Guess where I’m eating baba ghanoush and hummus?

The last time I was at this Middle Eastern restaurant, I left shrugging my shoulders, and while a return visit didn’t convince me that I’d struck gold, the food was far better than the first time around, and the server — just one guy overseeing the whole house — was…

Vegan Thai coconut soup for a warm appetizer on Meatless Monday

Need an appetizer to impress some guests — or just to tickle your own tastebuds? This vegan Thai-style coconut soup (adapted from a recipe in Forks Over Knives: The Cookbook) is smooth, complex and satisfying. You can buy mung bean sprouts at the store, or sprout them yourself — but…

Denver’s five best bathrooms for a quickie

A poet could compose endless lines about the pleasures of eating, and infinitely more about being in love, but a sonnet could never quite capture what it’s like to experience both in an instant. It’s hard to describe how it feels to look someone in the eye during a meal…

Land of Lincoln: Restaurant roll call for September

The Denver dining scene saw plenty of action in September — much of it in the 900 block of Lincoln Street, where Japoix finally gave up the ghost in that haunted spot in the Beauvallon that had previously swallowed up Nine75. But other outfits haven’t been discouraged from the area,…

Contest: Win two tickets to the Taste of the Nation

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Taste of the Nation, a national nonprofit that has its own Colorado chapter, which was started 25 years ago by humanitarian Noel Cunningham, the former owner/chef of Strings, who passed away late last year. The annual event, which features a bounty of foodstuffs…

My five worst school lunches

Public school students are being awfully whiny about their school lunches right now. The reason is because the United States Department of Agriculture just restructured standards for school lunches for the first time in over a decade, and now students have to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and…

Guess where I’m eating a sub sandwich?

I keep trying to find a great sub sandwich in this city, and aside from Carbone’s, I keep coming up short — and this sub only added to my discouragement. Can you guess where I’m eating? And while you’re at it, tell me where I should go to satisfy my…

Landry’s gets in the swim with steak, cake, mermaids and a giant shrimp

The Downtown Aquarium’s Nautilus ballroom was filled with all sorts of foodie-fun — perfect, medium-rare steak; disgustingly good chocolate mousse layer cakes with edible pearl accents; mermaids and a guy in a giant shrimp suit — last night for a Landry’s showcase of the dining and entertainment venues it owns…

Guess where I’m eating my weight in sugar?

People ask me what my favorite restaurant is on a daily basis, and it’s a question that’s impossible to answer. But I will say that the restaurant where the above snap was taken is very, very high on my list, and while desserts aren’t its focus, the pastry chef is…

Part two with JP Krause, exec chef of Aloft

JP Krause Aloft Broomfield 8300 Arista Place, Broomfield 303-635-2000 www.aloftbroomfielddenver.com Part one of my interview with JP Krause, exec chef of Aloft Broomfield, ran yesterday. This is part two of our interview. Favorite restaurant in America: Denver’s own Bennett’s BBQ, but not because of the food. It’s all about the…

Reader: Girls in skin-tight minis have invaded Highland!

For days the discussion has focused on Cherry Creek North, once this town’s hottest restaurant neighborhood, which may — or may not — be making a comeback. But this morning we’re returning to Highland, the area that Forbes just declared one of “America’s Hippest Hipster Neighborhoods,” citing many of the…

Mark DeNittis bows out of Cinque Soldi Salumeria

Mark DeNittis, the co-founder of Il Mondo Vecchio, a local artisan sausage factory, has his hands in a lot of different projects, and up until today, one of them was Cinque Soldi Salumeria, a tiny Italian market and deli exclusively selling Il Mondo Vecchio products that DeNittis co-owned with Tony…