We all know that drinking a glass of red wine a day is good for our health, but did you know that some wines are also good for the environment? October is Fair Trade Month at Whole Foods, and to help celebrate, Bernard Fontannaz, founder and owner of Origin Wines…
It’s been a fantastic five years for Frasca Food & Wine, the Boulder restaurant at 1738 Pearl Street that chef Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson and master sommelier Bobby Stuckey opened in 2004. Even now, Frasca is still the restaurant-of-the-moment, the food shrine by which all others in Colorado are judged. And…
John Burr, owner of the Walnut Room at 3131 Walnut Street, spent two years searching for a location for his next venture. And now the Walnut Room Pizzeria is taking shape in the former home of Freaky’s, a space at 2 Broadway that suffered a fire last year. Originally, Burr…
The playground at Smith Elementary becomes quite crowded on Thursday afternoons. That’s when parents, teachers, students and community members gather to purchase fresh organic vegetables and fruits. The sales are designed to raise money to start a community garden — but they also educate students on the importance of locally…
Boulder’s Black Cat Bistro, at 1964 13th Street in Boulder, has its own organic farm — and its Dirt Dinners feature menus focusing on one ingredient at its peak of flavor. Tonight, everyone’s favorite tuber — the potato — takes center stage in a three-course meal. The dinner is $38…
I am peering from the inside out now. “The Kitchen Life” that I have fantasized about is now under way, as I experience the daily repetitiveness that makes a kitchen run, start acquiring the mindset necessary to work twelve-plus hour days.It’s interesting how consecutive “normal” days at my new office…
What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society while getting your free jolt of instant java at Starbucks: A second outpost of Toast, the kick-ass pancake palace, took up residence in the former Village Inn space in Cherry Creek. Fresko, an upscale Mexican restaurant in the Tech Center…
If you read yesterday’s post about chef James Mazzio’s exit from Icehouse Tavern and the uh…unusual changes taking place there, you already have the background for this story. But for those of you who might’ve missed it (and are too lazy to click on the link above), here are the…
Talk about green energy! For a slide show of Fruition Farms, Alex Seidel’s ten-acre parcel of land in Larkspur, click here. Seidel is also the chef-owner of Fruition, at 1313 East Sixth Avenue, and the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell interview…
While I am not generally one for hyping the cause of vegetarian-this or vegan-that, there has always been something about the art (yes, art) of vegan and gluten-free baking that has tickled my geek bone. It’s the same instinct that makes me love the molecular gastronomy menu done by Ian…
Rocktober is in full swing and if you’re looking for a bar before or after — or during — the playoff games that isn’t full of 22-year-olds, this is the spot for you. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet cute, fun, drunk guys named Smiddy or Smitty. Or have public TV-watching…
At last week’s Mile High Chef Competition between Argyll Gastropub cooker Sergio Romero and Jing exec chef Jay Spickelmier (who emerged victorious), the hit dish of the night was Spickelmier’s Tuscan lamb and white bean soup, the recipe of which he was happy to share with us. It’s the perfect…
As you already know from spending every second of your spare time immersed in the Cafe Society blog, Alex Seidel, exec chef-owner of Fruition (1313 East Sixth Avenue), recently bought a ten-acre farm in Larkspur, where he’s producing vegetables and fruits, raising goats and chickens and, soon, sheep. He’s also…
Watch Karl Allis, restaurant manager at Atomic Cowboy and Fat Sully’s and an occasional on-air personality at KKFN (his dream is to have a show called “The Hungus Amongus”), takes a shot at winning a million bucks on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which airs at 9:30 a.m. today…
No restaurant has ever come up with house-made potato chips that taste even close to as good as those I get out of a bag. Potato chips are one of the very few things in this world that have benefited from the industrialization of our food chain, that are better…
Starbucks, the giant java company with a storefront on a street corner near you, is joining the instant coffee market with a free taste test in every store beginning at 10 a.m. today and continuing through Monday, October 5. The national chain officially introduced VIA Ready Brew, its trio of…
But if you’d rather not wear your sweet treat on your shirt, then you’ll be happy to hear that BestSweet — the candy company that’s teamed up with Baskin-Robbins to create such candy flavors as Pralines ‘n Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip and Espresso ‘n Cream for the Baskin-Robbins Smooth &…
We’re big fans of licorice, from deep black salted discs to bright red strawberry ropes. That’s just by way of saying that while we appreciate the real stuff, we’re not snobs when it comes to fruit-flavored tubes that have never even heard of licorice root. But even with an affinity…
Just got word from Denver chef/restaurateur Michel Wahaltere that he’s been bought out of MiniBAR (222 Columbine Street), the five-month-old miniature lounge (and unofficial viewing headquarters for ABC’s Cougar Night) in Cherry Creek. According to Wahaltere, MiniBAR owner Bill Ward is “taking full control of that vision and concept.” That…
Toast owners Bill Blake and Jason Parfenoff promised that the second outlet of their excellent breakfast and lunch joint (the original Toast is at 2700 West Bowles Avenue in Littleton), would open today in Cherry Creek at 222 Columbine Street — and guess what? It actually happened.At this very moment,…
Some of you are getting pretty cocky about this “Guess where I’m eating” game. And so I present to you this simple photo. Just looks like a bowl of pho, right? Same bowl of pho you could get at a hundred different shops around town. But in the picture, there’s…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Alex Seidel, the executive chef-owner of Fruition You can read the first part of Midson’s interview with Seidel here. Proudest moment as a chef: Taking our entire staff of 21 people from Fruition to Portland, Oregon, for a food and wine…
