Laudisio, aka Ristorante L, closes in Boulder

Colorado may be getting a Trader Joe’s at Boulder’s Twenty Ninth Street development, but the project is coming at a cost. Ristorante L, which got its start as Laudisio, closed yesterday — just shy of its 25th anniversary (with seven of those 25 years on 29th Street). Although founder Antonio…

Gypsy Cafe and Parlor revs up in an old garage downtown

An old garage at the corner of 23rd and Champa streets has been transformed into Gypsy Cafe and Parlor. The spot opened its doors this week; a grand opening is planned for June 16. See also: – Guess where I’m eating baba ghanoush and hummus? – Guess where I’m eating…

Guess where I’m eating soybeans?

Despite the salt factor — there’s a lot of it in this dish — I love the fresh take on edamame beans, which benefit from a jumble of stinging chiles, garlic and cilantro. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to a…

Jorel Pierce on redemption and his time on Top Chef Masters

Last year, on Top Chef Seattle, Jorel Pierce, chef de cuisine at Euclid Hall, was the first contestant booted by judge Tom Colicchio, who had dubious issues with Pierce’s chicken butchery skills. And that could have signaled the end of Pierce’s presence on the national screen. But it didn’t. On…

Five meaty ideas for Smashburger’s new TV campaign

Smashburger, our locally born and quickly proliferating burger chain, is taking its wares to the small screen with its first-ever television ads. One thirty-second spot, created by Denver-based Definite Productions, is a burger-fan dream sequence, reportedly complete with actual beef patty-smashing action meant to demonstrate the differences between Smashburger’s hand-smashed…

Guess where I’m eating a burger and fries?

A burger with fries is an indulgence that I try to stay away from, but every so often, the urge just hits, as it did last weekend, and while this is a joint where you can get your burger topped with just about everything the burger gods are willing to…

Buffalo Doughboy has closed for “restructuring”

Buffalo Doughboy won the Best Bakery award in the Best of Denver 2010. Business boomed, and in April 2012 the bakery moved out of its tiny spot in a Victorian home off Broadway for a space three times as large, and a mile south on Broadway itself. But business in…

Reader: Is there no hidden gem on Federal Boulevard?

Mark Antonation has been eating his way up Federal Boulevard in A Federal Case, and yesterday he reached Pho Duy, the third spot in Denver’s trio of terrific noodle joints in one strip mall. You’d think that would be enough for some people…but no. See also: – Pho Duy: round…

Oak at Fourteenth rises from the ashes

We have a history, Oak at Fourteenth and I. It’s not of the salacious, I-dated-someone-in-the-kitchen variety, but of the professional sort: I’ve reviewed the restaurant before. I did so at the now-defunct Denver Magazine in the weeks after Oak opened in November 2010, during what co-owners Bryan Dayton and Steven…

The Hawt Dog and Sausage Eatery reopens in Cherry Creek North

The Hawt Dog & Sausage Eatery originally opened in Cherry Creek North in January 2012. Its claim to fame was an elaborate take on a traditionally uninteresting tubular food (hot dogs and sausages), but that wasn’t enough to keep the place open. It closed last November. But last month there…

Jennifer Jasinski a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters

How far does she go? You’ll have to tune into Bravo beginning on Wednesday, July 24 to see whether or not Jennifer Jasinski, executive chef of Rioja, makes it all the way on Top Chef Masters. Jasinski, who just won the Best Chef Southwest James Beard Foundation award — and…