At exceptional restaurants around town I can close my eyes, point to anything on the menu, and eat well. Often, however, getting a good meal takes a lot more thought – what is the chef’s background? what is the kitchen known for? – not to mention a little luck, since…
Get ready for more Rumpkin, more Uncle Jacob’s and, yes, Tweak. Beginning this year, Avery Brewing will dramatically increase the size and scope of its acclaimed barrel-aging program so that it can share its rarest beers with more people — not just in Colorado, but in some of the 27…
I usually cook breakfast at home on the weekends, but the springlike weather demanded an outdoor stroll, which led us to one of our neighborhood cafes, whose kitchen is turning out a brilliant board of breakfast dishes, including bananas Foster French toast. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus:…
Andrew Selvaggio Live Basil Pizza, Tom’s Urban and Smashburger smashburger.com, livebasilpizza.com, tomsurban24.com This is part two of my interview with Andrew Selvaggio, chef of Smashburger, Live Basil and Tom’s Urban; part one of my chat with Selvaggio ran yesterday. Most memorable meal you’ve ever had: It was in 1983, at…
Denver’s vegetarian food scene is getting stronger all the time. All but the most vehemently meat-centric establishments in town have something besides salad to offer veggie-lovers, and ambitious, exclusively vegetarian eateries are opening all the time — including Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant, which we review this week. When you want to…
The last All-V’s has closed. Long before Subway, Quizno’s, Snarf’s or Heidi’s were doing it, All-V’s was dishing up hearty hoagies to the work-day crowd in its diner-like environment. At one point, there were several shops in metro Denver; the location on East Eighth Avenue was the last one left,…
Beast + Bottle is saying hello to a Beatles-inspired menu tonight. The popular Uptown restaurant is serving up a fab four-course meal with dishes inspired by the band’s music, including the Octopus Garden: cctopus confit, tonnato, pickled shallot and smoked potato. See also: The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” turns fifty…
Given the demands of life in a professional kitchen, I’m always curious as to why people choose this career. I’ve asked this question of hundreds of cooks, and more often than not, they trace their love of food to a grandmother or mother who gave them their first whisk to…
Earlier today, we announced that several local chefs and restaurants were nominated for a James Beard Foundation award — and that coveted roster includes Jeff Osaka, chef-owner of twelve, who recently just celebrated the Ballpark restaurant’s fifth anniversary. And now, Ryan Leinonen, chef-owner of Trillium, which is just a few…
Kannah Creek Brewing in Grand Junction has just released a new beer in bottles called Crossed Irons Irish Ale that it will use to help raise money for the Colorado chapter of the Terry Farrell Firefighter Fund, which helps injured or sick firefighters or the families to those were killed…
Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with a spacious kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s best ingredients home with them and cook up a feast, and when they’re not…
Teenagers are so damn picky, at least the second one of the two that I had to cart around last night on a where-to-have-dinner romp. Mexican? No. Thai? He’d never had it — and didn’t want to. Chinese? No, thanks. Cheesesteaks? Bingo, but only if the cheesesteak joint had chicken…
When 300 Suns Brewing opens in Longmont this Saturday, it will become the first new brewery to open in town since Oskar Blues — now Colorado’s second largest beer maker — moved there from Lyons in 2009 and only the fourth brewery overall. So, there’s a little bit of pressure…
Earlier today, in a live stream from Orlando, Florida, the James Beard Foundation rolled out its culinary red carpet of semi-finalists in several categories, including Outstanding Bar Program, Outstanding Pastry Chef, Outstanding Restaurateur, Outstanding Wine Program, Rising Star Chef of the Year and Best Chef, Southwest — all of which…
Andrew Selvaggio Live Basil Pizza, Tom’s Urban and Smashburger smashburger.com, livebasilpizza.com, tomsurban24.com This is part one of my interview with Andrew Selvaggio, chef of Smashburger, Live Basil and Tom’s Urban; part two of my chat with Selvaggio will run tomorrow. “Food was a huge part of my life, of my…
In A Federal Case, I’ll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard — south to north — within Denver city limits. I’ll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I’ll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here’s the…
Vitamin Cottage opened its first store fifty years ago in Lakewood. Today the natural-foods enterprise has morphed into Natural Grocers, with locations in a dozen states — including a brand-new store that opened this week in Capitol Hill, at 1433 Washington Street. But while the store was definitely welcomed by…
Tonight civic-health club Warm Cookies of the Revolution will host “Soup and Dreams,” a benefit for grassroots groups in Colorado’s food-justice scene. The event will kick off with soup from SAME Cafe; while guests are eating, they’ll hear from three speakers who represent well-established organizations and will talk about food…
“Nooooooooo!” That’s the communal groan of despair on the Facebook page of Glaze: the Baum Cake shop, a whimsical Congress Park bakery that specializes in stunning Japanese baumkuchen, glazed multilayered cakes with “tree rings” baked in a hand-crafted, cherry-red, 2,220-pound rotisserie oven, which owner Heather Alcott had christened “Red Dragon.”…
Some friends are always asking when they can join me for a review dinner. I try to explain the not-so-glamorous reality: They don’t get to order what they want (not everyone likes octopus and oysters) and they have to carry the weight of the conversation, since I’m too busy eating…
Yerba mate (pronounced mah-teh) seems to be a fast-growing trend around the country. As a healthier alternative to coffee, the South American herbal infusion has made it to grocery stores shelves and coffee shops across Denver; you can find it in loose leaf, teabag or brewed form everywhere from Buenos…
Is Denver over-saturated with craft breweries? Not yet, but that doesn’t mean a group of breweries on the city’s west side aren’t thinking about the future. The breweries have watched as River North, on the other side of downtown, has evolved into one of Denver’s primary craft-beer neighborhoods over the…
