Opening a restaurant in a retail strip next to a dentist’s office doesn’t exactly scream “sexy.” But if you combine a little sweat equity with years of industry experience, a former frozen yogurt shop can be transformed into someplace warm and sensuous with equal parts urban sophistication and DIY charm…
Mike Dunafon, former mayor of Glendale and husband of Debbie Matthews, owner of Shotgun Willie’s, is running for governor as a third-party candidate — and it might as well be the Party party. Because as a major booster of Glendale’s riverwalk project, he and other officials pushed for a 2011…
This week in Cafe Society, Gretchen Kurtz reviewed LYFE Kitchen, where the portions were small and mostly uninspired. In Chef and Tell, Cook Street’s John Parks talked about his hands-on-approach for teaching novice chefs, the importance of knife skills and more. See also: From Oktoberfest to the BigWonderful, the Top…
Hosea Rosenberg is a pretty big name in the area, ever since he won season five of Bravo’s Top Chef. That’s why residents who may not otherwise follow the Front Range restaurant scene are still interested in Rosenberg’s soon-to-open Blackbelly Market, a restaurant, market and butcher shop that will focus…
Dae Gee, which means “pig” in Korean, opened its first location in Westminster and has since gained a loyal following — and even a 2014 Best of Denver award for Best Korean Restaurant. Owner Joseph Kim’s second location is now grilling up marinated pork, beef and more in Congress Park…
When Lechuga’s went on the market last year, the circa 1966 building — which got its start as Carbone’s Bakery, then became Lechuga’s in 1990 — and lot were listed for a hefty $3 million. But then, the property at 3601 Tejon Street is in the heart of hot, hot…
Olive Garden has had a tough month. Its new, “Never Ending Pasta Pass” promo was mocked by everyone from Jimmy Kimmel to Red Eye; more ominously, Starboard Value, an investor that’s trying to gain control of Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden’s owner, at the annual meeting October 10, slapped the chain…
Inspired by both Oktoberfest and the Great American Beer Festival, Beer Flights at DIA will start pouring at 11 a.m. today. The beer garden in a fenced-off section in the center of the main terminal will feature ten Colorado craft brewers: Avery, Breckenridge, Bristol, Dry Dock, Left Hand, New Belgium,…
Restaurateurs are constantly balancing the desire to pioneer hot new neighborhoods with the business need to tap into a safe customer base. Corner House, which closed in the RiverClay condo building in Jefferson Park earlier this year, may have just been ahead of its time for the neighborhood. Since then,…
Summer is coming to an end, but it’s far from the end of patio season in Denver, as the weather will surely fluctuate between hot and snow for the next month or two. There’s now even more reason to take advantage of every warm day before winter since Denver passed…
These days, healthy fast-casuals are sprouting faster than chia seeds. So if you want a quick, healthy meal and you’re tired of brown-bagging it, there’s no need to fight I-25 traffic to eat at LYFE Kitchen in Park Meadows, which I just reviewed. I recently popped in for lunch at…
No. 74 Cinnamon Rolls at the Duffyroll Cafe 1290 South Pearl Street, 303-953-6890 4994 East Hampden Avenue, 303-753-9177 5198 South Broadway, Englewood, 303-996-5900 1600 Blake Street, 303-623-0654 The Duffeyroll Cafe started out as a pushcart on the 16th Street Mall and opened its first permanent cafe in Happy Canyon on…
The news that Johnson’s Corner, the iconic truck stop just north of the Berthoud exit on I-25, will soon be sold to TravelCenters of America drew many cries of “noooo” and “Welcome to corporate America.” Members of the founding family — Joe Johnson opened Johnson’s Corner back in 1950 –…
It’s good to see the retail shops at Beauvallon finally settling down, with restaurants and cafes DiFranco’s, 100% de Agave and Drip Coffeehouse all maintaining a steady presence over the past couple of years, and even Denver tapas stalwart the 9th Door opening a second location here. While Attivo Pizza…
Many of Denver’s barbecue joints line up sauce bottles like they’re craft beer taps, offering an array of house blends to suit the palates of transplants from every meat smoking region of the South. Sweet Kansas City sauce, in hot or mild, and tangy Memphis style compete for attention against…
In this week’s Chef & Tell, I mentioned that I had taken a pickling and preserving class at the Cook Street School of Culinary Arts, through the school’s program for home cooks. Cook Street offers a wide range of instruction for amateurs, ranging from classes in basic knife skills, wine…
Cook Street School of Culinary Arts, the downtown program that offers curricula for home cooks as well as budding professionals, recently offered a class in pickling and canning. I’d been to the school a couple of times years ago for corporate team-building events, but this time it was just my…
Sunnyside Burger Bar opened yesterday on the corner once occupied by Longo’s Subway Tavern in LoHi, or Sunnyside, or Highland, or the Northside, depending on what map and history book you’re consulting. The burger joint is another venture by Larimer Associates, whose COO, Joe Vostrejs, has deep roots in Denver…
Here’s how former Cafe critic Jason Sheehan remembered his first view of Colorado’s iconic truck stop: “Johnson’s Corner sat right off the frontage road, a dusty sprawl of parking lots and big rigs, mirrored windows reflecting the endless, flat nothing all around it. Johnson’s had everything: a restaurant, general store,…
LYFE Kitchen 8505 Park Meadows Center Drive, Lone Tree 303-706-9100 A meal at LYFE Kitchen isn’t just supposed to fill you up; it’s supposed to make you feel good. Founded three years ago in California by a pair of former McDonald’s executives and an investment banker, this rapidly expanding chain,…
Our desire for patio pleasures doesn’t fade with the coming of fall. In fact, Denver loves its cool-weather patios: The opportunity to don hats and scarves while wrapping our beers in mittened hands reminds us of mountain nights around a fire. But while we love the cool, open air, it’s…
Yesterday our Latest Word blog reported that the Denver Police Department says calls have already started coming from parents concerned that their kids will be slipped pot edibles while trick-or-treating on Halloween. In a DPD podcast, the officers advise parents to talk to their children about not eating anything until…
