Round two with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen

Hugo Matheson The Kitchen Boulder & [Upstairs]; The Kitchen Denver 1039 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-544-5973 1530 16th Street, Denver; 303-623-3127 www.thekitchencommunity.com This is the second installment of my chat with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen. Read part one of Matheson’s interview. Favorite restaurant in America: After all these…

Which Wich? So many choices, and all the time in the world

It’s hard to find a good cheese sandwich these days. Sure, plenty of delis, sub shops and even some fast-food chains are serving up sammies like they just became stylish, but few make a really superior cheese sandwich. The exception to this rule? Which Wich?, a diminutive sub chain out…

Reader: Comments about contrary vegans are not funny

Hugo Matheson, the co-owner of the original Kitchen in Boulder, along with the new Kitchen Denver, is obsessed with the business. “I live and breathe every detail of the restaurants,” he says in this week’s Chef and Tell interview. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.” No matter how stupid restaurant…

Guess where I’m eating camarones a la diabla?

The sign on the window ballyhoos the joint’s Mexican food and seafood, but it shouldn’t be pimping either — certainly not its camarones a la diabla…unless you’re pining for shrimp that tastes like freezer burn masked (unsuccessfully) by an insipid sauce. #Just say no…

Fruition is hot (in more ways than one)….

Laura Shunk, who chose Fruition for a farewell dinner with her parents and a last review in this week’s Westword, isn’t the only one who considers that restaurant a go-to spot. Foodies from Chicago who’ve eaten around the world focused on Fruition as their number-one dining destination in Denver, and…

Photos: Finley’s Pub opens on South Pearl Street

This, declares Pete VanItallie, gazing around his new pub, is “exactly what I had envisioned when I dreamed of opening a neighborhood place.” He points to a photograph on the wall, a gift from his uncle and godfather, that’s a framed shot of the old Finley homestead in Ireland. “He…

The Kitchen’s Hugo Matheson on escapism, a contrary vegan and fair wages

Hugo Matheson The Kitchen Boulder & [Upstairs]; The Kitchen Denver 1039 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-544-5973 1530 16th Street, Denver; 303-623-3127 www.thekitchencommunity.com This is part one of my interview with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen Boulder and The Kitchen Denver. Part two of our chat will run in this…

Fruition continues to set the course for Denver dining

My last week in Denver was not really my last, since I have friends and family here who will draw me back to the Mile High City. But after three years of living off the local restaurant scene — first waiting tables and then writing about food — eating in…

Guess where I’m eating lamb samosa spring rolls?

The last thing I needed to do after four whirlwind days of eating and drinking myself silly at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, was to drink and eat myself silly within hours of arriving back in Denver. My body needed a detox, but instead, I abused it with…

Reader: Watch out for girls who drink Blue Moon and eat pudding cups

Cafe Society serves up a mixed menu: posts on restaurant openings, posts on restaurant closings, posts on bad customer behavior, posts on bad server behavior…and yesterday, Jenn Wohletz’s list “five things I’ve found in men’s refrigerators that made me not want to date them.” The comments have been pouring out…

Guess where I’m drinking this beet cocktail?

The world is divided between beet lovers and haters — and I definitely fall in the former category. I love the earthy, elemental taste of the root vegetable. And this beet cocktail, made with gin, Aperol, Canton Ginger Liqueur, lemon, mint and beets (of course), not only perfectly balances all…

Photos: Bocadillo, a groovy new Spanish-influenced sandwich shop, opens Tuesday

“We’re not chefs; we’re cooks,” insists Derek Dietz, the 23-year-old Philadelphia native who will open Bocadillo, a Spanish-influenced sandwich shop, tomorrow with partner Andrew Minhinnisk. “When we’re fifty, we can call ourselves chefs — that’s what we’re striving to become — but this restaurant is our playground, our secondary schooling,…