On my way home from the office today, I stopped at a convenience store to grab a bottled water, and when I walked inside, the clerk blurted out, to no one in particular, “It’s so motherfucking hot that I’d run around the block buck-naked if we could have just one…
I didn’t think much about dessert at The Universal, which I review this week, until I’d finished my tempeh banh mi. “Will that do it for you?” the server asked as she came to clear our plates. When we inquired about sweets, she said they didn’t have any. I knew…
Historians Ale House is about ready to make some history of its own: The new watering hole at 24 Broadway will open at 11 a.m. tomorrow, June 28. “Colorado is a majestic state with the magnificent Rocky Mountains. Our sports teams are heroic champions, the skiing is epic and the…
On Tuesday night Lower Downtown was filled with hundreds of revelers, who needed no urging to follow the suggestion of LoDo Bites that they “sip, sample and stroll” their way through one of Denver’s hottest restaurant neighborhoods. The restaurants that put out samples for this annual event: Bistro Vendome, Backcountry…
Paul Krzystyniak spent a year mastering the art of making cold-pressed juices from raw fruits and vegetables, and now he’s sharing the fruits of his labor at The Juicing Tree, the shop he opened last week at 1504 Ivanhoe Street. While cold-pressed juices — healthier because they don’t involve high-pressure…
Arnold Rubio Tamayo 1400 Larimer Street 720-946-1433 richardsandoval.com/tamayo This is part two of my interview with Arnold Rubio, exec chef of Tamayo; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What’s your idea of a great dining experience? I love great food, but a great dining experience really depends on superior…
It was just two years ago that Frank’s Kitchen opened its doors. The regular e-mail that Dina Berta, a longtime restaurant reporter, and her contractor-turned-chef husband, Frank, sent out last week was full of plans for the future after a successful car show. They were talking about doing more events,…
Timing is important when you’re making fluffy biscuits — or references to Paula Deen. When Gretchen Kurtz wrote her review of The Universal, comparing the sky-high biscuits to those of Paula Deen was a compliment. But by the time the paper with that review was off the press, Deen’s career…
Fried chicken would fit right in at The Universal. For that matter, so would Paula Deen, given all the butter whisked into the grits that have become synonymous with this breakfast-and-lunch spot in a Sunnyside strip mall. But the restaurant isn’t as Southern as those “grits of the day” make…
Candy, coffee and ice cream? Enstrom just opened its new location at 6770 West 52nd Avenue in Arvada — a door down from its previous Arvada location. Turns out the Enstrom family, which has had four generations in Colorado’s candy industry, owns the building, and when Stephanie’s Candy moved out…
In Philadelphia, cheesesteaks are a cultural obsession — but the sandwich infatuation stretches all across the nation, including Denver, where we have dozens of cheesesteak shacks, some of which do justice to the city where they originated and others that don’t. This one falls somewhere in the middle of the…
Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with a spacious kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. “We grilled some sausages…
I had Paula Deen’s back (for the most part) when she finally divulged that she had type II diabetes, but I’m afraid that butter-bump’s latest scandal is indefensible. For those of you not in the butter zone (or on the earth), Deen dipped herself in a deep fryer during a…
The Little Pub Company just opened the latest in its chain of neighborhood bars and restaurants, The Whittier Pub, at 2000 East 28th Avenue. Mark Berzins, who runs Little Pub, told Westword earlier this year that he’s not normally an urban pioneer, preferring to open new locations in established areas…
Arnold Rubio Tamayo 1400 Larimer Street 720-946-1433 richardsandoval.com/tamayo This is part one of my interview with Arnold Rubio, exec chef of Tamayo; part two of our chat will run tomorrow. Arnold Rubio’s smile is infectious, and it’s all because of Richard Sandoval, the New York-based chef and restaurateur who owns…
In A Federal Case, I’ll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard — south to north — within Denver city limits. I’ll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I’ll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here’s the…
There are plenty of chefs who are passionate, hungry, driven. But Kimber Hollar is all that and a merlot burger. “I was thinking earlier today that I’m just this small town girl from a cow town who never thought I’d be doing this,” says Hollar, fighting back tears. “This is…
Global Goods and Coffee Shop opened this spring in Olde Town Arvada with all the trappings of a coffeehouse — but with a different goal. Global Goods is run by an international nonprofit organization, Global Refuge, that provides immediate aid where it is needed, without getting tangled up in the…
The owners of Winter Park Winery — winemaker Jon Brickner and his wife, Cassidi — have brought the grape divide to Denver, recently uncorking Mile High Winery, a tasting room, retail outlet and full production facility in River North. Like its mountain sibling, which is actually located in Fraser –…
After owning two restaurants and a nightclub in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Joseph Gerace was burned out and ready to take his cooking in a new direction. So he packed his bags and moved to Denver, where he and Alli Evans bought a 1961 Ford Grumman that they turned into…
When you’re looking for a special-occasion restaurant, not many chains fit the bill — but the Melting Pot is an exception. Colorado has four locations of this fondue-based eatery, and although most of the menu is meat-centric, it does include a four-course vegetarian dinner that will suit the most particular…
I have a very good friend who’d be an even better friend if he liked oysters, but since he doesn’t, it just means more for me, and on Monday night, when they’re just a buck a slurp, I can get my fix without having to hawk my pearls. Can you…
