Food & Drink

I love bun — deep bowls of Vietnamese rice noodles tossed with fresh herbs, fish sauce, grilled meats and a Vietnamese egg roll — and here, at this citadel of Vietnamese cuisine, just about every table was devouring one. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Mexican fare from fast-food chains usually isn’t authentic, healthy or even pretty, but it’s irresistible. And we all indulge from time to time — hitting the window at Taco Bell at 2 a.m. after a night of mainlining vodka gimlets; finding any excuse to grab a sunflower-seed-stuffed veggie burrito at…

After more than a year of planning and very hard work, Gary Lee Bomar finally opened Gary Lee’s Motor Club & Grub last weekend — and it looks like it was worth the wait. With Gary Lee’s, this stretch of South Broadway has really gotten into gear…

Wendy’s just introduced three new “Signature Side Dishes,” no doubt to bolster the chain’s efforts to keep Burger King out of the number-two fast-food spot — with McDonald’s holding fast at number one, of course. Wendy’s had better try a little harder, though, because only one of the three sides…

The house that former pimp Scottie Ewing built — better known as the Sugar House — is gone for good this time. The swingers’ club by night, burger joint by day (as the Alameda Grill) had been closed since February, when new owner Kelly Bailey, the former manager, was served…

Fifteen years ago, remembers Rick Betance, he hired James Lee at Zolo Grill, giving the bartender his first real bar job, a position that would plant the seeds for Lee’s rise to mixology stardom. Now, after Betance spent years as an owner and operator of a boutique hotel in the…

I love fried chicken — from the triple-fried wing coated in sticky, spicy sauce of Southeast Asia to the Southern comfort of a battered and fried drumstick paired with mashed potatoes and gravy. But the Korean version could be my all-time favorite…

There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with these — save for the fact that the jalapeños were completely bereft of heat and I’d prefer an absence of yellow cheese — but they still brought tears to my eyes in remembrance of the terrific jalapeño poppers at Encore. #Sniffle. Can you guess…

“I want a conversational bar — not a bar where people are going to zone out in front of the TV,” says Pete VanItallie, a former caterer and bar and event manager, who just inked a deal on the former La Brisa space at 375 South Pearl Street, which will…

Joe Freemond Cellar Wine Bar 2556 15th Street 303-455-9463 www.cwbon15th.com Read part one of my interview with Joe Freemond, exec chef of the Cellar Wine Bar. Best thing about cooking in Denver: Being a part of the culinary explosion that this city is finally experiencing. Having grown up here, I’ve…

While controversy continues to rage over the packed parking situation in LoHi, let’s return to a bigger picture: the geographic area Westword covers, and why we continue to refer to the entire metro area as simply Denver. Have we gone too far? Why not refer to the area as New…

Just over a year after opening the 1UP, the hot arcade/bar in LoDo, owner Jourdan Adler has taken over the former home of Pete’s Monkey Bar, which closed on Monday, and will be putting a second bar, the 2UP, in that spot. According to Adler, the 2UP will have arcade…

Christine Black is an avid home baker, one who bestows treats on her friends, family and co-workers. As requests for her goodies grew, she considered renting commercial space and actually growing her passion into a business. But when the “cottage food bill,” which allows home cooks to sell their goods…