When chef/restaurateur Justin Cucci opened Root Down in 2008, guests were wowed by reclaimed gymnasium floors, a room divider festooned with old telephones, and remnants from the building’s previous incarnation as an auto mechanic’s garage cleverly given a second life. That year was the beginning of the Great Recession, though,…
When the team behind Oak at Fourteenth and Acorn hired pastry chef Michael Conti to preside over the dessert and pastry program at both of those restaurants, as well as Brider, which opened in December, then-restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz applauded. Although she liked both Oak and Acorn, she’d found their…
Ahead of Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant’s thirtieth birthday block party on Saturday, we’re catching up with co-founder and owner Pat McGaughran on Facebook live today around 3:15 p.m. Participating is simple. If you haven’t already, like us on Facebook. Visit our page around 3 and join the conversation by asking any questions you…
While some restaurants take Mondays off, others take the opportunity to offer special dinners on that typically slow day. Here are a couple of upcoming Monday-night feasts that will have you looking forward to what’s typically the worst day of the week. June 20 “A Tribe Called Betts” Wine Dinner…
Some of the best dishes I ate as a critic were at sibling restaurants Oak at Fourteenth and Acorn, owned by partners Steve Redzikowski and Bryan Dayton, from the class-defining kale-apple salad to the lamb shawarma. But as I noted in my reviews, desserts always seemed underwhelming. So last summer,…
At 4:30 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, there’s not much going on along the 16th Street Mall. A guy standing at the intersection of 16th and Tremont Place is putting on deodorant, while a security guard peers out from a bank lobby into the darkness. But outside Denver’s newest doughnut…
Hart’s Corner has been through many changes since the building at 5201 West Mississippi Avenue was erected more than 90 years ago by the Hart family, who owned the building from 1924 to 1978. Under the Hart’s Corner name, the edifice has seen life as a nightclub, dive bar, family restaurant,…
After we posted our list of the ten best gluten-free menus in Denver, the responses came fast and furious — really furious. Apparently many readers would like to see a dining scene free of this gluten-free obsession. Says Samuel: With the sole exception of those diagnosed with Celiac disease, gluten…
Americans are good at breakfast — at least when it comes to the more-is-better school of cooking: eggs, pork products, pancakes, waffles, portable sandwiches, hot-and-cold cereals, sugary pastries, toast with peanut butter and jelly. For all that variety, though, American breakfast doesn’t go much beyond filling, fueling and fairly bland…
In 1996, former Chicago options trader Jimmy Seidel came to the realization that he’d need to open his own eatery if he wanted great sandwiches like the ones he’d found across the country in his years of travel. He picked a little shack of a place on Pearl Street in…
Country Time BBQ, a perennial favorite for smoked shoulder, brisket and ribs, closed a year and a half ago at 2504 West Hampden Avenue, just as Denver’s barbecue renaissance was gathering momentum. But all has not been quiet at the little shack that seemed held together by little more than…
Readers have been talking a lot about burgers lately, lately, discussing everything from In-N-Out and White Castle to the Cherry Cricket, one of the few things that doesn’t irritate people in Cherry Creek (although they don’t love the lines at this seventy-year-old institution). Says Jarrod: Love the Cricket, but the developers have…
This week’s cover story took us to LoDo — or is that BroDo? Allison, a local writer who covers Denver nightlife, used to be a regular in LoDo, but now prefers local bars around town — and she listed some of her favorite neighborhorhood bars for us, including Solera and…
The hot weather finally rolled into town, which means we’re all looking for great places to cool down with a tall drink and some seasonal bites. Chris Utterback dipped into his wellspring of happy hour knowledge to deliver the ten best happy hour hangouts for enjoying summer with cheap eats…
Fat Jack’s Supersubs opened at 1245 East Colfax Avenue in 2000, but it wasn’t until Kyle and Brooke Fabra purchased the sandwich shop in 2012 that more Fat Jack’s spots began popping up around town. With six stores now in their stable, the Fabras still have their sights set on…
The Union Station Farmers Market debuted last weekend, and it will be back on the plaza at 1701 Wynkoop Street from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow, and every subsequent Saturday until late October. The first edition brought raves — as well as Mark Antonation’s advice for cooking what you…
Community supported agriculture (or CSA) memberships can be a crapshoot when it comes to variety and quality for the price. Diehard locavores will usually persevere out of loyalty to local farms, even if weekly produce boxes become a boring slog through filler vegetables in between major harvests. But a few local…
After a quick turnaround of the old Julia Blackbird space, Spatola is now dishing up traditional Sicilian cuisine at 3434 West 32nd Avenue in West Highland. The restaurant is the work of Franco Spatola, who also owns Dolce Sicilia Italian Bakery in Wheat Ridge. Along with classic antipasti, insalate, primi and…
When readers saw our video of the giant La Tribu burger at Hamburguesas Don Jesus, a ten-patty dish designed to satisfy a tribe, most had just one response: We’ve gotta try it. But a few commenters got far more specific. Says Lucrecia: Excellent service, delicious hamburgers and hot dogs. Responds…
Opening a restaurant is like running a sprint that lasts 26.2 miles, not 200 meters. So we weren’t sure if Paul Reilly, the chef/co-owner of Beast + Bottle, who’s opening Coperta this summer, would have a moment to breathe, let alone talk to us — but he did. Graciously stepping…
The Union Station Farmers’ Market kicked off its inaugural season on Saturday, June 4, with a multitude of produce, meat and prepared-food vendors set up on the plaza outside the train station on 17th Street downtown. The farmers’ market is run by Boulder County Farmers Markets, a non-profit that until…
Two years have passed since I began my exploration of Denver’s international food scene with the Ethniche series. Originally a monthly study of a single cuisine, it morphed into a look at individual dishes and their provenance, as well as a study of interpretations of specific preparations across various cultural…
