Top five foods you should NOT give as Christmas gifts

We all know how the holiday gift-giving hierarchy works: Your best-effort gifts are given to people you like (or people whose asses you pucker up to the rest of the year); you give cost-effective, neutral gifts to those you pretend to like (bring on the Hickory Farms boxes of fossilized…

Nicolo’s expansion into old Cricket on the Hill complete

Nicolo’s Chicago-Style Pizza, 1205 East 13th Avenue, has completed its expansion into the space formerly inhabited by Cricket on the Hill. The joint now has more seats, slick new televisions, an arcade game and a pool table. The renovation came with a new menu: The pizza is about the only…

Comfort Cafe doling out free Christmas dinners on Christmas day

Since it opened back in June, Comfort Cafe, 3945 Tennyson Street, has fed the community as a non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurant, offering comfort-food meals to anyone who walks through the door for however much of a donation that person can muster up. And on Saturday, it will be providing Christmas dinner…

Vine Street Pub does beer — and vegetarian plates — right

Vine Street Pub, 1700 Vine Street, is known for its brews (pouring Mountain Sun-made ales, stouts and lagers) and its hippie-friendly atmosphere. The walls are decorated with an array of mostly psychedelic band posters, and there are no televisons — although the pub does provide board games and books if…

Reader: Cafe Society is becoming the service industry’s Yelp

The comments keep coming in response to Kyle Garratt’s initial In the Weeds: A Waiter’s Rant. Yesterday, B2 posted this: Cafe Society is becoming the service industries yelp. Its an avenue for waiters, cooks and chefs to bitch and moan about paying customers, much like yelp is that means for…

Syrup tries to offer a glimpse of the sweet life

Know what I’m really looking forward to this holiday season? Not the gifts or the family time or the generosity of spirit or the tidings of comfort and joy. Nope, I’m looking to the fact that having Christmas fall on a weekend gives me an extra day or two to…

Guess where I’m drinking?

My mom loves a good Old-Fashioned — and this was the best I’ve ever tasted. It was so good I couldn’t help but wonder if the altitude helps make this drink so special. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the…

100 Favorite Dishes: Lemon-ricotta doughnuts from Olivéa

No. 89: Lemon-ricotta doughnuts from Olivéa They were an afterthought, those doughnuts. After desecrating the headcheese, swelling my jowls with pork cheeks, emptying a plate of tortellini bobbing in a pancetta-scented broth and reducing the guilt with a crock of cauliflower, the doughnuts just sort of appeared…

Pizzeria da Lupo opens in Boulder

Boulder might be a college town, but we’re still a little surprised at the influx of pizzerias there over the last year, especially because these aren’t greasy slice joints — they offer gourmet pies, pulled straight from the depths of a wood-fired oven. Pizzeria Basta, 3601 Arapahoe Avenue, opened last…

For holiday high tea, try the Denver Tea Room

We’re into any social activity that involves eating and drinking, but something about the cozy traditional vibe of the holiday season makes us want to put on a fancy dress and head out to a high tea, where we can eat delicate cookies and drink English breakfast with our pinkies…