Candy Girls: Pumpkin Spice Kisses

During last year’s introduction of Hershey’s autumn-themed candies, we tested the Candy Corn Kisses and found them tastier than expected, though tooth-achingly sweet. This year, the Pumpkin Spice Kisses lured us into buying them off an early Halloween rack being prepared at Target.  From the picture on the front of…

H Burger has a date with the city

There’s a promising sign posted at 1555 Blake Street, the future home of H Burger Lounge. Peter Pflum, the restaurateur (he’s the former operations manager for Dave Query’s Big Red F Restaurant Group and most recently the VP of operations for Quizno’s) who came up with the idea of putting…

Under Fire: Ahh, peaches

Our former Cafe Society intern just decided to chuck college in favor of a real education: as a sous chef. In Under Fire, he chronicles his daily trials and tribulations in the kitchen. THREE DAY WEEKEND!!! WOOOO!!! While I’m not in school anymore, I still will take the liberty of…

Part two: Chef and Tell with Mark Dym of Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza

This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Mark Dym, the owner-executive chef of Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza. You can read the first part of Midson’s interview with Dym here. Culinary inspirations: No question, Roberto Caporuscio, a fantastic pizzaiolo from Campania who’s been living in the states for ten years…

Happy Hour: Five for five at five at Bones

Bones, Frank Bonanno’s fantastic ramen noodle bar at 701 Grant Street, has just rolled out a daily happy hour, which the crew is calling “Five for Five at Five.” That’s because the five happy-hour dishes — shishito peppers, crab wontons, a duo of egg rolls, escargot pot stickers and black…

Denver Food & Wine Classic, take five

The fifth annual Denver Food & Wine Classic kicks off at 6 p.m. tonight with “Art of the Cocktail and a Movie,” which will pour on the drinks before an outdoor screening of Pressure Cooker, in which documentarians Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker follow three inner-city culinary students through a…

Swanky’s Spank Me Frozen machine has a license to chill

“Oh, we have to leave,” Brian says, not thirty seconds after stumbling into Swanky’s and finding me alone at the bar. “Immediately.” Brian is wearing a vintage Chicago Bears sweater, the white version of the blue one Mike Ditka sports in the now-infamous middle-finger photo. Swanky’s is a Green Pay…

Jaya Asian Grill is hot — in more ways than one

Chile cannot kill you. I have been assured of that. No matter how much your dumb, careless, looking-in-the-other-direction ass might’ve accidentally ingested, it can not do you any severe or lasting harm. Oh, it can make you want to die — from embarrassment first, as you dance around the living…

A trio of restaurant openings

September is off to a fast start, with three restaurants opening in as many days. On September 1, SALT Bistro served its first lunch in the former Tom’s Tavern space, at 1047 Pearl Street in Boulder. Owner-exec chef Bradford Heap, who also runs Colterra in Niwot, had hoped to open…

Mark Dym keeps it simple at Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza

It’s 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, the crowds at Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza have finally thinned, and owner-chef Mark Dym is exhausted. “I was up at 4 a.m. yesterday morning so I could make 800 fucking pounds of chicken wings,” he says, before quickly adding that he’s “not complaining.” He pauses,…

Guess where I’m drinking?

Late last night, after hitting up a party where the only beverage being poured was vodka (a poison I avoid at all costs), I stopped for a glass of wine at one of my favorite neighborhood bars, a spot with a fantastic late-night happy hour and more than one rose…

What’s cooking? Pete Marczyk makes magic with mushrooms

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 usually bring a selection of some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast…

Our Weekly Bread: Cheba Hut

The sandwich: Panama Red What’s on it: Grilled chicken breast, home-grown marinara sauce, parmesan and provolone on white, wheat or garlic “herb” bread. Where to get it: Cheba Hut (1531 Champa Street, 720-974-1880) How much: $6.50 A lot of people like Cheba Hut. They’ve been telling me it’s good, strongly…

Chef and Tell: Mark Dym of Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza

It’s 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, the crowds at Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza have finally thinned, and owner-chef Mark Dym is exhausted. “I was up at 4 a.m. yesterday morning so I could make 800 fucking pounds of chicken wings,” he says, before quickly adding that he’s “not complaining.” He pauses,…

Tonight: Denver Five dinner at TAG with local winemaker Ben Parsons

To celebrate the fact that the Taste of Colorado won’t be back for another year, the Denver Five, a cartel of homegrown chefs that get together every so often in each other’s restaurant kitchens, are cooking together tonight at TAG, Troy Guard’s Asian fusion restaurant at 1441 Larimer Street. Okay,…

Open house today at 3014

Get an inside look today at 3014, the new identity for the space at 3014 East Colfax Avenue that was Senger’s on the ‘Fax, until that bar abruptly closed in July. Colfax on the Hill, Colfax BID, Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods and MyColfax.org are holding their September Happy on the…

Toast to open a second location in Cherry Creek

“We weren’t really looking to do a second restaurant, but everything just kind of fell into place,” explains Bill Blake. Along with business partner Jason Parfenoff, he’s just signed a lease on the long-vacated Village Inn space at 222 Columbine Street where they plan to open a second outpost of…

Jack-n-Grill brings its burrito bomb to German TV

Just got a call from Jack Martinez, the patriarch at Jack-n-Grill, 2525 Federal Boulevard (and soon, at 2630 West Belleview Avenue in Littleton). Martinez’s seven-pound burrito nearly gutted Adam Richman, host of the Travel Channel show Man v. Food, when the TV host stopped by earlier this year to to…

Guess where I’m eating?

“Eat the dried chiles,” advised our server, “but leave the fresh red and green ones alone because they’re really hot.”  Problem is, I tend to roll my eyes and shrug when it comes to heat advisories, which is exactly what I did in this case. And that turned out to…

Today: Free food at Qdoba!

To celebrate the opening of Qdoba Mexican Grill’s 500th restaurant, the fast-casual, homegrown Mexican chain is giving away free entrees today to the first 500 people who elbow their way through the doors of the newest location at 6703 South University Boulevard in Centennial. The 500th restaurant marks a milestone…

Behind the bar at Root Down with Anika Zappe

Anika Zappe is on a tear. Yes, she still has her band, Hemi Cuda, although its last show is coming sometime this year. “Had to make more time for cocktology,” she says. Zappe has been Root Down’s bar manager since the restaurant opened in December 2008, and the bar is…

Milking It: Cap’n Crunch’s Race Car Crunch

Cap’n Crunch’s Race Car Crunch Quaker Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: This time around, the classic slab o’ Crunch — yellow in color, corn and oats in content, and shaped kinda like a piece of shredded wheat (but delicious, not bleeech!) — is supplemented by Crunch Berry-like…