Elway’s Downtown makes sushi a catch of the day

Allyson Fredeen isn’t a big fan of fish — her aversion dates back to some squeamish incident in her childhood — so it was ironic that when Elway’s Downtown first opened in the Ritz-Carlton, it installed a raw bar at the front of the bar, at the entrance to the…

Guess where I’m eating?

The greaseless egg rolls, accompanied by leafy lettuce, cilantro and nuoc cham sauce, are just one of many stellar dishes at this Vietnamese restaurant that’s quickly becoming one of my favorite lunch stops in the city. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct…

Part two: Chef and Tell with Jay Spickelmier from Japoix

Jay Spickelmier Japoix 975 Lincoln Street 303-861-2345 www.japoix.com This is part two of this week’s Chef and Tell. Read the rest of Lori Midson’s interview with Jay Spickelmier, executive chef of Japoix, here. Favorite restaurant in America: Osaki’s Sushi & Japanese Cuisine in Vail. I just feel at home when…

Neighborhood Flix space to become DenverFilmCenter

Those who are still missing Neighborhood Flix can take heart: Tavern Hospitality Group, which was going to turn the space in the Lowenstein project at 2510 East Colfax Avenue into the Tavern Congress Park, just signed an agreement with the Denver Film Society to lease the Neighborhood Flix space to…

Cooking with Pete and Barb Marczyk: Porchetta!

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 all started,…

Brain drain: Teenager drinks her own intercranial fluid. Yum!

Teenager Mellissa Peacock has had a medical issue on her mind for years: migraines. She has a condition that causes her body to make too much spinal fluid; since the age of nine, she’s suffered from periodic episodes so painful that she sometimes couldn’t get out of bed. Finally, specialists…

Owners of Aurora’s Seoul BBQ to open Q Table BBQ in Northglenn

Veteran restaurant owners James and Lily Kwon opened their first Colorado place, Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, three years ago. That spot is a Korean barbecue joint that serves up a traditional feast, complete with complimentary banchan side dishes, grilled meats and hot pots, and sikhye, a…

Guess where I’m drinking?

The name of the above cocktail is the same as a former longstanding Italian restaurant in Denver that served its last meal two years ago. Made with whiskey, honey and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and garnished with a basil leaf and rope of red pepper, it’s not an Italian cocktail, but…

Video: Sik Gaek’s live octopus hot pot

Between meals at Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, I went to New York City, and some friends and I made the trek out to Queens to experience Sik Gaek, a Korean barbecue joint that’s gained nationwide notoriety for its gimmickry — including booming Korean pop, yelling servers,…

Dick’s Hickory Dock is back in business

After years on the back burner, Dick’s Hickory Dock — aka “Mountain Barbeque and Brew” — is back in business in Kittredge. The lineup includes live music on the weekends and smokin’ barbecue Thursday through Sunday, which you slather to your own specifications with a variety of homemade sauces…

Seoul BBQ is an unexpected take on traditional Korean barbecue

When I first walked into Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street, an Aurora spot owned by veteran Korean restaurateurs James and Lily Kwon, I was expecting to dine in a restaurant that, like so many traditional spots from that country, put as much emphasis on the novelty of the culture’s…

My Pizza Peel now Mile High Pizza Pie

We puzzled over the My Pizza Peel name when the pizza joint opened in March 2009 at 1645 Stout Street. And although we were soon informed that the “pizza peel” was the long-handled shovel used to pull a pie out of the oven, that didn’t sell us on the name…

Coohill’s will open next August in LoDo

Four years ago, in 2006, Tom Coohill, the former Western regional chef and director of culinary standards for Levy Restaurants at the Pepsi Center, left the armpit that some people call Pittsburgh and moved to Denver. “My wife and I had a vision of moving out west — we’re both…

Food porn from ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

Last night, after a series of soft openings, Lon Symensma and his crew from ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, which opens today at 1555 Blake Street, hosted a final party that flowed with wine, beer and champagne and strutted dishes from Symensma’s Asian-inspired menu. Everything that came out of Symensma’s state…

Guess where I’m eating…green chile?

Smother love: It’s easy being green in Denver in September, when the smell of roasting chiles overrides the odor of exhaust along Federal Boulevard, and the green chile at your favorite Mexican joint carries the heat of the new harvest. For the next several weeks, Cafe Society will feature some…