Westword restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz may have seen the writing on the wall when she reviewed Cafe Berlin in October of last year. “If ever a place were in need of intervention by Restaurant: Impossible, this is it,” declared Kurtz. “At dinner the place can be so empty — as…
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with rice noodles in pad Thai — we love them — but sometimes you want something a little bit different. Spaghetti squash definitely fits that bill, and also hooks you up with an extra serving of vegetables. You can’t lose! See also: – Vegan pad Thai…
Patrick Rue of the Bruery, a highly respected Belgian-style beermaker in Orange County, once famously promised never to brew an IPA — that is, until he tasted Night Ryder, a black IPA put together by Colorado homebrewers Brian Pramov and Bryan Keas. Not that the Bruery is calling the beer…
A sojourn to an Ethiopian restaurant is never a quick dinner, and at this Ethiopian restaurant, the service is notoriously slow-moving, but that’s because it’s a one-woman show, and what emerges from that woman’s kitchen is absolutely worth the wait. Patience: It’s a virtue. Can you guess where I’m eating?…
From the moment that Mary and Lisa Rogers opened Common Grounds in 1992, the coffeehouse at 3484 West 32nd Avenue was a neighborhood gathering place — even if the Highland neighborhood was far from the hot spot it is today. Today the area is so hot, in fact, that the…
Cafe Society served up five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a fleet of fantastic beers from River North Brewery to a bowl of chili from the newly reopened Hawt Dog & Sausage Eatery to a burrito smothered with green chile from an iconic Mexican institution…
You’ll have to get your bacon and eggs elsewhere this morning: Johnny’s Diner has closed in Aurora. During a recent Aurora Fire Department inspection, the owner of the decades-old joint was told he needed to replace the fire suppression hood over the grill — a $3,000 repair. That was enough,…
When Trader Joe’s revealed that it would finally open a store in — one of three now slated to open in the metro area in 2014 — neighbors of the future TJ’s site at East Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard rejoiced. They were not nearly as excited when they heard…
The evenings are getting cooler — but summer is far from over. With everything from an Endless Summer beerfest to a chef’s challenge at the Broomfield farmers’ market, It’s a great week to get out and get a taste of this town’s culinary scene. Here are just some of the…
This week, Gretchen Kurtz went from nose to tail at Beast + Bottle, where brother-sister duo Paul and Aileen Reilly are becoming the talk of the town. And Mark Antonation brightened up a blurry Tuesday evening at T-Wa Inn; while exec chef Colin Mallet took a sec from extinguishing fires…
Suffice it to say that I eat out more than the general population, unless, of course, the general population can catalogue more than 450 restaurant meals in a year — which is about the number of breakfasts, lunches and dinners that I stomached in 2012. Pathetic, isn’t it? But all…
The legendary Dunkin’ Donuts chain is finally rolling into Colorado, with a dozen stores slated to open in the state by 2018. And this September, a Dunkin’ Donuts store will rise in the heart of Denver, at 470 Broadway. The franchise owners for that location will be conducting a job…
Native Foods Cafe, the fast-casual meatless (read: vegan) joint that proffers soy- and wheat-based meat substitutes (tempeh and seitan, for example) in lieu of dead animals, boasts more than fourteen stores in California, Chicago, Portland and Boulder — and now Denverites who embrace the ever-growing spread of the vegan movement…
Pho Real is set to open at 2399 West Main Street in Littleton, in the space that was previously home to Tres Jolie, which shuttered last summer, after winning Best Ladies Lunch in our 2012 Best of Denver issue. According to employees, Pho Real should be open for business within…
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…
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…
The Stapleton Tap House opened earlier this month in the Shops at Northfield, offering shoppers and Stapleton residents an easy way to try out unusual beers from smaller breweries across Colorado. The 1,500-square-foot spot, located near Harkins Theatre, has thirty taps and a saying that “the easier it is for…
The “special” curry, billed as “spicy” on the menu, wasn’t particularly spicy at all, although the flavors were deep, but the service? That’s a whole different story. In between waiting fifteen minutes for a beer, even longer for water and a hurried server who managed to spill a bowl of…
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…
The fifth annual Cherry Creek North Food & Wine Festival takes over Fillmore Plaza on Saturday afternoon. The celebration features eats from nineteen of Cherry Creek’s food and beverage establishments, as well as a variety of wines, spirits and beer. Tickets — which can be purchased here — are $60…
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…
Jamba Juice just opened its second location at Denver International Airport, on the C Concourse, and is slated to open a third in the Jeppesen Terminal this fall. “Jamba Juice has proven itself to be popular with our passengers on the B Concourse, so we are delighted to see the…
