Smashburger will finally smash into downtown this week, when it opens a restaurant in the Tabor Center at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Earlier today, we offered Cafe Society readers a chance to win a pair of tickets to the VIP party at this Smashburger tomorrow; to enter, they just had to…
Last week, we reported Feed Denver’s winter plans to build structures and continue its farming right into the cold months. Now, the organization might get some help. Bonterra Vineyards, a large organic wine producer in Mendocino County, and Growing Power, a Milwaukee-based urban farming and education organization, just launched the…
“I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver.” Those were some of the first words out of Keegan Gerhard’s mouth when I spoke to him this morning about potential new concepts from the award-winning pastry chef, Food Network host and owner, along with his wife, Lisa Bailey, of D Bar Desserts,…
It’s the economy, stupid. That was essentially the message conveyed to Kyle Fitzgerald, the now former executive chef of the Old Blinking Light, last Tuesday when he arrived for work. The news, conveyed by Joseph Wrede, owner/chef of the old Blinking Light (and the previous owner/chef of Joseph’s Table in…
Such a charming shirt. We spotted it beneath a sad pretzel necklace which, if anything, is the culinary equivalent of whiskey dick: You want to get excited, but you just can’t. The Great American Beer Festival isn’t exactly a food orgy — and rightfully so, because that would take away…
While everyone else was stumbling around downtown during last week’s beer festivities, I was far from the maddening crowds, bellied up to a restaurant bar that was lively, but thankfully free of drunken theatrics. And the dishes coming from the kitchen, including the ravioli in the above snap, were some…
Quaker Steak & Lube, a national restaurant chain with a motor-sports theme in keeping with its origins in an old gas station and a slightly queasy nickname (“the Lube”), is now hiring for its first Colorado location, scheduled to open October 27 at 10392 Reed Street in Westminster. “The Lube…
Last week, Cafe Society served up three Guess where contests (not including our seasonal green chile category, which will be the focus of another competition at the end of the month), featuring everything from an unidentified (and disappointing) lasagna to a plate of spuds at Village Cork to this sandwich…
Behold the highlights from this week’s Cafe Society blog: 1. With the streets of Denver flooded in suds, it’s likely that you’re well and truly hammered while reading this, but if you can still see the screen without covering up one eye, and you haven’t had your fill of hops…
Where were YOU last night? Unwinding after a hard week at work? Taking a yoga class? Getting wasted at the GABF? How about getting your street food on at the Justice League of Street Food’s second party? If you missed out — or if you’d like to relive the magic…
With great power comes great responsibility…. That was the message from First Lady Michelle Obama to the professional food corps at the National Restaurant Association earlier this week. In the quest to fight childhood obesity, the motive behind her national “Let’s Move!” campaign, Obama urged restaurant owners and executives to…
“The best seat in the house is definitely at the chef’s counter,” insists Lon Symensma, the chef/co-owner of ChoLon Modern Bistro, the innovative, strikingly contemporary shrine to authentic Asian cooking that’s set to open on October 5 in the SugarCube building at 1555 Blake Street. He’s not kidding…
Omonoia means perfection, according to Gabriela Afework, who was cutting slabs of baklava off of a tray and wrapping them up to go while talking about her bakery. Perfection is right. Since discovering this tiny bakery at 2813 East Colfax Avenue — thanks to a tip from someone who used…
With the advent of processed byproducts, the cheap way to sweeten products has been alchemy: turning American corn into a sugar substitute. But “high fructose corn syrup” has acquired a very bad reputation in the last few years, and now the Corn Refiners Association has petitioned the U.S. Food and…
Chick-fil-A, which doesn’t roll out new menu items very often, is testing its second new product in recent memory — a spicy chicken nugget — at its twenty Denver locations, just a few months after it debuted its spicy chicken sandwich nationwide. Intrigued, Cafe Society dialed Steve Barker, a twelve-year…
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…
There’s good pizza and there’s great pizza, but the consensus is that there’s really no such thing as a bad pizza. It’s pizza. Whether you like the pizza at CiCi’s Pizza Buffet — perhaps best known for its $5 all-you-can-eat pizza — haven’t had it, or despise everything it stands…
“Kevin, you are Top Chef,” Padma announced, and a stunned Kevin responded, “I am?” I was happy with the outcome of this seventh season of Top Chef — but I would have been equally pleased had Angelo won. He irritates a lot of viewers, I know, but there’s something about…
Shawn Camden calls his restaurant, which he opened at 2850 Iris Avenue two months ago, Boulder’s first authentic Mexican restaurant. The menu at Restaurante 100% Mexicano proffers tamales, tortas and tacos, and it’s possible to get beef stomach, fried pig skin and tongue. His space features a salsa bar. Beverages…
Apparently, even the airlines want in on the exploding street-food scene. A few weeks ago, we reported that Dave Bravdica of Brava! Pizzeria had wrangled a deal with Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret that allowed him to offer alcohol, since the cabaret’s liquor license covered the patio at the base of the…
Brandon Biederman Steuben’s 523 East 17th Avenue 303-830-1001 www.steubens.com This is part two of Lori Midson’s Q&A with Brandon Biederman, exec chef of Steuben’s. To read part one of that interview, click here. Rules of conduct in your kitchen: Be smart, be safe, be clean, be on time and be…
The 120-year-old building at 3862 High Street is rumored to be haunted — and while we can’t guarantee that the spirits of onetime human inhabitants hang around, there are definitely the remnants of previous business occupants. The most recent victim: Jezebel’s Juke Joint & Brothel, which opened in January and…
