Wayne Conwell Sushi Sasa 2401 Fifteenth Street 303-433-7272 www.sushisasadenver.com This is part two of my interview with Wayne Conwell, executive chef/owner of Sushi Sasa. In part one of that interview with Conwell, he dishes on working for Iron Chef Morimoto, the genius of Jeff Osaka and sushi “edibles.” Best recent…
In this week’s Chef and Tell interview, Lori Midson talks with Wayne Conwell, owner/chef of Sushi Sasa, which opened in the summer of 2005 just off Platte Street, a pioneer in what would soon grow into one of the town’s biggest restaurant neighborhoods. But while Sushi Sasa specializes in raw…
I haven’t totally fallen for Lou’s Food Bar, which I review this week, and my initial lust for Green Russell has ebbed, at least temporarily. But from my initial meal at Bones, which Frank Bonanno opened in December 2008, it was love at first bite, and my fondness for the…
Just got off the horn with Nelson Perkins, the executive chef/owner of Colt & Gray, who wanted to let us know that the kitchen is turning out something extra special tonight: Duck balls! And just in case you were wondering, these aren’t your every day duck balls dropped from the…
Marilyn Megenity has done such a fantastic job turning the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, into a creative community outlet — offering dancing, live music, poetry slams, solstice celebrations, eco-friendly festivals and much more — that it’s easy to forget that the Merc is also, well, a cafe. With coffee…
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. Rhubarb season is…
Wayne Conwell Sushi Sasa 2401 Fifteenth Street 303-433-7272 www.sushisasadenver.com This is part one of my interview with Wayne Conwell, executive chef/owner of Sushi Sasa. Part two of this interview will run tomorrow on the Cafe Society blog. While his toddling friends were chowing down on burgers and pizza, Wayne Conwell…
When Laura Shunk recently visited Green Russell, our Best Contemporary Cocktail Bar in the Best of Denver 2011, she discovered that the subterreanean speakeasy not only has a new menu, but someone new in the kitchen, too: legendary local chef Sean Kelly. Turns out that just-as-legendary restaurateur Frank Bonanno, who’d…
Denver’s food-truck scene was already revving up before the The Great Food Truck Race landed in town this past weekend, and the contrast between the out-of-town characters, including the grilled-cheese whizzes behind Roxy’s, and our homegrown crews had Denverites hungering for more. As Jason said: I’ve always found that one…
How was everything?” The server was looking at me expectantly, eyes flicking to the half-eaten plate of spaghetti, thick noodles lying listless in a lumpy tomato sauce that was beginning to separate, orange grease coagulating on the surface. I looked up. “Fine,” I said, giving the restaurant code word for…
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited for a place to open than I was for Green Russell. I’m a fan of the cocktail movement, even with all of its occasionally snob-tastic and overpriced nuances, and a sexy cocktail den, with pre-Prohibition libations and aloof, attractive bartenders spilling facts…
Frank Bonanno has built a formidable empire in Denver over the last decade, expanding out from his original spot, Mizuna, into Luca d’Italia, Osteria Marco and Bones. Last year, the restaurateur gave the city two new concepts: Green Russell, a speakeasy in Larimer Square, and Lou’s Food Bar, a roadhouse…
Along with all the usual suspects offering Tuesday night taco deals in this town, you can add a less conventional spot: Row 14 just announced Taco Tuesdays, when it will add a board of tortilla-wrapped meats and salsas to its usual list of charcuterie, brandade fritters and duck crepes…
The news that Cafe Berlin is moving to the 16th Street Mall reminded us that it was time to check in on the status of another longtime German restaurant, Chinook Tavern. When the Georg family closed their restaurant at 265 Detroit Street back in June 2008, they promised that Chinoook…
Justin Brunson is one of the busiest chefs in Denver right now. Masterpiece Deli, with which we have a serious love affair, is applying for a liquor license, Brunson is prowling to open a second Masterpiece Deli location, and while Lechon, a pig-centric restaurant project between Brunson and Ben Parsons,…
The combination of beer and pizza is one of our favorite pastimes here at Cafe Society headquarters — and here, where the above snap was flashed, both ring in cheap during happy hour. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the…
I spent the past weekend preparing for summertime fun and frolic, and that means just one thing: vodka. Vodka not just in my glass, but vodka in my food. Summer is a great time to brown-bag both a beverage and a meal, and these libation-licious dishes are some of my…
Cafe Berlin just vacated its spot on 14th Street for the 16th Street Mall, saying it couldn’t move forward in a space so close to Civic Center. But another restaurant is ready to give that location a go: Belvedere Restaurant just landed its liquor license…
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines: The Great American Food Truck Race descended on Denver this past weekend, bringing lots of food and fun, as well as comments like this from Kay Ryan: Uhmm… try not to use the term, “paddy wagon,” which originated from a time when the Irish…
For concrete, unassailable proof that Denverites have well and truly embraced the street-food phenomena, all you had to do was walk outside this weekend — straight into food-truck utopia. As you all know by now, the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race made an extended pit stop in the…
Not all festivals are as interesting as the Colorado Chocolate Festival, a Dana Cain creation that started out with chocolate-covered Twinkies, wine slushes, a guy dressed up like a box of Swiss Miss cocoa, some fine local chocolate makers kicking ass and winning awards — and ended with an introduction…
Spinach is in season at Berry Patch Farms, a family-owned certified organic farm in Brighton, and Berry Patch spinach — deeply forest green in color and bitter and sweet in flavor — is some of the best around. While I was munching on some of that spinach the other day,…
