Guess where I’m drinking?

We met five weeks ago. We’ve seen each other at least once a week since then, and it’s always been just as good as the first time. It’s a relationship of consistency, simplicity and warmth; I’m completely smitten. The creator is a goddess in my book, and she’s whipped up…

Pete’s Monkey Bar offers a friendly haven on the ‘Fax

There’s a new watering hole on Colfax. Sort of. Pete’s Monkey Bar, 717 East Colfax Avenue, opened October 2 in the space formerly occupied by Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey, the jazz-turned-jam club that was owned by Jay, Phil and Aric Bianchi (the three brothers who are also the force behind Sanchos’s…

Guess where I’m eating?

Liver lovers are an exclusive bunch. And as a lunch special on a cold winter’s day, this steaming plate of organ meat smothered with onions and jalapenos had half of our table swooning — and the other half cringing.Can you guess where I was eating?Special bonus: Every Friday, anyone who…

Chef and Tell with Max Mackissock of Squeaky Bean

“After all that nonsense at Primebar — those guys are the biggest scumbags ever — it was unbelievably refreshing to get a job at a restaurant that’s owned by one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” Max Mackissock says during our interview at Cafe Europa. Mackissock, who was the…

Diamond Cabaret gets a new menu, courtesy CY Steak

How cold was it last night? So cold that Barry Fey was wearing long pants. But the dining room at CY Steak, the revamped steakhouse attached to the Diamond Cabaret at 1222 Glenarm Place, warmed up fast — and not just because of the evening-gowned (at the start) girls dancing…

Congress Park will get its Tavern

The call came yesterday: The Denver Department of Excise and License has approved the liquor license for the Tavern Hospitality Group’s project at the Lowenstein, in the space that had been occupied by Neighborhood Flix. THG’s Frank Schultz had gone through a series of neighborhood meetings before the postponed hearing…

TAG! You’re it

Hiramasa, flash-seared on a hot flattop, served with yuzu, jalapeno and pop rocks. Braised pork cheek with a hard-fried quail egg balanced on top. Sushi rolls cut and plated with machine precision, filled with Maine lobster, with kobe beef, with avocado and unagi and pickled gobo root. Beef short ribs…

Guess where I’m drinking?

My eyes kept wandering back to the Stranahan’s cocktail with carrot juice, an ingredient that, on the surface, sounded absolutely horrible as a cocktail component. And the fact that I’m not a big (or even small) proponent of the carrot, period, only solidified my resolve to stay as far away…

Gastro Gift Guide: Kitchen Gadget edition

There are two types of people in this world: those who are totally psyched to receive kitchen appliances as gifts, and those whose first instinct is to send the giver straight to the basement with an air mattress and a sleeping bag. (Gentlemen, it is extremely important to determine which…

Hot dog! Red Trolley responds to recent review

My recent review of Red Trolley — the Highland neighborhood ice cream shop turned hot dog parlor, breakfast bar and coffee shop — was a strange one. The ice cream (the stuff the shop was founded on) is excellent almost across the board, and while I wasn’t crazy about all…

Ali Baba Grill is making magic in Landmark

Ali Baba Grill,109 North Rubey Drive in Golden, already serves the best hummus and most addictive baklava in the area, and owner Fiyahd Aoutabachi has already shared the wealth beyond Golden, expanding his Lebanese and Mediterranean offerings out to Highlands Ranch with a second location at 8800 South Colorado Boulevard…

Rooster & Moon Coffee Pub now pouring

The first VFW post in the country was founded in Denver in 1899, in a building in the Golden Triangle. A century later, VFW Post #1 moved around the corner to 955 Bannock Street — and attempted to recall its glory days by calling the bar Stewart’s 1899 Saloon. It…

Black Pearl dives into Duo for its new executive chef

Just got off the horn with Jeffrey Musat, general manager of Encore (2550 East Colfax Avenue) and Black Pearl, the New American restaurant at 1529 South Pearl Street whose (now) former chef, Micah Watkins, wrapped up his last day on the line yesterday. Stepping into his shoes, Musat tells me,…

Divine intervention: Providence Tavern is taking shape in Edgewater

Partners Michael Brockhoff and Sam Roots have plans of longevity for the vacant quarters at 5280 West 25th Avenue, the cursed building that most recently held the extremely short-lived Johnie’s Bar-B-Que (and prior to that, Tiki Torch and Okoboji Inn). The two have completely gutted the space, which will soon…

Total Recall: Slim Fast is the latest yank from the FDA

As an ongoing public service, we would like to draw your attention to another FDA food recall. (As we reported here last week, the FDA recently recalled nearly 111,000 pounds of frozen beef steak fritter.) Why? Because any opportunity to explore the many euphemisms for spending hours in the bathroom…

Ask the Critic: Season’s eatings

Now that the venerable Wellshire Inn (3333 South Colorado Boulevard), long the go-to spot for special occasion dining on the Big Three restaurant holidays, has closed down its regular restaurant service and gone event-only, a reader wants suggestions for Christmas dinner/ I generally spend my Christmases at home, surrounded by…

Guess where I’m eating?

It’s not often that I’ll spend $17 on a burger and fries — even if the burger is a double and the fries are the grabby shoestring variety that have been responsible for an undetermined number of my butt pounds. But while both the “classic” burger and judiciously salted skinny…