Food & Drink

We’ve written quite a bit about the demise of Denver’s red-sauce joints, the old-school neighborhood restaurants that once formed the nucleus of northwest Denver, or, as some called it, Little Italy. After 66 years as the city’s longest family-owned Italian restaurant, Pagliacci’s shuttered last year; the remodeled Gaetano’s, while still…

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…

I’ll admit that I’ve never been terribly impressed with the restaurant climate in Vail, and let’s face it: In a resort town like this, where a fickle public chews up their restaurants and then spits them out just as fast, you’ve got to be better than good to survive (unlike,…

RiNo’s on Blake, a “contemporary American” restaurant, opened last night at 2401 Blake Street, the original home of the Blake Street Tavern (and a second Brauns after that). While RiNo’s will continue to have a bar vibe, it’s also created a white-tablecloth dining area that focuses on “sustainable made-from-scratch foods.”…

For vegetarians, the southeast metro area hasn’t provided nearly as many options as Federal Boulevard. But now there’s a new noodle house in town: Pho Lee, a sibling restaurant to the insanely popular Pho 95 outposts. And the veggie pho at Pho Lee is just as good as it is…

Business is soaring in the Baker neighborhood — but even so, the Crimson Canary just didn’t fly on Broadway. Saturday was the last night of service at this restaurant that specialized in “Boss Italian,” a sophomore venture from the folks at Interstate Kitchen & Bar. The spot had previously swallowed…

Updated: Buffalo Doughboy reopened this morning, and is back to baking.Buffalo Doughboy has faced some challenges since it moved from a tiny spot in Baker to bigger digs at 1298 South Broadway two years ago. For starters, there was the economy. And then there was the endless construction work on…

The 1500 block of Blake Street has seen lots of restaurants come and go — and now there are new signs of life in the space at 1530 Blake Street that was most recently home to TD’s Dogs. The next tenant? Jimmy’s Urban Bar and Grill. See also: – TD’s…

There are plenty of usual-suspect dishes at this Mexican restaurant, but there’s also a whole section devoted to seafood, much of it excellent, and lurking somewhere between the whole snapper and the enchiladas is the smoking molcajete crowned with every meat imaginable. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus:…

The space at 1294 South Broadway that had been Bistro One, then 3 Monkeys Cantina, is about to be transformed again, this time into Adelitas Cocina y Cantina, which will specialize in traditional Mexican fare from the state of Michoacan. See also: – 3 Monkeys Cantina closes on South Broadway…

Cafe Society served up five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a classy cocktail from the newly remodeled Jax Fish House, to a flight of several beers from the aptly named World of Beer, to a French toast torta from a diminutive Mexican sandwich shop that also turns out…

Crimson Canary, the “Boss Italian” restaurant in Baker that Interstate Kitchen & Bar owners Andre and Aaron Lobato (they’re also brothers) and Joey Newman opened in the fall of 2011, ceased singing on Saturday night after a final dinner service. See also: – Best Fried Calamari – 2012 Crimson Canary…

Breakfast might very well be the most important meal of the day, but some people just can’t find the time for breakfast — or don’t feel like eating that early. These light, fluffy muffins are one solution: Packed full of ginger (and with an accompanying bite), you can make them…

While it sometimes seems that hip new restaurants require that employees have cool tattoos and piercings, other spots have strict policies against piercing, tattoos and other body ornamentation. Jenn Wohletz went after such prudey-pants policies last week, in her list of five reasons restaurant employees should be allowed to have…

This past week on Cafe Society, Gretchen Kurtz reviewed Tom’s Urban 24, the upscale diner that Tom Ryan opened last fall in Larimer Square. Read her review of Tom’s Urban 24 here. Sixteen blocks further up Larimer Street, Jonathan Power is the chef/co-owner of The Populist, which opened just a…

Our first clue that something was up at Strings came when we heard that many long-time employees had left the restaurant that the late Noel Cunningham had founded in 1986. Our second clue was when the annual Mother’s Day brunch hosted by Strings, a benefit for Volunteers of America, started…