McItaly burger exemplifies the fall of the Roman Empire

Italy has officially descended into culinary hell with its sponsorship of the new McItaly Burger. Although Luca Zaia, the Italian minister of agriculture, food and forestry policies, insists that all of the items in the burger are sourced locally, giving a boost to local farmers, this fast-food item is still…

Vine Street Pub’s hair-raising experience

Vine Street Pub doesn’t make its own beer on site at 1700 Vine Street — not yet, at least — but it certainly knows how to brew up fun, as it proved with Saturday night’s celebration of a batch of home-grown chops, the culmination of Stout Month at Vine Street…

Guess where you’re eating? At a DINR restaurant, if you’re Rod

Cafe Society served up just three Guess Where I’m Eating/Drinking contests last week (along with a bonus post on where Governor Bill Ritter grabbed lunch on Thursday: Senor Burritos), but that was enough to fire up the comments and conversation. For correctly identifying the Tamale Kitchen plate (and doing so…

Guess where I’m eating?

There’s a new burger, beer, rings and fries joint in town that’s quickly becoming a favorite hangout for westsiders. It’s the kind of bar where everyone knows everyone else, if not within the first five minutes, certainly within the first ten. And if the burgers don’t bring you back, the…

Sugar High: Gateaux Bakery

“Sweet enough for you?” asks Kathleen Kenny Davia, co-owner of Gateaux, the French bakery at 1160 Speer Boulevard. She was referring specifically to the white chocolate peach torte, which she identified as one of the sweeter selections from their pastry case. Honestly? We found the sweetness level for all of…

Mountain Dew: The top five don’ts

Mountain Dew is back in the news, after America’s beloved acidic beverage helped Indiana truck-driver Jason Pede survive three days in an SUV stuck in a southern Colorado snowbank. And how does the state honor this drink’s heroism? On March 1, it will start taxing sales of Mountain Dew, which…

Burger madness! Four new joints open in February

After a sneaky and very successful soft-opening yesterday, Deluxe Burger will definitely open its doors at 5325 East Colfax Avenue wide tomorrow at 11 a.m. And if you stop by today, you may get lucky, too. Deluxe Burger is a joint project between Dylan Moore, chef/owner of Deluxe and Delite…

Guess where Governor Bill Ritter is eating?

I’m not actually going to make you guess, because his food was wrapped in plastic and I didn’t have a camera anyway, but I will relay the story: Bill Ritter loves him some Senor Burritos…

Yelp slapped with class-action lawsuit

​A year ago, California’s East Bay Express went public with stinging accusations that user review site Yelp engaged in shady pressure tactics to remove or bury negative reviews for businesses that advertised or coughed up sponsorships. Now a lawsuit is alleging something eerily similar. TechCrunch is reporting that law firms…

Chef and Tell part two: Drew Middleton from Gaia Bistro

Drew Middleton Gaia Bistro 1551 South Pearl Street 303-777-5699 www.gaiabistro.com This is part two of Lori Midson’s Chef and Tell interview with Drew Middleton. To read part one of that interview, click here. Culinary inspirations: Thomas Keller. Whenever I think of him, the first thing that comes to mind is…

Coffee shop owner — and cop — to run for council

Last week, the Colorado Restaurant Association was looking for a restaurateur to run for the District 1 Denver City Council seat that Rick Garcia is leaving empty (he’s been named the regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Enter John Haney, who owns Haney’s Coffee Shop,…

Parisi expands its deli and adds chef Scott Burnham

Parisi, the beloved Italian trattoria at 4401 Tennyson Street, has just given its fans more to love: It’s expanded its deli into Parisi’s Gastronomia, and hired chef Scott Burnham to run it. “We are going back to education. I have been trying to cook right in the deli doing demonstrations,”…

Ian Kleinman puts on a chilling performance at hushDenver

Eat it quick, right after it comes out,” instructs chef Ian Kleinman, “and then you can get some real smoke to come out of your nose.” He spoons an amorphous white puff that he calls Kettle Corn Space Foam from the liquid nitrogen, and I raise the frozen, seemingly meringue-like…