Tonight, one lucky Cafe Society reader will get to celebrate New Year’s Eve at Olivéa, the sensational Mediterranean restaurant in Uptown whose kitchen is overseen by the dynamic husband-and-wife duo of exec chef John Broening and pastry goddess Yasmin Lozada-Hissom. Earlier this week, we asked you to tell us, in…
All the talk about “In the Weeds” inspired Brian Melton to send in this missive about the restaurant industry. It’s our New Year’s Eve gift for everyone in the business –and anyone out on the town tonight who benefits from exemplary workers in the service industry. “My Love Affair with…
In this week’s Westword, I headed down to Alameda for a glimpse of the loncheras that ruled the streets before this year, when tricked out mobile vendors (or luxe loncheras) became a hot trend. And in the course of the time I spent with the family who owns La Villa…
I love the service here, and the wine list is both sensibly priced and well-crafted, but after a recent dinner that included a wad of paper in my chile rellenos and a woefully underseasoned seafood dish that arrived lukewarm, it’s on my shit list. Can you guess where I’m eating?…
We reported yesterday that Primebar, the 300-seat restaurant at 1515 Arapahoe Street, had closed without warning a year and a half after it had opened. We received no comment from Restaurants America, the company that owns the place as to why the sudden shutter, but the word’s out now: The…
Yesterday, several local chefs — Michael Long (Aria and Opus); Eric Skokan (Black Cat); Brandon Biederman (Steuben’s); Brad Rowell (Colt & Gray); and Troy Guard (TAG and TAG Raw Bar) — dished on the culinary trends that would shape 2011, sounding off on what they’d like to see more (and…
Early this month, Jason Sheehan gave Chipotle Mexican Grill a glowing review in the Seattle Weekly, our partner publication where he now works — and where the haters haven’t stopped rolling their eyes and asking why he’d bother writing about such a ubiquitous fast-casual joint. His piece provided the perfect…
Yes, you read that headline correctly: Olivéa, the sensational Mediterranean restaurant in Uptown whose kitchen is overseen by the dynamic husband-and-wife duo of exec chef John Broening and pastry goddess Yasmin Lozada-Hissom, is offering a free three-course dinner for two on New Year’s Eve. The gift is for the early…
Welcome to In the Weeds. Kyle will be right with you — most likely to complain about something. Usually he is pleasant, but this is his place to blow off some steam. Don’t take it personally; he just needs to vent because he’s been doing this for about thirteen years…
At the risk of riling up those readers who like to tell me I drink too much, I plan on ringing in 2011 the same way I welcomed 2009 and 2010: with plenty of bubbly followed by a cocktail or five. And I’m sure there are at least a few…
Laura Shunk’s recent review of Barolo Grill prompted dozens of responses — some agreeing that Blair Taylor’s iconic restaurant needed to try harder, but many more incensed with Shunk’s criticism. After reading both the review and the comments, Ashley Hausman served up this:…
National brand Restaurants America dropped Primebar into its massive space at 1515 Arapahoe Street back in May of 2009, using the former Palomino digs to turn out New American fare in lodge-inspired decor, animal heads and all. A year and a half later, the place has called it quits…
No. 87: Roasted cauliflower salad from Euclid Hall Nobody loves cauliflower. It’s pathetically ugly, resembling, even on its best days, a human brain, and when it’s cooked — specifically overcooked — the florets pollute the air with the stink of sulfur. It’s a favored Shylock of institutions and the pokey,…
The most bizarre restaurants in the country include Casa Bonita — and another Colorado joint. Forbes just published a list of the most bizarre restaurants in America, giving credence to gimmicky places that lure diners with everything from ninjas and spy themes to goats. And of the eleven restaurants featured,…
Anyone with special food needs or requests knows how frustrating it can be to open up a menu and see only a scant handful of plates that you can or would actually eat. There are a few restaurants in the metro area where vegetarians can pick and choose from across…
What does 2011 hold for the culinary world? We asked several local chefs to consult their crystal orbs, talk to the (whole) beast, bend their ears to the farmland and unearth a few trends that will shape the way we eat next year. Here are the predictions of some of…
Christmas Day at my house is completely uneventful, unlike Christmas Eve, which is a day-long marathon of gluttony and wine- and champagne-filled debauchery. We wake up late on Christmas morning and pad around in our sloppy pajamas, eventually surrendering to our hangovers late in the afternoon when our gurgling bellies…
This list of coitus-inspiring culinary offerings is for the gentlemen. Ladies, if you wanna score on New Year’s Eve — or any other night — you have to do just one thing: show up. Guys, the tacitly approved social mores of our fantastic American culture dictate that you have to…
When I was invited to a special dinner with winemaker Peter Franus at Elway’s Downtown, I was a tad skeptical as to how, exactly, they would cater that meal to my palate. As a vegetarian, I usually turn down invites like this — I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for…
Laura Shunk’s lament for the loss of the professional host inspired a few comments agreeing with her, as well as this from I Get It Now: OOOOHHHHH I get it now… see …. Shrunk is all about the Front of House staff… not the food y’all. She likes the host…
We’re just about to say goodbye to 2010, but we’re betting that this year’s top trend, the new-school food trucks that hit the pavement in Denver, will be holding on through 2011. Before those trucks were even a twinkle in their owners’ eyes, though, there was another fleet of mobile…
Since Noodles & Company opened its very first location in Cherry Creek in 1995, it’s expanded into a fast casual chain with 250 locations in eighteen states, offering noodle bowls that run the gamut from Wisconsin macaroni and cheese to an Indonesia peanut saute. And now, after fifteen years, the…
