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…

Tavern Hospitality Group introduces its own stimulus package

“We recognize that times are tough for people in this current economic situation,” says Frank Schultz of the Tavern Hospitality Group. “A little has to go a long way. We felt compelled to offer guests a greater value for their dollar.” And so today THG will roll out the Tavern…

Under Fire: I made it through the first week!

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. Saturday was the day of reckoning — but fortunately, no lives were lost. It was a long…

Under Fire: Hectic nothingness

For a workplace that’s notoriously hectic, it’s funny how little you feel you sometimes get done. In three hours I made tapenade and picked beet greens. We have a whole menu, and that’s all I manage to do? Well, it takes a while to pit approximately 73,000 Pincholine olives. Pitting…

Appetite for pig: Tyler Wiard’s winning pork recipe

In this week’s Chef and Tell interview with Tyler Wiard, the executive chef at Elway’s Cherry Creek, Wiard talks about his proudest moment as a chef — the day he won the National Pork award, and a cool $5,000 in cash, while competing against nearly two dozen other chefs in…

Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed while hurling a No-Bake Love Cake in Sandra Lee’s face…Jason Sheehan asked readers what foods our fair city is missing.We gained a few, we lost a few: check out the restaurant roll call for August.We learned Sean Kenyon, bartender at Steuben’s, has had some very,…

Under Fire: No punchas hoy!

¿Ya punchas? No vato. No hoy. Yeah, it’s different not actually clocking into work. Not counting hours is both a little nerve racking and suspiciously liberating. You kinda just focus on tasks, and time just disappears; it’s over when the last mop is wrung out. But how I do or…

Guess where I’m eating?

 So, yeah, see those tacos in the above pic? You’ll NEVER guess where they came from. I was shocked speechless when I saw tacos — street tacos, mind you — on a bar menu that really has no business pimping tacos. No, this is a watering hole that by all…

Where there’s smoke, there’s Firehouse Subs

A month away from the fifteenth anniversary of the family business, Firehouse Subs CEO Robin Sorensen and his team were in their Thornton store this week after a tour of future Front Range locations, from Fort Collins to Highlands Ranch. I met them at 10060 Grant Street in Thornton, at…

The astounding BBQ problem of Andrew Novick

Andrew Novick is probably best known as a dude with a lot of stuff. The local electrical engineer and punk-rock trend-setter (he was a member of the legendary Denver band the Warlock Pinchers and co-owner with his wife, Janene, of the Asian pop culture boutique Gimme Gimme Pillow Toast) earned…

Sandra Lee’s ten worst dessert disasters

Love her or hate her, everyone will admit that Sandra Lee, the queen of Food Network’s Semi-Homemade domain, has made some seriously shitty food. We dug up her ten best dessert failures to share with you, along with some reader comments from the Food Network’s recipe site. If you have…

Bottomless mango mimosas at Argyll

Argyll, the gastropub that opened four months ago at 2700 East Third Avenue in Cherry Creek, has just released a new fall menu, featuring oatmeal buttermilk pancakes with boxties and maple bacon; fresh lump crab eggs Benedict with a horseradish hollandaise; french toast with chantilly whipped cream; and “housemade” corned…

It’s turkey leg time at the Taste of Colorado (woo-hoo!)

The Taste of Colorado kicks off today and continues through Monday, September 7 at Civic Center Park. And you know what that means: Turkey legs! Of course, readers of this blog want nothing to do with those, but you may be interested in the hot dog eating contest, cupcake tasting,…

Tonight: Pig out on lobster at the Berkshire

The Berkshire, 7352 East 29th Avenue, one of our favorite places for pig – and to pig out – is putting pork on the back-burner, at least for tonight. That’s because the Stapleton-based temple of swine is hosting its first Maine lobster bake with all the required fixings – corn…

Candy Girls: 5th Avenue

5th Avenue candy bars have been around since 1936, but we’ve yet to pull one off the shelf and indulge. The reason why is unclear, though we guess it has something to do with not having any idea what this candy is all about, from its providence to its flavor…