Understanding Wine Flights and a New Home for Flights in Morrison

A flight of wine presents three or more glasses of wine that share common characteristics served together for comparison and enjoyment. What constitutes a great flight? That’s the question I posed to Logan Silbert, wine director at Boulder’s Black Cat Bistro (1964 13th Street). There are several ways to assemble…

Ten Prime Restaurant Spaces That Are Still Vacant

More than 250 restaurants and bars opened in metro Denver last year, some of them taking over vacancies caused by the closures of other establishments. But empty dining rooms and dark kitchens with stoves gone cold still dot the culinary landscape of the city, serving as a reminder that the…

The Ten Best Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches in Denver

Ordinarily there would be no reason on earth to take a perfectly good steak and fiddle with it. But there’s one happy exception: the Philly cheesesteak. Said to have been created around 1916, this sandwich is an East Coast hit that has slowly spread from its urban Philadelphia origins. The popularity…

Misaki Brings Sushi to the Stanley Lineup

Misaki’s menu offers a full selection of nigiri, sushi rolls, and chef specialties, with most standard sushi rolls coming in under eight dollars—the typical happy hour pricing at many Denver sushi restaurants….

Second Home Closes in Cherry Creek

Sage Restaurant Group has been a driving force in the Denver restaurant scene for years; in the past year or so alone the group has opened Departure with celebrity chef Gregory Gourdet in the Halcyon Hotel in Cherry Creek, Kachina Southwestern Grill and Poka Lola Social Club at the Maven downtown,…

Dish of the Week: The Brutal Poodle’s Brutal Noodle

Quick: Name a food that rhymes with “poodle.” If you came up with “noodle,” you’re on the right track to hunting down one of the most intriguing menu items at the Brutal Poodle, a new bar and grill with a decidedly goofy name at 1967 South Broadway. (And if you…

All the Bar and Restaurant Openings This Week

While there are plenty of restaurants that plan to debut in the next two months, this was a slow week for openings (by the standards of last year, at least). Menya Ramen & Poke continues its expansion after opening noodle shops on the 16th Street Mall and at 1590 Little Raven…

New Colorado Beers for a New Colorado Year

Nothing gives us a warmer, fuzzier feeling than the thought of trying brand-new beers from some of Colorado’s 350-plus craft breweries — especially when the weather is cold and the nation’s mood is stormy. From coffee beers to hazy, New England-style IPAs to even a sake beer, there is a…

The Six Best Events on the Culinary Calendar This Weekend

This weekend boasts a wealth of events for every personality: There’s walleye and wine on the menu (not the same menu) for the down-to-earth types, a festival celebrating the humblest of breakfast foods for families, booze giveaways for bar-goers and a poke pop-up for trendsters. Here are six of our…

Sour-Beer Specialist Casey Brewing Has a New Brewhouse on Tap

Since founding Casey Brewing & Blending in 2014, owner Troy Casey has focused primarily on the “Blending” part of his company’s name. Casey makes his wort — unfermented beer — at other mountain breweries, including Bonfire, Roaring Fork and Capital Creek, and then trucks it back to Glenwood Springs, where…

Former La Loma Chef to Open El Cazo in Jefferson Park

Chef Efren Velasquez is coming full circle in his return to Jefferson Park. After sixteen years as a server, manager and chef at La Loma, where he helmed the kitchen at the Denver favorite, Velasquez helped move La Loma from West 26th Avenue to its current downtown location in 2016…

G’Ducks Bar Is Your “Any-Collar Bar” in Southeast Aurora

In Aurora’s Mission Viejo neighborhood, if you look hard enough in the back corner of a nondescript shopping center off South Chambers Road and East Hampden Avenue (across the street from the Jumpoline Family Fun Center), you just might find the hidden gem that is G’Ducks Bar. The sign for…

Crazy Mountain Brewery Closes Unexpectedly in Edwards

Crazy Mountain Brewery, which opened its pioneering Vail Valley taproom in 2010, closed the Edwards taproom suddenly over the weekend, saying it has plans to open a new location nearby. “Crazy Mountain’s location in Edwards, Colorado is now permanently closed. We are relocating our brewing production and will be opening…

Beer Calendar: Cans, Coffee Beers and Funk Yo Couch

It’s hard to remember a time when Colorado didn’t have dozens of options when it comes to canned craft beers, but that time wasn’t really very long ago. And the rest of the country? Well, other states are still catching up. But things are changing quickly, according to economist Bart…

Dish of the Week: Tasty Tartines at Call

The Danish call it smørrebrød; the French call it tartine. Here in the Wild West, we just prefer “open-faced sandwich.”  Whatever you call a mound of complementary ingredients on a thick slab of bread, we call it delicious at Call, the right-hand side of Beckon|Call (2845 Larimer Street). The new fast-casual…