Devil’s Food Bakery

After my time at D Bar Desserts, I wanted to revisit another dessert bar. One major problem: Though Denver has seen a few dedicated dessert bars open, it has also seen just about all of them close soon after. Remember Emogene and how fast that nascent chain tanked? Though the…

Tony’s Market Will Open a Broadway Bistro

Mick Rosacci’s favorite sandwich at Tony’s Market, where he is head chef, is the Italian Sub, which comes with mortadella, capicola, two kinds of salami, provolone, oil, vinegar, lettuce, tomato and peppers on artisan bread. “That one makes me crazy!” he says. But like a lot of people, Mick has…

Diane DeGette Testifies on a Hot Topic

Earlier this week, a jalapeno pepper in southwest Colorado tested positive for salmonella. That finding gave particular weight to the testimony that Representative Diana DeGette, vice-chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, gave today before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture at a hearing to discuss…

Enjoy Olathe’s Annual Cob Hob Nob

The town of Olathe’s population will swell 1400 percent on Saturday, August 2, when it hosts the annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. But you don”t have to head to Olathe to enjoy sweet corn — Colorado annually produces more than 130 million pounds of it, and it’s now in local…

All Keegan, All the Time

The first time I saw Keegan Gerhard in person was at the James Beard Awards in early June. He was cooking the final course for the awards dinner — a dessert, natch, of smoked cherries and chocolate that involved super-call scotch as a main ingredient — and because my table…

Say Sayonara to Mori Japanese Restaurant

There’s sad news on Market Street — and it’s not the closing of Buca de Beppo. No, six blocks away at 2019 Market, the space occupied by Mori Japanese Restaurant is flying a rain-soaked, “temporarily closed for renovation” sign. More telling, though is the sign on the other side of…

The Dish on Jonesy’s EatBar

Just heard from Leigh Jones regarding Jonesy’s EatBar, which took over the space that once held her Dish Bistro at 400 East 20th Avenue. While Dish was definitely a bistro — a small, informal restaurant serving wine — Jones says the new joint is absolutely a gastropub: a neighborhood bar…

A Late Update on The Early Show and Chef Jen

Yes, Jen Jasinski’s segment on The Early Show was on awfully early — 6:30 a.m. last Saturday, July 26, when the Rioja/Bistro Vendome chef/owner was cooking live in the New York studio of the CBS show. But better late than never — because you can still catch Chef Jen in…

Frasca at my Block Party

Dear Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, I’ve heard you are a great chef, and that your restaurant, Frasca (1738 Pearl Street, Boulder), is awesome. But it is unlikely I will get to Boulder anytime soon –and even if I did, my budget at the moment doesn’t allow for a lot of fancy stuff…

Hover Bacon Virus Destroys Nation, World

CVVC Virus Report, 7/25/08: The Center for Viral Video Control has reported that this video (shown after the jump) has been responsible for the sudden cranial detonation of approximately 90% of the population of the North American continent. Unconfirmed reports have the video (in translated form) already appearing in Central…

Milking It: Cocoa Puffs Combos

Cocoa Puffs Combos General Mills Rating: Two and a half spoons out of four Cereal description: Whole corn grain and corn meal inflated into uniform orbs — half of them a pleasant light brown that visually says “chocolate,” the rest a light tan hue that, well, doesn’t. Vanilla is so…

Going Ape for Wynkoop Beer

The good folks of the Wynkoop Brewing Company, as well as its six related saloons, have launched an extensive fundraising effort to assist Africa’s endangered mountain gorillas. From now through October, when the annual Gorilla Run goes ape in downtown Denver, the Wynkoop and its allied establishments — Gaetano’s, the…

The Candy Girls Go on Vacation

This week the Candy Girls didn’t really get to go on vacation, but Aubrey did manage to make it out of town a couple of weeks ago to visit her home state of New Mexico. While in the Land of Enchantment, she picked up a few treats at Senor Murphy,…

Early Bird Special: Jennifer Jasinski

Jennifer Jasinski will be cooking at your house tomorrow morning — but you may need to eat breakfast out afterwards. That’s because Jasinski, chef/owner of Rioja and Bistro Vendome, has accepted the “Chef on a Shoestring” challenge issued by CBS’s The Early Show, and will be preparing a $30, three-course…

Fire When Ready: Carelli’s Ristorante Italiano

Greg Carelli, the owner of Carelli’s Ristorante Italiano, is an architectural artist as well as a restaurateur, and every few years he adds a new “wing” to his place in Boulder. And the most recent, dubbed the Osteria and unveiled this month, is a doozy: a bigger and better bar…

Week Four in Hell’s Kitchen: Drunk, Again

Jason Sheehan is no fan of Hell’s Kitchen, but he watches it. And now he’s playing it, as he describes here. Now on to week four: Playing Hell’s Kitchen drunk was embarassing but fun, which was why I let my buzz roll me right through into week four. Another table,…

A Sweet Deal at Spicy Pickle

Sweet Leaf Tea and the Spicy Pickle have a sweet deal going with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado. As part of BBBS’s 90th anniversary celebration, BBBS kids will be running lemonade and iced tea stands at the Spicy Pickle at 2300 Parker Road, Unit C, in Aurora, starting at…

LoDo’s Bar & Grill Takes Patios to New Heights

Whether or not the Rockies are in town, the patio at Lodo’s Bar and Grill is always a hit. And unlike the Rockies, the Lodo’s patio is better than ever this summer. Over the winter, the restaurant expanded into the Mattie’s House of Mirrors space next door, and that almost…

Week Three in Hell’s Kitchen: Drunk and Disorderly

Jason Sheehan is no fan of Hell’s Kitchen, but he watches it. And now he’s playing it, as he describes here and here. Now on to week three: At a certain point in my career, working drunk (or worse) became a job skill rather than a liability. True, it was…

Hamburger Mary’s

One of the most awesome things about this job is that I never have to worry about who’s buying the cheeseburgers. I just have to worry about finding new cheeseburgers for my boss to buy. That’s no knock against Denver — God knows, this city has more burger joints than…

Join the Club

I like community-oriented restaurants, places that hang their existence on serving one specific subset of society but also gladly welcome others from outside the targeted demographic — seeing them as so much gravy. Hamburger Mary’s, the gay-themed burger joint transplanted from San Francisco is one of these, but so are…