Vesper Lounge, which I review this week, reminds me of that AT&T commercial with the little girl competing for cutest kid. It’s not that the bar Bonanno Concepts put in the former home of the divey Lancer Lounge is competing to be cutest bar (far from it). But as the…
Ya Hala Grill, a three-time winner for Best Middle Eastern Restaurant, has closed after the owners gave up the lease on the space on South Colorado Boulevard. See also: Hops Grill and Brewery closes in Littleton…
For the past five years, Troy Casey has worked for AC Golden, the MillerCoors-owned beer incubator in Golden that makes everything from Colorado Native lager to small-batch sour ales that use Colorado-grown peaches and apricots to the style-busting India Pale Lager that just won an award at the Great American…
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 –…
Nadine Donovan Old Major 3316 Tejon Street 720-420-0622 oldmajordenver.com This is part two of my interview with Nadine Donovan, pastry chef of Old Major; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What do you enjoy most about your craft? It’s rewarding. At the beginning of the day, I step into…
Gretchen Kurtz just reviewed Vesper Lounge, the concept that Bonanno Concepts opened last November, when a space right between the flagship Mizuna and Bones opened up. With the addition of Bonanno Brothers Pizzeria this spring, Bonanno Concepts now has an even ten eateries (with an eleventh coming next spring –…
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…
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…
When people find out what I do for a living, they get nervous about inviting me over for dinner. I do my best to reassure them; after all, it’s not like I’m going to take notes and send out a critique of their chicken. If they still don’t believe me,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Nadine Donovan Old Major 3316 Tejon Street 720-420-0622 oldmajordenver.com This is part one of my interview with Nadine Donovan, pastry chef of Old Major; part two of our one-on-one will run tomorrow. It’s 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, four hours before Old Major opens for happy hour. Behind the transparent…
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…
The 16th Street Mall is full of great places to sit and watch the passing parade, but does it have many great places to eat? You can grab a sandwich — and even do good in the process, if you stop at the new Cafe 180 kiosk. But when a…
Oysters are like Crocs — you either like them or you don’t. But those plastic shoes will never be a thing of beauty, unlike oysters prepared the right way and served with a beautiful bottle of wine. Tonight Oceanaire Seafood Room will host an informative dinner that highlights both fruits…
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…
Last fall, the Lancer Lounge suddenly stopped pouring when it was seized by the State of Colorado. In Monopoly terms, this rundown dive bar on East Seventh Avenue was no Boardwalk, but to Frank Bonanno, it was as valuable as one of those highly-frequented reds (Illinois Avenue, perhaps?), given its…
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…
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…
