Reader: This chef’s arrogance is off-putting

Aaron Bennett, the exec chef of Boulder’s Bácaro Venetian Taverna, is the focus of this week’s Chef and Tell interview, and some of his comments already have readers simmering. The one that seems to be causing the most consternation? Bennett’s list of pet peeves: “People who come into a restaurant…

Dining meets designing in Denver’s restaurant concepts

Part of the project is always getting to know your different clients, getting inside their heads,” says Sarah Semple Brown, who founded the design and architecture firm Semple Brown Design in the early ’80s and has been designing restaurant spaces ever since. “It’s like reality TV at its best.” Brown’s…

Pasquini’s changes name of Cherry Creek spot to Tony P’s

Tony Pasquini opened the first Pasquini’s Pizzeria in 1986 at 1310 South Broadway, a space that’s expanded several times over the years. But that hasn’t been the only change in the Pasquini’s restaurant empire. At the same time Pasquini opened other locations, he also allowed franchise operators to run restaurants…

Win VIP tickets to Westword‘s Dish! #dishword

Update: Congratulations to our three winners — atarrell, Scot62 and Sherri 1! Check your email for information on how to claim your tickets. And to the rest of you: Stay posted for more chances to win. If you haven’t yet bought your ticket to Dish — or you bought a…

Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: chocolate zucchini bread

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 the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. It’s August, Barb…

Photos: Twenty best food faces at LoDo Bites

Denver’s culinary enthusiasts have some seriously glorious food faces. As proof, we offer the following photos, taken by Westword photographer Brandon Marshall at last night’s LoDo Bites celebration. Hundreds of food fans flocked to a string of lower downtown eateries including 1515 Restaurant, Ambria, Bistro Vendome, Coohills, Euclid Hall, The…

Reader: That British Bulldog review was a dog!

No good deed goes unpunished. While we’ve been looking for a new restaurant reviewer, Jenn Wohletz has been lending a hand, writing full-length pieces that play off her “Jenn in Chains” posts on Cafe Society. Last week, for example, she took on the British Bulldog, one of nineteen links in…

Contest: Win burgers, beer and bragging rights at Mateo

Unless you’ve been hibernating under a bun, you know that come Wednesday, the glorious Denver Burger Battle is back for another round of flame wars. This year’s competition heats up at Sports Authority Field at Mile High at 7 p.m., and while we’ve already given away a pair of VIP…

Colorado may be the least obese state, but we’re getting fatter

Colorado ranked lowest on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2012 obesity rate study, but don’t grab for the funnel cakes in celebration just yet: Over the past fifteen years, the obesity rate has doubled or almost doubled in 38 states, and even Colorado’s has increased substantially. As the…

NOVO opening two new coffeehouses/retail stores in Denver

In December of last year, Jake Brodsky, the chief bean at NOVO Coffee, shuttered his only retail location, at the Denver Art Museum, moving his entire operation — roasting, retail, coffee-cupping classes and all — to his existing roasting facility at 3008 Larimer Street. But while the museum location didn’t…

Tyler Nemkov: The thing where I say what I’m doing

Three years ago, Tyler Nemkov was a Johnson & Wales student who came to Cafe Society as an intern, interested in where a culinary career could take him. So far, it’s taken him to J-school at the University of Colorado, a gig at Cured and, at the edge of 23,…

Route 40 changes course from empanadas to choripan

When Felipe Cufre moved from Argentina to Denver three years ago to join his American wife, he knew he wanted to do something related to food. He was working on a cookbook when he stumbled on the inaugural Civic Center Eats food-truck gathering in Civic Center Park in 2010, which…