Fruitcake is the most maligned food in America, the dessert world’s equivalent of polka music. Especially this time of year. Come Christmas morning, shabbily made fruitcakes will be the coal in the bottom of the stocking, jokes to be passed from person to person. Seasonal Spams, they’ll end up in…
Q: Can you tell me what nice places will be open on Christmas Day this year? A: I’ve received so many inquiries regarding restaurants open on Christmas that I’m wondering if anyone will be staying home this year. So many people want to eat out that they may have trouble…
There isn’t a foodie in the world who’d deny his appreciation of truffles or foie gras, caviar, Swiss chocolate or triple-cream cheese. But none of those delights begins to approximate the glory of the drippy, cheese-covered, orange-tinted triangle that is The Slice. Like a bazillion other students, I lived on…
My standard for Denver’s definitive slice has always been Anthony’s, truly the closest you’ll come to East Coast pizza in this Western town. The $1.75 slice always has a delectable slick of cheese on top, it’s the perfect size for folding in half, and as you bend over to eat…
I’m sitting with perhaps thirty other people in the kitchen of Boulder’s Cooking School of the Rockies; on the table in front of us is an array of small cardboard cups containing coffee. We pick up one cup after another, inhaling the aroma, taking a sip and swirling the fragrant…
Q: Are there any good Italian markets in town that sell groceries as well as sandwiches? A: Italian we got. One of my favorites is Cosolo’s Italian Market (8000 East Quincy Avenue, 303-290-8950), which not only stocks a great selection of imported Italian foods, deli meats and cheeses and homemade…
Aix not only marks the spot for a marvelous meal in this city, it hits the spot, dead-on, for local foodies longing for the sort of Provençal dishes that put the South of France on the culinary map. Naming a restaurant after Aix-en-Provence, considered by many to be the heart…
It’s not often that a journalist gets the chance to speak with residents of death row. But here in her suburban backyard, Carrie Stewart has put me nose to nose with two of them. Make that nose to beak. “This is Dumb and Dumber,” Stewart says, introducing me to two…
The combination gourmet-takeout/eat-in Tasteez (9595 East Arapahoe Road, Englewood), a great concept that has yet to find the right approach, is for sale; while Tasteez is still open, executive baker/executive chef/assistant general manager Michael Bortz is going to loaf somewhere else. “I was doing a lot there at the end,”…
Q: With the weather turning colder, I keep thinking about French onion soup. Where can I get the best in town? A: Homemade French onion soup is hard to come by, since so few places make beef stock from scratch. But Le Central (112 East Eighth Avenue, 303-863-8094) and Le…
When it comes to kosher food, I’m the goy next door. I live in the largest Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in town, within walking distance of four temples and the only King Soopers in Colorado that regularly offers kosher baked goods. My neighbors’ biggest complaint with Denver’s dining scene is the…
One of the reasons this town doesn’t have more kosher eateries like East Side Kosher Deli is that maintaining a commercial kosher kitchen is a big pain in the tuches. Just ask Jeff Auerbach, who’s had lots of trouble keeping his kosher Jeff’s Diner (731 Quebec Street) up and running…
This time around, Panzano is the real deal. When I first reviewed the snazzy spot on the ground floor of the then-new Hotel Monaco (“Bread Alert,” July 1, 1999), the lacquered focaccia in the window was a good indication of just how authentic and interesting the Italian fare inside would…
Q: Where can we go to get a good meal on Thanksgiving? A: Restaurants seem to be catching on to the fact that a lot of folks can’t or don’t want to make their own turkeys on T-Day. So there are a number of places open on November 22, but…
We felt like we’d stumbled into the pages of Charlotte’s Web. In one pen, a donkey slowly and thoughtfully chewed his hay. In another, a pig scratched his butt against the fence, stopping only to take a whiz. Goats fell all over each other trying to get at the food…
Some of the best days of my childhood started with pancakes. If I stumbled out of bed to the clang and clatter of Mom mixing batter in the kitchen, I knew she had a rare day off. I knew she’d be spending time at home, with me. And I knew…
As far as I can tell, the major draw of White Fence Farm — and perhaps its only draw (see review, previous page) — is that the eatery is kid-friendly. In fact, in the restaurant’s own words, “We are pleased to serve young children, but remind parents that the pleasant…
Q: I’m new to Denver and would like to pop the question in a downtown restaurant that overlooks the city. Is there a fine-dining place with a great view? A: For all the great views Denver offers, a good one of its own downtown from an equally good restaurant is…
Forget Cipro. Right now, a shortage of mashed potatoes has far more potential to do Denver in. Not that we should start petitioning the government to remove the patent on Yukon golds just yet. But at the rate that we’re consuming comfort foods, Betty Crocker needs to watch her back…
While the restaurant business is down across the country, eateries have reported that sales are up for two things: comfort foods and alcohol. “We’ve just been selling the heck out of mashed potatoes,” says a server at the Buckhorn Exchange (1000 Osage Street), one of my many stops during Dine…
Q: We just got back from Europe and had the most incredible experience at an Indonesian restaurant. Do we have any in Denver? A: While no local restaurant bills itself as strictly Indonesian, the few-months-old Singapore Grill (7923 South Broadway, Littleton, 303-347-1477) offers the cuisines of Malaysia and Singapore, both…
I discovered Cuban food on the streets of Miami a dozen or so years ago when I lived in Naples, two hours’ drive across Alligator Alley. The first time I wandered through Little Havana, I felt as though I’d been transported to another country: English as a second language, sidewalk…
