Guess where I’m eating a bowl of lentil soup?

I have yet to find Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant in Denver that serves a laudable lentil soup — and that includes this thin, watery version that also arrived woefully underseasoned. I thought about pointing this out to our server, but given that her vocabulary was limited to a single phrase –…

Reader: How healthy is DIA food on a traveler’s wallet?

It’s been a big week for Denver International Airport. First, it was proclaimed the airport with the healthiest food in the country. And yesterday, USA Today readers voted it the best U.S. airport for art. Whether you love or loathe it, you can’t deny that “Mustang,” aka Blucifer, has made…

Chef & Brew, B2BSeen for flood relief tonight

Since floods devastated parts of Colorado two months ago, there have been an abundance of fundraisers helping those who lost so much — everyone from farmers to musicians. Tonight the Business Marketing Association Colorado will dedicate its annual B2BSeen event to raising funds for flood relief. The action starts at…

A six-pack of dark new Colorado beers for your cold weather blues

Brrrr. It’s starting to get a little nippy out there, and the forecast calls for even colder temperatures this weekend. But the weatherman may not have mentioned that dropping digits means big beers in Colorado, where the breweries start cranking out their deep dark belly-warming concoctions for the dark days…

Beer calendar: Get hopping with big cans, chefs and holiday brews

River North Brewery added two new thirty-barrel stainless steel fermentation tanks and one new brite tank last week, which will increase the brewery’s capacity by 44 percent — and allow River North to focus on canning its River North White, a Belgian-style wit beer that was just released, and on…

Guess where I’m eating pork belly and pickled mustard greens?

Our server is incredulous. “Really? You want the pork belly? Most Americans don’t order the pork belly. You’re positive you want the pork belly?” she asks, entirely positive that we’d prefer kung pao chicken instead. When we assure her that yes, we want the pork belly, which is listed on…

Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: roasted squash

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…

25 things you never knew about J.J. Hilger, bartender of Hi-dive

As Westword’s Ask the Bartender columnist, I’ve talked with many bartenders for Cafe Society’s “Behind the Bar” series, posing numerous questions to Denver’s top bartenders…and often receiving the same answers: “I love chartreuse,” or “I’m really into smoked cocktails/barrel aging/bottled cocktails.” See also: A bartender by any other name…is still…

Pay attention to the signs at El Taco Veloz

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…

Win two VIP tickets to the Chef & Brew Festival (WINNER UPDATE)

UPDATE: We have a winner of our Chef & Brew Festival contest, in which we asked Cafe Society readers to answer this question: How many gallons of Tunnel of Trees IPA did TRVE brew during the month of October? Congrats to PerfectlyFlawed, whose guessed 150 gallons. The actual number is…

Hops Grill and Brewery closes in Littleton

Hops Grill and Brewery, a restaurant in Littleton that’s a link in a Florida-based chain, closed its doors yesterday. See also: Ska Brewing bottles (and cans) Modus IPA in Colorado; discontinues Ten Pin Porter…

First look: Grist Brewing opens in Highlands Ranch

Grist Brewing celebrated its grand opening on November 2 in Highlands Ranch, bringing some much-needed craft beer love to Denver’s south suburbs. In fact, Grist, founded by organic chemist Rob Kevwitch, is the first independently-owned craft brewery in Highlands Ranch — and the first in a wave of planned brewery…

DIA now has the healthiest airport food in the country

When you think of snacking at Denver International Airport, you may think of Panda Express or Burger King. But according to the latest annual study by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, DIA now has the healthiest airport food in the country, and tops the list for the first…