Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society while checking out Jason Sheehan’s top ten places on 17th Avenue to swell your belly. Lori Midson got a sneak peak of Sean Yontz’s new restaurant space during a sit-down with the Sketch, Mezcal and Tambien executive chef, who’s also…

Why I hate the word “gastropub,” again

I want to make myself absolutely clear here: I hate the word “gastropub.” Just to be sure, I’m going to repeat that: I hate the word gastropub. Got it, everyone? The word. Words are my business. I take them very seriously. And as far as words go, gastropub is a…

Rootin’ without the gluten at Coors Field

While cheering the Rockies on to victory tomorrow at Coors Field, why not check out the stadium’s newest and most unusual concession location: the gluten-free stand behind Section 147 on the left-field concourse (near the in-stadium playground). Believed to be the first of its kind in Major League Baseball, the…

Guess where I’m drinking?

Although some people think that mint juleps should only be imbibed in the summer, I disagree. Wholeheartedly. So when I saw a mint julep on the menu at this establishment that’s trying to make a name for itself with an impressive whiskey selection, despite the chilly weather outside, I ordered…

Postponed: Pleasures of the pig at Cook Street

Some people just can’t get enough pork. If you’re one of those people, head to Cook Street School of Fine Cooking, 1937 Market Street, for “Pleasures of the Pig.” The dinner, originally scheduled for October 9, has been moved to October 23, and will feature cider-glazed pork shoulder, potatoes lyonnaise…

Another restaurant world obit: Ben Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl

Ben Ali, co-founder and namesake of Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C., died Wednesday night at the age 82. Thursday morning, his joint — the one that he has run for 51 years with his wife, Virginia, and their extended family, the one that has fed everyone from politicians, actors…

Steve Abo, chief pie hole of Abo’s Pizza, comes full Circle

Steve Abo — you know, the guy behind eighteen Abo’s Pizza stores throughout Colorado — is using some of the dough he’s pocketed from tossing millions of pies to open a new restaurant that won’t have anything at all to do with pizza. Abo plans to open Circle, a “Continental…

Remembering Frank Finn of the Gold Hill Inn

The inn at Gold Hill, ten miles up from Boulder, has been around about as long as Colorado has been a state. Poet Eugene Field stayed there, and described his visits in “Casey’s Table d’Hote,” the first poem in his 1889 book A Little Book of Western Verse. Oh, them…

Top ten places to eat on 17th Avenue

When Olivea opened in May at 719 East 17th Avenue, it immediately earned a spot among the top ten restaurants on 17th Avenue, which has become a real restaurant row. Below, nine more places to brake for food along 17th…

Guess where I’m eating?

It’s Friday morning. Where are your pancakes? If you can pinpoint the exact location of the pancake in the above pic — which on further examination, looks like a distorted Halloween mask, what with those freaky butter eyes (not intentional, by the way) and rivers of syrup that somehow managed…

Hey, bartender! Time to gin up some gin recipes

Colorado Bartenders Guild (COBG) is looking for bartenders with noggins full of gin ideas for the Hendrick’s Gin Cocktail Competition. To enter, a bartender needs to concoct a cocktail that includes the base spirit of Hendrick’s Gin (at least 1.5 ounces), with a maximum of seven ingredients (one can be…

One more from Dylan Moore — this time, it’s burgers

Dylan Moore already runs a couple of this city’s most engaging restaurants: Deluxe at 30 South Broadway, one of the (very) few examples of intelligently designed, historical California cuisine done right in Denver, and right next door at 32 South Broadway, Delite, which offers a kind of Deluxe-lite menu (a…

Ten TV bars at which we’d like to get wasted

There are places to meet friends for drinks … and then there are bars, my friends. Places where the drink is the thing, and the goal is drunk. That in mind, there are some TV bars where you just wouldn’t want to be, like Rosie’s from M.A.S.H. (bad booze near…

RIP: Mike McCrea of Big Mike’s BBQ

Just got news from the Rocky Mountain BBQ Association that Mike McCrea of Big Mike’s BBQ, at 8751 Pearl Street in Thornton, died on Tuesday night. McCrea had been injured in a flash-over from a propane tank in late September and spent that Friday night in an ER in Grand…

Guess where I’m eating?

It’s not easy baking at 8,000 feet, but this pastry chef seems to have hit the jackpot. Want to be rolling in dough? Then guess where I’m eating…

Guess where I’m drinking?

I went out last night to try the new fall cocktails at a place I love, but don’t get to nearly as often as I’d like. After I’d tasted a number of delicious drinks (including a yummy red sangria with an orange twist, pictured above), the proprietor handed me a…

A sign of the times at Aviano Coffee

Coffee’s on at Aviano Coffee — and so is the heat. Owner Doug Naiman, who opened his spot in the beleaguered Beauvallon back in 2006, never anticipated the building being obscured by scaffolding and swathed in plastic. “When this scaffolding goes up over my business, what’s it going to look…

Illegal Pete’s is now legal on East Evans Avenue

Illegal Pete’s, home of the fat fish burrito, has just opened its sixth location at 1744 East Evans Avenue, a textbook’s toss from the University of Denver campus. Like its other outposts, the fast-casual coastal Mexican, whose beer-battered fish filets (and counter staff that mixes up your burrito ingredients) have…

Could Kaos hit South Pearl Street just in time for Halloween?

A new venture by Jon Edwards and Patrick Mangold-White, a take-out pizza joint called Kaos, was expected to open in May at 1439 South Pearl Street, but their little slice of pizza pie was derailed by issues with the one piece of equipment they really needed: a pizza oven. Up…

Tavern Congress Park will replace Neighborhood Flix

Tavern Congress Park, a new bar and restaurant planned for the former Neighborhood Flix Cinema & Cafe inside the Lowenstein complex (2510 East Colfax), will be the next in a series of outlets run by Denver’s Tavern Hospitality Group — which also owns the Soiled Dove, the Cowboy Lounge and…

Tonight: A fiesta of Mexican wines and appetizers at Strings

Despite 450 years in the grape-stomping business, Mexican wines aren’t exactly flying off the shelves, but the Mexican Cultural Center and Consulate General of Mexico, along with Strings, will attempt to silence your inner cynic tonight, when Strings, 1700 Humboldt Street, hosts a Mexican wine dinner. The fiesta kicks off…