Valentino Ujkic Trattoria Stella 3201 East Colfax Avenue 303-320-8635 http://trattoriastella.squarespace.com This is part one of my interview with Valentino Ujkic, the executive chef of Trattoria Stella on East Colfax. Part two of our interview will run in this space tomorrow. Valentino Ujkic emerges from his open kitchen at Trattoria Stella…
What does Colorado taste like? Sunshine and cherries and whiskey, according to Marnie Ward, who created “Tree Line,” the winner of the inaugural Colorado Cocktail Contest. “I love to go to the farmers’ markets through the summer and find great fresh produce, grab something and make cocktails with it,” says…
Summer is hamburger season. (But then, what time of the year isn’t the right time for hamburgers?) Green-chile cheeeseburgers at the Steuben’s truck at Civic Center Eats. JCBs on the patio at My Brother’s Bar. A big burger for a growing boy in this Guess where? post yesterday. But sadly,…
Expo Recreation Center, 10955 East Exposition Avenue in Aurora, will be the site of a City of Aurora cooking class, Ice Cream for Grownups. Students (21 and up, only) will learn to make lemon ginger ice cream with caramel whiskey sauce, plus such other flavors as tiramisu, salted caramel with…
We just finished up the Colorado Cocktail Project, during which distillers and bartenders from across the state gave lectures, poured samples and, ultimately, created the ultimate Colorado Cocktail: the Tree Line, concocted by the Avenue Grill’s Marnie Ward, who bested nine other mixologists with her drink made with Leopold Bros…
“I had nothing to do with it, other than drinking at the bar last Tuesday night,” claims Jamey Fader, the culinary director of Big Red F, the Dave Query restaurant group that operates numerous dining dens in Denver and Boulder, including West End Tavern, Lola, Zolo Grill, Happy, Centro and…
Fourteen bartenders. Twenty minutes. One winner of an iPad. That was roughly the formula for the bartending competition Sunday night at Lola, sponsored by Don Julio. Using either Don Julio’s Reposado or Blanco, the participating bartenders made mini-cocktails, a concept that the tequila brand calls “Luxury Drops.” The winner, Dylan…
At the tender age of incredibly-awkward-teenager, I was packed, along with an econo-sized bottle of zit cream and my discman, into my family’s mini van for a summer road trip through the romantic Midwest. I was a terrible human to be around at that age, bitching about every stop along…
From the beginning, the founders of H Burger Co said they wanted to expand outside of their first location at 1555 Blake Street. Now a banner adorning the storefront at 727 Colorado Boulevard signals that expansion has finally begun. An H Burger location will take over the former Smiling Moose…
Congrats to Marnie Ward, bartender at Avenue Grill and maker of the Tree Line, which nabbed first place in the 2011 Colorado Cocktail Contest last night. Below are a few highlights from the shindig, which took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. You can check out the full…
On Saturday I was in Globeville looking for the White Owl, a bar that took over a sixty-year-old Slavic speakeasy named the Portulaca Cafe in 2008. The Owl had a reputation as a super-friendly, cash-only bar without food but with PBR on tap. As it turns out, the White Owl…
Last month, when I interviewed Robin Baron, executive chef of Udi’s Pizza Bar and Udi’s Bread Cafe, of which there are four locations scattered across the Front Range, she let on that the Baron family, spearheaded by her father, Udi, a confirmed bread head, were unleashing a quick-casual Middle Eastern…
Last week we celebrated the official first day of summer, and the veritable heat wave that followed only served to drive the point home. Several days of 90+ degree temps later, we found ourselves forced to confront what surely must be the most pressing question of the season: What sort…
Last night was you-get-a-burger night for the preteen, who scored this one an eight out of ten. The service, however, definitely gets a ten — and then some — since I’d forgotten my wallet and didn’t have $7.76 in spare coinage in my car. Instead of denying the kid the…
Noy Farrell doesn’t use pesticides in her garden. The chef/co-owner of Taste of Thailand uses ladybugs and beer instead. The ladybugs eat the insects that try to devour her greens and herbs, and a shallow bowl of beer attracts — and kills off — any snails. Noy’s primary garden is…
Over the past few years, Boulder’s Pearl Street has added several independent coffee shops — including Atlas Purveyors, Caffè and Ozo — to a strip already stuffed with caffeine stops. But now one of the area’s older cafes has made an exit…
Yesterday, Lori Midson reported that the former home of Walk-In Burger, at 2401 Sheridan Boulevard, was going to become Nobu — a NOBU! — with the notion of serving sushi and oysters after a hearing next week. Which prompted this from davebarnes: “a date with the Edgewater liquor-license board at…
The Maggiano’s in the Tech Center will host a four-course Cline Cellars Wine Dinner that starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $65; for more details, call 303-858-1405 or go to www.maggianos.com. For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings — and…
I’ve yet to find a spirit that I really hate. I’ve had gins so smooth and floral, I’d willingly drink them neat. I’m a sucker for a good, smoky mezcal. Put tequila in just about anything and I’ll pour it straight down my throat. But at the end of the…
Of all the spirits, whiskey may be the most varied (the world can’t even agree on the spelling of the word). Bourbons must be made with at least 51 percent corn in charred oak barrels. Irish whiskey ages distilled cereal grains in wooden casks. Canadian whisky just has to be…
I’m geographically challenged. How else to explain that I was on Federal Boulevard and 72nd Avenue yesterday, when I spotted what I (wrongly) believed was the shuttered address of Teleras Deli Mexicana, a tortas joint that I’ve eaten at several times and written about more than once — a joint…
Approximately 2,200 semi-trucks full of Colorado potatoes head to Mexico each year. But an effort to open Mexico’s markets could mean a tenfold increase in potato exports from this state, according to John Salazar, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture. Mexico is Colorado’s second-largest export market for agricultural goods, with 39 percent…
