Denver’s ten top coffee shops for work productivity

More and more, professionals are shunning the conventional office setting when they can. In Denver, some of the steady-growing army of self-employed and remote workers are opting for work collectives and non-traditional office options that have become increasingly available, but others still favor good old coffee shops, bee-lining for the…

Photos: Denver Burger Battle sizzles despite a downpour

The Denver Burger Battle opened to a wet — very wet — start last night, when rain threatened to turn all that beef into a massive river of particles floating down Speer Boulevard. But while the first thirty minutes of the annual ode to burgers — which took place at…

Photos: Jammin Joe’s is pleased to meat you!

Frank and Dina Berta stunned regulars when they announced that they’d sold Frank’s Kitchen, the neighborhood joint they’d opened two years earlier in the Whittier neighborhood. But they gave their customers a definite consolation prize: Joe Van Dyke, aka “Jammin’ Joe,” a blues guitarist and restaurateur from Virginia who found…

Are Colorado’s Trader Joe’s locations opening in 2013 — or 2014?

When last year it was revealed that Trader Joe’s had finally decided to open two stores in Colorado, the clouds parted, cherubs started playing shiny little harps, citizens long-deprived of TJ’s inexpensive branded products began rejoicing — and marked their calendars for those fateful days in late 2013 when the…

The offal truth about Beast + Bottle

The menu at Beast + Bottle, the ever-packed restaurant launched this spring by brother-and-sister duo Paul and Aileen Reilly, is surprising in many ways. For starters, the menu features an abundance of unfamiliar ingredients and cooking terms, as I note in this week’s review. Then there’s the fact that the…

The Source now targeting a late-August opening

The debut of The Source at 3350 Brighton Boulevard was touted as one of the big events of the summer by Visit Denver — and it looks like the European-style artisan food market/retail complex will just squeak in under the wire. The new opening date for the Zeppelin Development project…

Guess where I’m eating a bowl of chili?

It wasn’t exactly cold yesterday, but it was chilly enough that I gravitated toward of bowl of chili smacked with chipotle peppers — and it was a damn good rendition, especially given the fact that the menu favors frankfurters. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Southern Hospitality BBQ is a meat defeat

Denver is definitely in need of more good barbecue, so I was eager to visit Southern Hospitality BBQ, the upscale barbecue restaurant that opened last October in the very renovated old St. Elmo Hotel building. This joint came with a smoking back-story: The original was opened in Manhattan in 2007…

Test-tube burgers: Do they pass the vegetarian test?

News broke this week that a professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands had created the world’s first test-tube burger. Tasters gave the burger — which was mixed with salt, egg powder, bread crumbs, beetroot juice and saffron for taste and visual enhancement — a big “meh, it’s okay.” But…

Patio of the day: Steam Espresso Bar

Booze-heavy patios aren’t the only outdoor alternatives. Consider Steam Espresso Bar, a near-perfect coffee shop with a sprawling, inviting patio as well as a “back yard” that feels more like a scene out of The Secret Garden than a place to step out and take phone calls. See also: -…