Tonight: A Halloween dinner offer you can’t refuse

Fuhgeddabout vampires and zombies — mobsters are really scary, and they really exist. Parisi, 4401 Tennyson Street, is celebrating the season Godfather-style with tonight’s Halloween Community Table. Dress in your best mob gear and enjoy an array of traditional East Coast Italian-American fare. The meal is $30; call 303-561-0234 and…

Eating the green at Chili Verde

The first dish I tried at Chile Verde was the fish ceviche. It arrived in a plain white bowl set on a saucer, with an honor guard of Saltine crackers in their little plastic envelopes – the traditional Mexican accompaniment. And one bite told me nearly everything I needed to…

Dorm cooking with Hosea Rosenberg

As I reported earlier today, Jax-Boulder chef Hosea Rosenberg is the official grand marshal at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s 2009 homecoming on Friday, October 30. And one of the perks (if you can call it that) of living in the residence halls, at least on Friday, is that…

Ghoul-d eats, drinks at Interstate’s Haunted Highway shindig

Don’t have any plans for Halloween night? How about partying while getting your eat and drink on at the same time? Interstate Kitchen and Bar is hosting a “Haunted Highway” Halloween party on Saturday from 9 p.m. until close with unlimited food and premium well drinks for $30 per person…

Den Deli is staffing up

Looks like plans are moving fast for the new Den Deli and Sushi Market, which is going into 1501 South Pearl Street — conveniently located between Sushi Den ( 1487 South Pearl) and Izakaya Den (1518 South Pearl). Brothers Toshi and Yazu Kizaki are hosting a job fair for their…

Emily’s Gourmet-to-Go is gone

After two owners, two locations — first at 1555 Champa Street, then at 1543 Champa, in the circa 1889 Odd Fellows Hall (right) — and one Best of Denver award, Emily’s Gourmet-to-Go is finally a no-go. Chef/owner Victor Miller, whose soups had snagged the Best Soup award in the Best…

Today’s hit of Hosea Rosenberg hilarity

Okay, so Jax-Boulder superchef Hosea Rosenberg wins Top Chef: New York and, along with the top title, gets $100,000 to blow on opening a new restaurant. Except he hasn’t opened a new restaurant. In fact, as I reported in this space last month, Rosenberg is taking a sabbatical from Jax,…

Behind the Bar with Leigh Jones of Jonesy’s EatBar

Leigh Jones, the woman behind Jonesy’s EatBar and the Horseshoe Lounge (with partner Margaret Moore), was also the co-owner and designer of the Dish, B-52 Billiards, Brasserie Rouge, Atomic Cowboy and Buffalo Billiards in Nashville and Austin. But she really came into her own with the eponymous Jonesy’s, Denver’s first…

Screw Candy: What rich people should give out on Halloween

Pop quiz, hotshot. You’ve got the wealth of Bill (or at least Antonio) Gates, but you live in a neighborhood that doesn’t wall-out or otherwise secure your house from casual trick-or-treating. You love Halloween, and you want your house to be legendary. You don’t want to go crazy here–no Oprah-style…

OneRepublic to pitch in at Food Bank of the Rockies

Colorado-grown band OneRepublic is in Denver for their concert at Magness Arena, but before they take the stage tonight, they’ll be volunteering at the Food Bank of the Rockies. The band, responsible for popular tracks Apologize and All the Right Moves, will be packing boxes and sorting food alongside staff…

Guess where I’m eating: Chips, salsa and unicorns

I know, it’s usually Lori who puts up the snaps of hole-in-the-wall Mexican joints. But every once in a while, I find one that’s just too good to let go without some small observation. In this case, it’s about the chips and salsa. The free chips and not-quite-salsas that appear…

Under Fire: One of those nights

​When I have time in the kitchen, I make notes of things to remember. I’ll scribble in a little yellow book and then later try to decipher the language of the Sharpie. If I’d had time tonight to even reach for my notebook, that time would have been better used…

Tonight: Happy birthday to Tavern Wash Park!

Celebrate a one-year-old’s birthday with drinking and debauchery! The Tavern Wash Park turns one today, and is offering $1 Shock Top Belgian white beers and a complimentary buffet — which will include the Tavern’s always-popular Kobe beef sliders — plus chances to win a gift card good at any Tavern…

Want soup? Try the new miso ramen at Kokoro

Kokoro, voted Denver’s Best Not-So-Traditional Japanese Restaurant in Westword’s 2009 best of issue, is leaning a little more toward old school. The quick-casual, homegrown Japanese mini-chain has added miso ramen to its menu, which already features udon bowls and the more contemporary sobaghetti (yakisoba with vegetables and sauce). The miso…

My dinner at Mezcal: the aftermath

Those of you watching the Cafewestword twitter feed over the weekend already know that I survived my night “cooking” at Mezcal without any serious difficulties. Nothing got burned down, no one got punched and, by the time we were done, we’d managed to serve several turns of the dining room…

Aurora burger lovers get a serving from Smashburger

Attention, Aurora residents: Your wait for the “better burger” is almost over! Smashburger will open its ninth metro location tomorrow at 2630 South Parker Road. Taking its name from the cooking method, a Smashburger is either a one-third or half-pound ball of 100 percent Angus Beef smashed on a flat…

Guess where I’m drinking?

This restaurant is the first place I take out-of-town guests who think Denver is fly-over culinary country. And while their shock over our incredibly good dinner was sweet, the bar’s new selection of fall cocktails was perhaps too sweet. The one above was made with Leopold Bros. Cranberry Liquor and…

Miss Audry now behind a stove, not the decks

After more than a decade behind the decks, DJ Miss Audry is retiring. But music’s loss is food’s gain, since she’s going to be devoting her time to helping out at Melita’s Greek Cafe & Market, the spot that took over for the Economy Greek Deli at 1035 Lincoln Street…

Guess where I’m eating?

The dish that you see at the top of the page was sabotaged by the “chef,” and returned to the kitchen with a plea that he redo the damn thing and make it look, well, if not stunning, then at least quasi-presentable — which it wasn’t when it first landed…