Four Seasons closes Level 3 pool bar to the public

Four Seasons Hotel Denver announced today that it’s closing Level 3 — the popular rooftop pool bar that was open once a week to the public throughout the summer. “Level 3 was a great addition to the Denver night-life scene,” says general manager Theirry Kennel. “However, we’ve decided to keep…

Guess where I’m eating tomato pie?

Tomato season is starting to take root, and here, at this restaurant, the tomato pie is a perfect way to celebrate the fruit of the vine. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Guess Where posts is entered into…

An exclusive first look of the new Squeaky Bean, opening Monday

“The Bean is back.” That was the overriding footnote last night at the Squeaky Bean, the tongue-in-cheek restaurant that Bean king Johnny Ballen originally unleashed in Highland in May of 2009. And during the three years that the Squeaky Bean resided in Highland, it generated a cult following, thanks to…

The buzz on beekeeping and urban agriculture

Above the heads of passersby, James Bertini’s bees are flying in circles around the entrance to their new home: a small tube set in the red brick wall at Denver Urban Homesteading. Though the bees are still orienting themselves with the ins and outs of their glass-windowed beehive, soon they’ll…

Five frozen meals that don’t taste like crap

People have a love/hate relationship with frozen dinners. They hate the calories, the fat, the sodium and the bloated, gassy abdominal episodes that often follow eating them. But they love the convenience, the price, the fast preparation and, perhaps most of all, the delicious flavors of cognitive dissonance. At the…

Mrs. Fields hauls its cookies to Colorado

Mrs. Fields Famous Brands, which owns both the Mrs. Fields cookie chain and TCBY Yogurt, has relocated its corporate headquarters from Salt Lake City to Broomfield. Mrs. Fields — and yes, there really is a Mrs. (Debbie) Fields, who opened her first chocolate chip cookie store in 1977 — has…

Photos: Safari Cafe opens in River North

A steady trickle of African immigrants has made the Denver metro area, and Aurora specifically, a haven for quality African cuisine. But closer to downtown, and just down from the white-hot TAXI development in RiNo, is a taste of Somalia at the Safari Cafe…

Westword‘s next restaurant critic: food for thought

This week’s Westword includes Laura Shunk’s last review, of Fruition; earlier today, she posted her list of “Denver spots I’ll miss most..” Since we announced a month ago that Laura was moving to New York, Westword has received a smorgasbord of applications for her food-writing job. And although Eater recently…

Denver spots I’ll miss the most

Three and a half years ago, I moved to Denver because I wanted to work in restaurants. This city’s restaurant scene, I reasoned, was growing. It would afford opportunities to dig in and help build something, and when the city inevitably rose to culinary greatness, I could proudly say I…

Guess where I’m eating herb-strewn clams?

All of us — chefs included — gasped in awe when this arrived at our table. And despite the flood of fresh herbs and rivers of soy, the fresh calms tasted like they’d just been plucked from the sea. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Round two with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen

Hugo Matheson The Kitchen Boulder & [Upstairs]; The Kitchen Denver 1039 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-544-5973 1530 16th Street, Denver; 303-623-3127 www.thekitchencommunity.com This is the second installment of my chat with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen. Read part one of Matheson’s interview. Favorite restaurant in America: After all these…