First look: Jimmy’s Urban Bar & Grill opens in LoDo

You likely won’t notice that the front door of Jimmy’s Urban Bar & Grill slants, if only a little. It has something to do with luck — good luck — and Alicia Bernat, along with her husband Jim and their son and exec chef Jimmy, deliberately designed their new namesake…

Guess where I’m drinking mouth-numbing Tingala?

I can’t imagine what you’d do with this Colorado spirit, which makes your mouth, lips and gums go numb — a lot like Sichuan peppercorns — but there’s at least one restaurant and bar that’s conjuring up ways to use the spirit in cocktails. Still, this has got to be…

The vegan Beet Box opens a retail bakery

Swapping out butter and eggs for applesauce and almond milk has been a sweet deal for Blair Ednie and Michael Craig, who started Beet Box six years ago as a vegan catering and wholesale baking company. And this month, they gave up their base in Arvada for a new home…

Guess where I’m eating cheap (and good) tacos?

Talk about a cheap lunch: six tacos and a large pineapple agua fresca for $14. And these aren’t your average street tacos. In fact, in my humble opinion, these are the best street tacos in town — and the excellent salsa bar isn’t far behind. Can you guess where I’m…

Toppings is tapped out in LoDo, but two more pizza places coming

A string of pizza joints opened in LoDo last year, in a neighborhood that already included the Wazee Supper Club and Two-Fisted Mario’s, with Mellow Mushroom and Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria just a few blocks outside of LoDo. Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza was the first to open — and also the first…

Round two with Cory Treadway, exec chef of the Wynkoop

Cory Treadway Wynkoop Brewing Company 1634 18th Street 303-297-2700 wynkoop.com This is part two of my interview with Cory Treadway, exec chef of the Wynkoop; part one of our conversation ran yesterday. Your five favorite local restaurants other than your own: Oak at Fourteenth in Boulder is doing a great…

Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery: Fast-casual is on a roll

After my first visit to Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery, a locally owned fast-casual joint that’s a meatball-slinging version of Chipotle, I thought about giving the guys who own it a present. Two, actually. The first was a blender, so they could offer milkshakes for dessert instead of just Lucky Charms-crusted…

Guess where I’m eating a scallop in squid ink?

At last night’s dinner — a birthday celebration for one of the most amazing fathers I’ve ever known — we feasted on everything from beet carpaccio to sweetbreads, but the star of the show was the single grilled scallop pooled in a puddle of squid ink. Can you guess where…

Peteybird Ice Cream Sandwiches wheels into downtown

In April, “ice cream-sandwich enthusiast” Peter Bredemann donned hot-pink sunglasses, hot-pink fannyback and hot-pink flip-flops and started pedaling a hot-pink, three-wheel bike around Denver, peddling ice cream sandwiches. Now from noon to 2 p.m. every Monday through Friday, Peteybird Ice Cream Sandwiches can be found by the D&F Clocktower at…

Red Star Deli and Studio F shutter in the Icehouse

A “rising star.” That’s how Westword restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz described Red Star Deli, a smashing sandwich joint that opened in the Icehouse, along with Studio F, a spacious culinary stage — and pop- up venue — for local and visiting chefs to shine in front of captive audiences, in…

Little bundles of joy at Gio Cha Cali

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…

Reader: Green “chile” is disgusting gruel

When Jenn Wohletz moved from the Midwest to New Mexico, she discovered Mexican food — make that New Mexican food — at Little Anita’s, and she got hooked on both red and green chile. During a stint in Utah, she almost had to go cold turkey — but here in…

Backcountry Provisions becomes Backcountry Delicatessen

Backcountry Provisions, the Steamboat Springs-based mini-chain that added a LoDo store in 2010, has changed its name to Backcountry Delicatessen. “The brand refresh represents more than a name change; it’s a progression of our business which positively represents our commitment to our customers and desire to expand to other locations,”…