Full Steam Tavern stalls in the original home of City Spirit

Developer Mickey Zeppelin bought the old Victorian building at 1434 Blake Street back in the early ’80s, moving his office upstairs, putting an architectural bookstore in the basement, and then opening the iconic City Spirit Cafe with his wife, artist Susan Wick, on the first floor. After the closed City…

Exclusive first look: Infinite Monkey Theorem Winery and Wine Lab

Yesterday afternoon, just hours before Ben Parsons would unveil his new wine lab, part of the 30,000 square-foot plot he leased last year in RiNo that’s now the quarters of the Infinite Monkey Theorem manufacturing facility and tasting/taproom (Parsons refers to it as a wine lab), the British-born winemaker was…

Round two with Kevin Morrison, exec chef-owner of Pinche Taqueria

Kevin Morrison Pinche Taqueria 1514 York Street 720-475-1337 pinchetacos.com Part one of my interview with Kevin Morrison, exec chef-owner of Pinche Taqueria, ran yesterday; this is part two of our chat. What do you enjoy most about your craft? It’s always changing, so it fits my personality. I get bored…

Trillium needs more attention to detail to really bloom

Unless you’re a movie buff, you probably don’t remember The Doctor, a touching early-’90s film about a surgeon diagnosed with cancer. Having seen life through a patient’s lens, the doctor, played by Oscar winner William Hurt, learns to practice a different, more empathetic kind of medicine after his recovery. Ryan…

City Spirit Reunion will celebrate that hipster hangout on Friday

Every generation of hipsters has its hangout, and from 1984 until 1997 in Denver, that place was City Spirit, an eclectic cafe that opened at 1434 Blake Street four years before the Lower Downtown Historic District was formally established, and long before LoDo became the mainstream mainstay it is today…

Here it is! Punch Bowl – Social Food & Drink opens to the public on Saturday

After months — hell, years! — of waiting and watching, Punch Bowl – Social Food & Drink, Robert Thompson’s 24,000-square-foot gastro-diner, coffee bar, lounge, bowling alley, ping-pong powerhouse, pool hall, marbles mecca, throwback video arcade and game hang (deck-shuffle, shuffleboard, darts, pinball, Foosball and board games round out the amusements),…

Guess where I’m eating tom kha talay?

The kitchen where the above snap was shot much be suffering a seafood economic crisis, because while I ordered my tom kha with seafood, it arrived with exactly two shrimp and a whole boatload of mock crab, a cheap, unappealing substitute. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone…

Sonic serves up salty steak and deep-fried cheesecake

Sonic has again graced the fast-food dining public with its deep-fried cheesecake bites –or, as I call them, “Thousands of years of tradition stuffed into a greasy paper bag with a side of strawberry sauce.” Couple an order of those with one of Sonic’s new Hickory Flatmelt sandwiches crammed with…

Vance Johnson closes Epicurious in Grand Junction

The restaurant business has not been too friendly to Vance Johnson, one of the legendary Three Amigos who helped get the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl in 1989. (The other two Amigos were Ricky Nattiel and Mark Jackson.) After some rocky years, Johnson moved to the Western Slope, where…

Guess where I’m drinking a Russian Imperial stout?

If you like the unmistakable taste of whiskey, then you’ll love this beer, a Russian Imperial stout aged in whiskey barrels in a local tap room that continues to rack up awards for its craft brews. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct…

Reader: Forget green chile — nothing beats New Mexico red

Although Denver diners are obsessed with green chile, red chile has its fans, too. As Gretchen Kurtz notes, “Red chile has an even deeper, more intriguing flavor, as fruits and vegetables left to reach their fully ripe potential tend to do.” She couldn’t get the Curtis Park Creamery, which she…