Raise your hand if you didn’t leave Sacre Bleu satisfied — or get satisfied shortly after leaving. No? You are soooo in the minority. This what’s-old-is-nouvelle-again restaurant specializes in feeding all the appetites — the hunger for attention, the hunger for food, the hunger for sex. Even the name is…
Sacre Bleu (see review this issue) has been in existence for only three months, and already general manager Ryan Fletter has called it quits because of philosophical differences with owner Julie Payne. According to Fletter, he wants the place to be more of a restaurant, and Payne wants it to…
Next time you get an undeniable urge for a big plate of Jägerschnitzel with shrimp lo mein on the side, head straight east on Alameda Avenue to the Sunset Lounge. Hankering for a chicken-fried steak or a Reuben sandwich? Not to worry: The Sunset’s kitchen is nothing if not versatile…
Q: I love gazpacho. Adore it. Tomatoey, vinegary, spicy, with bits or bites of veggies, even with seafood. With bread or without, creamy or not, Spanish in origin or modified by any one of us. Please, please, please, any good ideas for a place to get it? A: Oooh, you’ve…
Years from now, we’ll look back at the turn of the century and remember a time when you could have cybersex with a perfect stranger who remained a perfect stranger, buy a car from someone whose hand you never shook and have your precious retirement money moved around by someone…
When I first visited Great Northern Tavern, the place was a virtual train wreck, with some ill-conceived dishes colliding with poor timing (“Train in Vain,” December 10, 1998). But today it’s the best brewpub in Denver. So how did Great Northern get back on track? First and foremost, the restaurant…
Each year, a few Best of Denver food finalists are culled from the herd for the simple but crucial reason that the restaurants close before the issue comes out. And this year was no different: Several eateries that had distinguished themselves since last year’s awards shut their doors before they…
Americans make movies about violence and sex, and the Japanese make movies about violence and food. So who do you think makes the better noodles? If you’ve seen the film Tampopo, you know that the noodle house is serious business in Japan. In that movie, a truck driver, Goro, who…
Summertime, and the outdoor eating is easy. But in their heated attempts to offer al fresco dining, some restaurants push the boundaries too darn far. It’s one thing to squeeze seating onto a sidewalk or into a fenced-in area beside an alley, but who wants to eat crammed against a…
What’s in a name? The Latin colloquialism for “talk of the town” was a good fit for La Fabula; long before the restaurant actually opened, the neighborhood was talking about what kind of eatery would be brave — or foolhardy — enough to take on a location with a long,…
All you folks who took alcohol into La Fabula (see review, this issue) at the owners’ urging over the past four months have something in common: You broke the law. Although we aren’t subjected to state-controlled liquor stores here, Colorado’s liquor laws can still be very annoying. For serious wine…
Q: Does anyone in town do a good cioppino? A: The California origins of this Italian-inspired fish stew are murkier than the San Francisco Bay. The late Craig Claiborne of the New York Times suggested the name came from an Italian colloquialism that means “chopped fine”; another explanation involves an…
Even though we’re tasting from the same plate, the lamb shawarma I eat and the lamb shawarma my friend Gerry eats are two different dishes. When Gerry takes a bite of the grilled, marinated lamb, she’s eating a traditional dish created by her Lebanese ancestors, an entree that her grandmother…
One of my favorite Middle Eastern restaurants — past winner of a Best of Denver award — is nine-year-old Damascus, at 2276 South Colorado Boulevard. Unlike Sahara Restaurant (see review this issue), which has a Lebanese focus, Damascus emphasizes Syrian cooking, which translates into more cabbage, more pickled items, some…
Q:I’m just starting out cooking, and I want to make some Asian food, especially Thai. But I can’t find a lot of the ingredients in the grocery stores, not even Wild Oats. What do you think is the best place to get Asian ingredients? A: We’re lucky to have a…
No city is more revered for its culinary prowess than Paris, and certainly, its restaurants boast gastronomic delights without equal. Still, after several visits and many, many meals there — sometimes I ate two dinners in a day just to get to all of the places “they” said I had…
While The Biscuit is doing the Parisian thing, a block away at 837 East 17th Avenue, New York on 17th is, quite obviously, doing the New York thang. And maybe a little too well, since during the lunch rush, employees do a fair imitation of twenty New Yorkers on the…
You don’t have to know a spark plug from a socket wrench to enjoy a cold one at the Squeeze Inn. But it helps. Drop by this tiny northwest Denver nook — the name is perfect — and you find yourself submerged in the glories of car culture. The fender-smashing…
Q: There was a recent column that mentioned pizza bread. Where can it be purchased and, more important, do they sell it retail? We moved here 28 years ago from New Jersey, and in the Berkeley Heights area we could buy pizza bread and make Italian hot dogs, which are…
The first step in dealing with an addiction to Thai food is admitting that you have a problem. The second is accepting that there are no more steps — because who can contemplate a cure that bans curry?Chile peppers can be physically addicting, according to recent medical evidence. The reasons…
I’ve eaten at Le Central many times over the past six years, and I’ve always encountered some kind of problem. Often they’ve been production-oriented glitches, ranging from tardy courses to overcooked seafood (“Waiting for Gateau,” October 17, 1996); sometimes servers have failed to refill water glasses or replace silverwear. Out…
You’d think it was the Second Coming.First, people began calling to ask if I’d heard rumors that LaMar’s Donuts was moving its headquarters to Denver and that we’d be getting our very own LaMar’s Donuts store! Then the ads started. Then the dailies began publishing stories about how bagels are…
