Mainstream American diners are in love — or at least extreme lust — with homegrown Colorado chains. And two of them — Garbanzo and Snooze — just made the Nation’s Restaurant News list of top “breakout brands” for 2013. See also: -The falafel truth at Garbanzo -Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill: Hail…
Mark Antonation was in the car last week — perhaps cruising Federal Boulevard for the next installment of A Federal Case — when he heard former CU Buffs quarterback and current 104.3 FM morning sports guy Joel Klatt wholeheartedly endorse the food of New Orleans, site of the Super Bowl,…
The restaurant community will come together on Tuesday, February 5, when Vesta Dipping Grill, 1822 Blake Street, will be closed all day in honor of Curtis Caldwell, the sous chef at Vesta who passed away last week. There will be a memorial service held for him at its sister restaurant,…
Too busy to get to everything on Cafe Society’s plate this week? Here’s another helping of some of our entrees: Gretchen Kurtz reviewed Il Posto, the authentic trattoria that Andrea Frizzi opened exactly six years ago. And although some things have changed over the years, they’ve only improved the restaurant…
Maybe it’s time to go back to school — cooking school, that is. Several friends have taken classes recently, and even the kitchen-savvy veterans who have been cooking for decades have come away with new recipes and refined techniques. And when I reviewed Il Posto this week, I learned that…
Occasionally while driving, I’ll take a break from scanning the strip malls for the next great undiscovered hole in the wall. To occupy my time in the car, I’ll tune the radio to sports talk to be amused by just how far past the end of the Broncos’ football season…
The Internet is on fire with photos, memes and commentary about yet another f*cked up note left on a receipt. This one is courtesy of a St. Louis pastor, Alois Bell, who was miffed at an automatic gratuity assessed her large group at Applebee’s, inspiring her to scrawl her now-infamous…
Duck, duck…meatballs — and just in time for Monday’s opening of the Slotted Spoon, but these duck orbs are not from Jensen Cumming’s new meatball hut. They were, however, the best dish I tried on a menu that’s now overseen by a new chef after the opening kitchen commander made…
Curtis Caldwell — beloved partner, brother, son, friend, chef, philanthropist, master hula-hooper, magician and one of the kindest souls the Denver restaurant community has ever known — passed away just under a week ago at Denver Health. And while we continue to try and cope with his loss, the Vesta…
Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend, which means everyone will be turning their attention to New Orleans, where the annual championship game will be played. If you weren’t able to make it to the Big Easy, it’s still easy to get your Cajun food fix right here in Denver at…
Holy tequila! What a difference a cool million makes. That’s the approximate coinage spent on remodeling Tamayo, Richard Sandoval’s modern Mexican restaurant in Larimer Square that was closed just under four weeks to significantly upgrade the two-tiered space, which now looks like a brand new restaurant that fits beautifully into…
There’s no name on the sign above the door of De Steeg Brewing, in an alley off West 44th Avenue. Just the image of a Belgian-style beer goblet. But Craig Rothgery wasn’t trying to be hip when he signed a lease on an alley space in the Tennyson Street art…
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a beloved restaurant, brewery or shop in possession of a good reputation also has no shortage of negative Yelp reviews. Denver’s best (and worst) have been served with plenty of them, with Yelpers yapping about everything from bad service to bad salsa, bad…
If you’re one of those optimistic types who think that you can haul a bucket of Kentucky fried chicken to a Super Bowl shindig and generate a touchdown for your meager efforts, you might want to rethink your place on the playing field, because the people who created the ten…
In January, there’s often a shake-out in the dining scene. But while twenty new restaurants opened in metro Denver last month, including Corner House with chef Matt Selby at the helm, there were relatively few closings. And two longtime fixtures on the scene — Jax Fish House in LoDo and…
Super Bowl fever is spreading, and even though the Denver Broncos aren’t in the game, local restaurants and bars are serving up plenty of opportunities to score with deals this Sunday, February 3. Here’s a peak at the playbook, and feel free to pass off audibles in the comments section…
Breckenridge Brewery announced today that it will move from Denver to Littleton, building a $20 million farm-like campus on a rural, twelve-acre spot on South Santa Fe Drive and cementing its future as both a Colorado-based brewery and a tourist destination. The campus, located near the Platte River Greenway, right…
Under the Sun, the new, “slightly upscale” restaurant and taphouse created by the owners of the Mountain Sun Pub & Breweries group, is now open in the space underneath Southern Sun Pub & Brewery at 627 South Broadway in Boulder. The eatery features 21 in-house beers on tap, as well…
Buried beneath all that roughage is a hearty winter soup, a medley of black-eyed peas, diced ham and vegetables, that paired with a hefty sandwich, is the ideal dinner on a blustery day. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to a…
Paul Nagan Zink Kitchen + Bar 7801 East Orchard Road, Greenwood Village 303-779-1559 www.zinkdtc.com This is part two of my interview with Paul Nagan, exec chef of Zink Kitchen + Bar; part one of our interview ran yesterday. Favorite dish on your menu: I like our housemade lamb sausage. We…
For the last several months, Duy Pham, who solidified his cooking prowess years ago at the long-departed, French-inspired Tante Louise, has been working on opening Epernay, a splashy new downtown restaurant and Champagne lounge near the Denver Center for the Performing Arts — a restaurant with a small kitchen, and…
James Kunz has been making his own beer for four years, but before December, he’d never entered a homebrewing contest — let alone won one. But that changed when the rookie took top honors in the Mountain Sun Pub group’s stout competition by, well, releasing the Kraken. Starting in mid-February,…
