Q:I went to Caldonia’s recently just for their fried chicken, and they’ve quit serving it. Any other suggestions? A:This past June, Caldonia’s (2252 South Parker Road in Aurora, 303-752-3829) won our Best Fried Chicken award; unfortunately, the popular sports bar didn’t sell enough of the town’s best fried chicken, so…
It’s not as American as apple pie, but barbecue is firmly entrenched in this country’s culinary heritage. Although some food historians suggest that “barbecue” was derived from the French barbe à queue, which means “beard to tail,” the majority of reference works agree that it really came from the Haitian…
There are those barbecue fans who claim you can get the same flavor with an electric smoker that you can by burning charcoal (and most of the fans who claim this are purveyors of electric smokers). I disagree, as do many barbecue purists, including the owners of Smacks Cafe (see…
The Rockybilt hamburger, a humble object of desire that sent three generations of Denverites into swoons of praise, has long since gone the way of cocktails at the Shirley-Savoy, the Broncos’ vertically striped socks and convenient Stapleton Airport. The last Rockybilt System shack closed its doors circa 1980, having fallen…
Q:I have a friend who just moved to Denver from San Francisco and is looking for a Cambodian restaurant. Can you point her in the right direction? A:Sorry, Denver has yet to land its first Cambodian spot. Too bad, because the coastal country knows what to do with fish, and…
Start small and keep it simple — that’s the advice I’d offer anyone wondering how to open a successful restaurant. A restaurant doesn’t need to feature a hip gimmick, or offer an enormous menu of enormously portioned dishes, or have a thousand wine bottles in its collection, or bear a…
WaterCourse Foods serves great vegetarian food. But it serves that food very, very slowly. Chef/owner Dan Landes opened his flesh-free restaurant almost three years ago, and it was a fast hit with vegans, carnivores, macro heads and lackadaisical chicken-and-fish-eating vegetarians alike (“Go With the Flow,” May 21, 1998). To please…
Have a restaurant for sale? You just might get a call from Ruth Chiffon von Seeburg-Schausten Prager, better known in these parts as Chiffon. Now fresh out of the joint, Chiffon made a name for herself in Denver — make that many names, since she had quite a few aliases…
Q:I used to go to Johnnie’s Market to buy chile powder. Some recipes call for several different types, and he had the greatest selection. With Johnnie’s gone, where can I get my chile powder? A:When Ed Maestas died in 1998, the city lost not only its unofficial mayor of the…
It’s a typical workday, and you have thousands of tasks ahead. You’ve just come out of a meeting, dozens of clients are waiting for you, and before you can take care of anything, your co-workers are signaling that it’s time for you to do that special part of your job,…
Late last year, when Sam Kraydie opened Sinbad on South Colorado Boulevard, he knew he had something, and he let everyone else know it, too, by placing a sign in the front window that boasted, “The best there ever was. The best there is. The best there will ever be.”…
The pizza oven survived. When the Saucy Noodle, 727 South University Boulevard, burned this past March, the only truly salvageable item inside the storefront eatery was the pizza oven — which makes sense. “It’s designed to operate at 700 degrees on the inside,” explains Nathan Markham, who owns the restaurant…
Q:I have been searching for a pho restaurant that serves a tasty soup like the one that used to be available at Viet Huong. As the weather turns cooler, I look forward to a large bowl of combination pho to kill the chill. I have tried several of the restaurants…
It may be time to bring back the vomitorium. For those who forget their history — don’t worry, we’re all condemned at this point to repeating it — Rome was just an anno Domini teenager when excessive feasts were all the rage, with the average banquet involving five or six…
When restaurateurs can’t stand the heat, they get out of the kitchen — often by closing it altogether. And in the past month, the competition for Denver’s diners has left several entrepreneurs feeling burned. After just over three months in business, the ambitious Chloe’s (1201 East Colfax Avenue) recently bit…
Q: I’ve been on the lookout for an Italian restaurant with a decent atmosphere (as in dimly lit) and reasonable prices (entrees $10 or less). It must have fresh pasta and bold-flavored sauces. Does such a spot exist in the metro area? A:We were doing okay until you requested “bold-flavored…
When the host of a popular national cooking show on bread devotes a segment to some of the country’s best pizzas, you don’t expect a Denver area pizzeria to rate a starring role. As anyone who’s tried to find decent pizza in this town knows, you’re better off showcasing kosher…
Is blood thicker than red sauce? Arvada has its Amici’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria (see review), and Westminster has the fifteen-year-old Amici’s Italian Ristorante. But both spots are very quick to disavow any connection — now. The fact is, the Westminster Amici’s was opened fifteen years ago by one of…
Linda White and her daughter Clara have arranged several cheeses on the table in front of us, along with spreaders, knives, small plates and slices of a baguette. English cheeses predominate: Cheshire, Wensleydale, double Gloucester, Caerphilly, Lancashire, cheddar and that king of British cheeses, Stilton. Jason Hinds, who works with…
The British aren’t renowned for their cuisine, but they are good on comforting, cheesy, buttery things. Everyone has his or her own version of Welsh rarebit — basically, melted cheese on toast. It’s great for lunch or tea and can be varied to taste. Some experts say Cheshire or Lancashire…
Q: I am looking for a “wild” restaurant. I heard that there was a Greek place where you could dance on the tables and smash plates (the traditional way!). Ever hear of anything like that? A: Well, you wild thing, the closest I could find was the monthly Greek Night…
Americans will eat cheese that’s been pasteurized, emulsified and homogenized so much that it can be sprayed through a nozzle. We’ll ingest worm-shaped snacks made from nothing but sugar, water and enough preservatives to embalm a hippo, and happily munch on deep-fried pieces of skin that once covered a farm…
