Lance Barto left Central Bistro & Bar, the six-month-old restaurant he helped create, “on good terms,” says Isiah Salazar, Central’s owner, who decided to let Barto go on New Year’s Eve — right before Barto cooked for a full house. But even if Barto’s departure was amicable, diners aren’t feeling…
Marczyk Fine Foods, 770 East 17th Avenue, is hosting its first weekly wine tasting of 2013 today from 4 to 7 p.m., featuring samples of bottles priced under $15…
What will be the big culinary trends in 2013? As we prepare for a new year in gastronomy, we posed that question to dozens of people in the local food business, everyone from chefs and pastry magicians to restaurant brokers and PR consultants, from brewers and grape gurus to realtors…
I chose this cocktail because I’d never had a drink with an emoticon in its name — but I should have paid attention to its ingredients instead, because they turned out to be Jim Beam Eight Star, red wine, Coors Light, orange juice and simple syrup. It tasted like a…
The Little Pub Company — owners of The Spot, the Irish Hound, Wymans and seventeen other neighborhood watering holes — will open its newest location in the former M&D’s Café, at 2800 28th Avenue, which closed a year ago. Mark Berzins, who runs Little Pub, says he’s not normally an…
DJ’s 9th Avenue Cafe opened yesterday in the long-vacant space at 30 East Ninth Avenue, after months of renovation work. It joins a lineup of new places along this stretch that includes Difranco’s, Drew’s Deli, Drip and Attivo, all in the 900 block of Lincoln Street. The breakfast joint is…
New Year’s Eve, says Lance Barto, the executive chef of Central Bistro & Bar, was a smash hit. “We had a maxed-out dining room that rocked out, everyone had fun, and we had a great service.” Inexplicably, it would be the last service that Barto would spearhead at the Highland…
Denver foodniks have a lot to look forward to in 2013, including the arrival of several new restaurants: Beast + Bottle from Paul Reilly; Old Major from Justin Brunson; new outposts of Root Down, Elway’s and Udi’s at DIA; a mystery concept on South Pearl Street from the Wynkoop/Breckenridge owners;…
With a knack for the nuances of wine, sommeliers can taste caramel and a hint of peach when all the rest of us can do is sniff out oak. Oenophiles aren’t the only super tasters around, though. Work with chiles long enough, as Patrick Hartnett has, and you learn to…
Jonesy’s EatBar is starting the new year with a new look — a redecorated dining room. But Leigh Jones and partner Margaret Moore didn’t really plan it that way. It was coincidence, Jones says: Moore’s dad had some money to invest, and asked if they could use a loan. They…
Custom cocktails, beer cocktails, cocktails made with local ingredients, cocktails made with gluten-free local ingredients: Is there no end to the trends in mixology? Just give me my drink already, says one reader. See also: – Trends without end, round one: Simplicity, local greens and pot (maybe) – Trends without…
Bittersweet, 500 East Alameda Avenue, opened at the very end of 2010. And now owners Olav Peterson and Melissa Severson are celebrating two years in business by offering patrons a 20 percent discount on select menu items until January 10. Sweet! See also: -Reader: Bitter over Bittersweet’s exclusion from best…
To the Hopi, kachinas are spirit-beings associated with rain, corn, animals and other elements critical to life in the desert. Dolls of the same name are crafted for children — not as toys, but as study tools, a three-dimensional catechism for the spirits they represent. Not that you’d grasp this…
To the Hopi, kachinas are spirit-beings associated with rain, corn, animals and other elements critical to life in the desert. Dolls of the same name are crafted for children — not as toys, but as study tools, a three-dimensional catechism for the spirits they represent. Not that you’d grasp this…
Something’s fishy at the corner of 17th and Wazee streets, where both Jax Fish House and McCormick’s Fish House & Bar have renovation projects under way. Jax, which just celebrated its sixteenth anniversary on this particular corner in LoDo, closed after the end of service New Year’s Eve for a…
Colorado craft breweries and their many fans enjoyed a spectacular year in 2012, as the options for consuming locally made beer continued to grow and fill our tastebuds with joy. If the state’s 160-plus breweries weren’t expanding, then they were adding new beers or welcoming friendly competitors. And there were…
What will be the big culinary trends in 2013? As we prepare for a new year in gastronomy, we posed that question to dozens of people in the local food business, everyone from chefs and pastry magicians to restaurant brokers and PR consultants, from brewers and grape gurus to realtors…
Welcome to 2013 and the next year of your wine-drinking life. Over the past twelve months we saw a slew of clever new wine concepts worth trying, and a whole lotta wine-related WTFs to studiously avoid. All the while we watched and waited, eyes peeled for signs of the wine-related…
Chad Yakobson became the second small Denver brewer to land some awesome press in the New York Times when some of his quotes and an artsy photo of him at his Crooked Stave Barrel Cellar led off a story last week on sour beers called “Brettanomyces, a Funky Yeast, Makes…
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…
Euclid Hall, 1317 14th Street, is already well known for its craft beer selection, but the beer hall is beefing up its efforts this month with a weekly “Backwall Tap Takeover,” featuring rare beers from around the country. See also: – Euclid Hall: Best Place to Pair Beer and Food…
A great drink is a joy to behold. And as I watched the bartender make a wonderful Tequila Sunrise in this small, lounge-y spot, I felt like a new day was dawning. Made with El Zarco Blanco Tequila, Leopold Bros. Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur and muddled orange and lime, it…
