to find the perfect party food to delight and entertain. You’ve done cute mashed potato ghosts, are bored with spider web cheesecakes, and are so over doll hands reaching out from cupcakes. Maybe…

James Mazzio has a new ooh la la chef gig at Le Chateau

“I’ve just become the chef of Le Chateau,” writes James Mazzio, one-time Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef winner and until recently the exec at the Icehouse Tavern, 1801 Wynkoop Street. But that stint ended early this month when the “high-powered” Mazzio was turned loose by powers higher than…

More snow business: Lime XS offers half-off on apps

Restaurants and bars continue to offer a flurry of snow deals. Yesterday we reminded you about McCormick’s excellent dollar Irish coffee offer whenever it snows, as well as half-off Murphy’s at Argyll and new deals at Mezcal, Tambien and Sketch. Now comes word that Lime XS, at 730 East Sixth…

Cook’s Fresh Market unveils new dinner menu

Cook’s Fresh Market is serving up a new dish to downtown dwellers and commuters. The upscale grocer at 1600 Glenarm has begun selling bistro dinners on weeknights from 5 to 8 p.m. for an unbelievably not-so upscale price of under $10 an entree. Menu items include wood roasted beef tri-tip…

Part two: Chef and Tell with Chad Clevenger

This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Chad Clevenger, exec chef of Mel’s Bar and Grill. You can read part one of Midson’s interview with Clevenger here. Rules of conduct in your kitchen: Work clean, work quiet, ask questions if you don’t know the answer, respect your team,…

Gourmet hot dogs and sausages coming soon to Broadway and Larimer

Just got off the phone with Bill Feid, a Denver entrepreneur who’s never done a restaurant, but has firm plans in place to open Billy’s, a gourmet hot dog and sausage shack, at 2445 Larimer Street in mid-November. According to Feid, this isn’t going to be your average dog house…

Counting down to tapas at Ondo’s

There are some restaurants I talk about a lot. There are others that I talk about hardly at all. And one of the very few places that I talk about continuously (some would say obsessively) isn’t even open yet. It’s Ondo’s. Ah, Ondo’s….I’ve been dreaming about having a new tapas…

Tonight: A taste of wine — or Bette Davis

Go on a bar crawl with a long-dead cinema star tonight when Matthew Martin, Bette Davis impersonator extraordinaire, leads a Bette Davis Bar Crawl in anticipation of the October 30 Awful Things in Denver party being thrown by the Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life. The crawl starts at 8…

Chili Verde serves nearly perfect Pueblan food

Ceviche is a nearly perfect dish — simple and organic and beautifully balanced, using the strengths of every single ingredient to subtly alter every other; a dish virtually unchanged through generations of cooks, both amateur and professional. No one knows for sure where ceviche was invented, only that it most…

Autumn Apple Cooler at Jonesy’s

My family wasn’t the Irish pub kind. Some of my earliest, fondest memories involve going with my dad to Trader Vic’s in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Or the Brown Palace. Or Eddie Bohn’s Pig ‘N Whistle on West Colfax, where we’d sit in one of those red booths with his pals…

Stella Cordova is gone, but Chubby’s endures

After my last meal at Chili Verde, a new and very traditional Mexican restaurant that was about to get its liquor license, I stopped by Chubby’s, a forty-year-old Mexican joint that never has (and never will) serve a drop. They’re in the same northwest Denver neighborhood, yet fill very different…

Soldiering on through the snow at Frasca

This just in from the boys at Frasca: “Despite receiving over 14 inches of snow (and counting…) on Frasca’s patio today, we’ll still be open this evening for regular dinner service. We hope to see you soon.” Two feet of snow. More on the way. But what do chefs do?…

Recession (and belly) friendly lunch: Vietnamese steamed bun

If there was such a thing as a Vietnamese Whopper, the banh bao would be it. Banh bao, a steamed rice dumpling, is like its Chinese cousin, the char siu bao. But instead of harboring BBQ pork, banh bao contains two types of pork mixed together: salty ground pork with…

Getting in early at Il Posto

I got a call from chef Andrea Frizzi yesterday, thanking me for including his little 17th Avenue restaurant in my list of Denver’s best Italian spots, and then letting me know that he’ll soon add lunch service at Il Posto. Oh, and not just any lunch. I checked out the…

Up Close: Chili Verde

In this week’s restaurant review, Jason Sheehan discovers a taste of Puebla at Chili Verde. See more of Mark Manger’s photos on the slideshow page…

No gin for you! Hendrick’s contest postponed

The bad weather has put the Hendrick’s Gin competition hosted by the Colorado Bartenders Guild at Lola tonight on ice. I was slated to be a judge, so I’m both relieved and disappointed by the postponement. The contest has been tentatively rescheduled for November 16. In the meantime, you might…

Guess where I’m eating?

Is there anything more disappointing than a dish of old, cold chicharrones? That’s what Jason Sheehan got on his recent visit to Chubby’s. Then again, is there anything more sinfully porkorific than a dish of absolutely fresh, hot chicharrones? That’s what we got when we stopped by another Mexican restaurant,…