Laurent Mechin Jill’s Restaurant/St. Julien Hotel 900 Walnu t Street, Boulder 720-406-7399 Laurent Mechin moved to Boulder six years ago to take a job as executive chef and culinary director at Jill’s Restaurant, which also serves as the kitchen for the St Julien Hotel. Mechin’s French upbringing and training are…
Brian Laird spent so many years running a high-end Italian kitchen, he got good at explaining why spaghetti and meatballs wasn’t on the menu. Today Laird co-owns Sarto’s, an Italian eatery that he opened with Taylor and Kajsa Swallow in Jefferson Park last fall, and he now finds himself explaining…
When Gretchen Kurtz reviewed Brazen in January, she was wowed by the West Highland eatery’s chef counter and the “unpretentious, seasonally inspired” dishes of chef Lance Barto. Not only did we include Brazen in our list of the Fifteen Best New Restaurants in Denver for 2014, but the restaurant also…
You’ve got the first two meals of the day covered: breakfast is a cup of Greek yogurt and a coffee and lunch is being catered by your office. But between the bad weather, the overtime you’ve been working and all of the kids’ school activities, dinner somehow got lost in…
The menu at the new Zoe Ma Ma, which opened last month right by Union Station, features some of the most comforting home-style Chinese food in Denver, with warming bowls of housemade noodles buried in braised beef and savory sauce, Chinese chicken-and-rice soup, and dumplings, bao buns and meatballs made…
The snowstorm that swept through Denver over the weekend didn’t quite live up to the dire predictions that had residents clearing grocery-store shelves in advance of the weather, but more cold temperatures and snow are in the forecast for the next several days, making the tease of mild, sunny days…
Girl Scout cookie season is upon us, threatening our will power and our waistlines. If you’ve already maxed out on Thin Mints, Samoas and other annual favorites but are still craving sweets, Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria in the Denver Pavilions has just what you need: the pizza kitchen’s creamy cheesecakes…
At most restaurants, chicken skin either stays on the chicken or ends up in the trash along with potato peels, cilantro stems and carrot tops. But leave it to enterprising and creative kitchens to figure out a way to make a few extra bucks from a food product that has…
OPENING THIS WEEK* Avery Brewing Company Restaurant and Tap Room, 4910 Nautilus Court, Boulder Balageru Restaurant & Bar, 5707 East Colfax Avenue Gathering Grounds Cafe & Board Games, 8923 East Union Avenue, Greenwood Village Goldspot Brewing (Saturday), 4970 Lowell Boulevard NOLA Voodoo Tavern and Perks, 2231 Bruce Randolph Avenue Organic Sandwich…
For years, Sputnik has been a local favorite in the South Broadway neighborhood. By day, patrons come for coffee, food and a relaxed environment to work or meet friends. By night, drinks at the bar and late night eats become the desired accouterments. While the menu has a generous helping…
Our restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz reviewed Kings BBQ last July, noting that its off-the-beaten-path location in Lakewood was a good sign. Of the smokehouse’s brisket, she professed true affection: ” That dish was love spelled m-e-a-t, with the chewy black edges called bark, the telltale pink smoke ring, and chunks…
Henry Batiste opened his first eatery in New Orleans in 1985, but has been out of the restaurant game for many years. For the past decade he’s been a liquor rep for Beverage Distributors in Denver, but he recently got the itch to jump back in. After months of scouting…
No. 47: Pupusas Revueltas at Pupuseria San Salvador 4385 South Federal Boulevard, Sheridan 720-327-8146 The Salvadoran hand-formed corn masa pockets known as pupusas at Pupuseria San Salvador are, like the restaurant itself, small and tidy. Unlike the big, sloppy rounds found at many other pupusa joints in town, these are…
Many years ago, with the gusto of the newly-converted and a copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in hand, I decided to follow the 100-mile diet. I joined a winter farm share, stopped buying oranges and bananas, and tried to build meals out of the fruits and vegetables we’d…
Joseph Pitruzzelli and Tyler Wilson have been in the sausage business for the past six years, serving a wide variety of classic, gourmet and exotic sausages in a modern take on a German beer hall. With locations in downtown Los Angeles and Venice Beach, the business partners are expanding their…
As Denver’s food scene continued to boil over, the city’s chefs and eateries are getting more and more attention from national media and recognition from groups dedicated to celebrating the country’s best restaurants. The biggest news, which came out today, is that five Denver and Boulder chefs and restaurants have…
Growth has put the spotlight on many previously depressed Denver neighborhoods, but La Alma-Lincoln Park, tucked into a stretch south of the Auraria campus, still rates little attention from those who live outside the area. Restaurant lovers are familiar with the Buckhorn Exchange and Japanese favorite Domo, of course, but…
Success can sometimes be a stumbling block. It sounds paradoxical, but you see it on the basketball court all the time. A team fights to get ahead, then slows down its game to protect the lead. Fear creeps in, and instead of playing to win, the team starts playing to…
Mapo tofu, a tongue-searing blend of chiles, ground pork, cubes of tofu and, hopefully, numbing Sichuan peppercorns, has become an iconic dish in many Chinese and Japanese restaurants. It’s an odd combination for Western palates, since we generally associate tofu with lackluster vegetarian dishes. Mapo tofu, though, combines the swagger…
Katie Mullen’s just marked its sixth anniversary on the 16th Street Mall this week and now that giant Irish bar is about to get a baby sister. A wee baby sister. After putting plenty of money and effort into creating a four-part, 550-seat Irish pub in the Sheraton, the owners…
Enjoy the soothing sounds of the four-piece Paris Takes Quartet crooning in a multitude of languages as you wiggle your way through the maze of tables to pile your plate high with everything and anything under the sun. But you have to know what you’re getting into with brunch at…
Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) is just a couple of days away, so the time is definitely right to order dishes that represent good fortune and longevity. Whole fish and long, green vegetables fit that description, and both items are easy to find on the encyclopedic menus at…
