No. 45: Hisbiscus-Flower Tacos at Comal Comal opened last month in the TAXI development in RiNo, with the dual missions of serving home-style Mexican cooking while giving Globeville and Elyria-Swansea residents career-oriented job training. The restaurant calls itself a heritage-food incubator, which means that menus shift regularly but always include recipes…
When developer Ken Wolf first cooked up his plan for Denver Central Market, he envisioned a neighborhood linchpin, a place where RiNo residents could buy meat, cheese and produce without getting in their cars and driving to a grocery store. He pulled in Jeff Osaka, with whom he’d worked since…
Chef/restaurateur Kevin Morrison is a believer in understated simplicity, at least when it comes to naming his eateries. His first Denver success came with the Spicy Pickle, which he founded and ran until the chain went public and he sold out of the business. Next came Tacos, Tequila, Whiskey (better…
Naming a beer these days is the kind of thing that keeps brewers up at night. Should they just call their latest creation by its style — Odell IPA, for example — or should they try to give it a name that will stand out? If they do, will the…
The sunny cantina at East Sixth Avenue and Clarkson Street seems custom-built to draw taco lovers, what with its ample patio space and indoor-outdoor bars. Lime XS made taco Tuesdays work for a number of years, but the new name and concept, the $5 Buck Drinkery, that moved in last…
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Mister Tuna is an unfortunate name, suggestive of a cartoon mascot in a canned-tuna commercial. Saying it aloud makes you feel silly. But Mister Tuna — the institution, not the moniker — is nothing to laugh at. Instead, it’s the restaurant that…
Alert! The Colorado Small Business Development Center Network pulled the plug on its inaugural Microbrewery and Distillery conference in Colorado Springs that had been set for Wednesday, November 2; it’s been rescheduled for February 10. But there’s still plenty to do this week in Denver, including visiting the first Colorado…
La Loma closed the doors on its home of 35 years a week ago, but fans who have been following the Mexican restaurant’s moves knew that they wouldn’t have to wait long for an order of crispy mini-rellenos, a big margarita or an order of green chile. La Loma reopens…
If there was an October surprise on the Denver dining scene, it was the number of eateries that closed, especially in hot neighborhoods. Highland alone lost Vita, Small Wonder and Jezebel’s Southern Bistro. Even breweries weren’t safe, as Hall Brewing Tap Room shuttered in Parker (although the farmhouse brewery several…
“Park Hill is probably one of the most tightly knit neighborhoods in Denver,” says Chris Cunningham. But unlike the west side of town, where there are plenty of small business strips woven into the neighborhoods, Denver’s east-side is mostly just houses. So when Cunningham and his businesses partners found a…
Developer Ken Wolf and chef Jeff Osaka have spent the last several weeks managing the opening of Denver Central Market, the food hall and gourmet grocery store that opened its doors on Larimer Street to immediate crowds on September 25. But the pair have a few other projects in the…
No. 45: Jungle Curry at Aung’s Bangkok CafeChef Aung Kyaw is Burmese by birth but learned to cook Thai cuisine from a restaurant chef while living in Thailand as a refugee from his home country. And what a teacher that chef must have been — or what a good student…
Although all of Denver seemed to celebrate Halloween this past weekend, the treats continue today, October 31. And some of the deals are so good, they’re downright scary. Keep reading for the delicious details…. Get all ghouled up for food and frights at Mister Tuna from 8 p.m. to midnight. You…
Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, coined a term for the Mile High City’s unique take on Mexican food: Den-Mex. This variation on that country’s cuisine has led to the creation of such Denver-centric dishes as the Mexican hamburger (Arellano calls the version at Chubby’s “the dish that best personifies…
Sarah McGill has been stopping in at neighborhood bars all over town for the past three months because, yes, she likes a good drink, but also to help Denverites new and old navigate their way to some fine establishments — many of which have served their neighbors good cheer for…
News of closings overshadowed openings this week, especially with the loss of the Squeeze Inn (one of the city’s tiniest bars, which is now gone from our list of the ten best dive bars) and La Loma, which closed its doors on Monday after 35 years at the same address…
Denver’s dive bars are an endangered species. As developments continue to move into formerly forbidden territory, many lowbrow watering holes have dried up – or been cleaned up into welcoming neighborhood joints, and sometimes even renovated beyond recognition.
Chef Darren Pusateri has worked in his fair share of Denver kitchens, including the Squeaky Bean when it moved to its current downtown location in 2012. Now he’s back at the Bean as the new executive chef after two years at the TAG restaurant group. Squeaky Bean co-owner Johnny Ballen…
Although we write about Denver food and restaurants for a living, we’re just like you: we have to eat — generally three meals a day, every day. Sometimes that means cooking at home, sometimes it means an extravagant dinner out for a special occasion. Often it means just popping into…
Emily’s Coffee, a refugee job-training program run by the Language Learning Center of Emily Griffith Technical College in the lobby of the Emily Griffith Campus at 1860 Lincoln Street, is celebrating its fifth anniversary by giving you the present: $1 drinks today. The coffee shop was designed to provide more…
Last week, Colorado Beer Man Jonathan Shikes brought us news that Crazy Mountain Brewing Company had teamed up with restaurateur Richard Sandoval (of Zengo, Tamayo and La Sandia, among many others here and worldwide) to open a beer-tasting room inside Sandoval’s Latinicity food hall in Chicago. Tempting as it is to…
Since chef Elise Wiggins left Panzano after more than a decade to open her own restaurant, Cattivella, the search has been on for a new executive chef at the Italian eatery on the ground floor of the Hotel Monaco downtown. Despite being part of the Kimpton hotel group, Panzano has…
