Guess where I’m eating: Chips, salsa and unicorns

I know, it’s usually Lori who puts up the snaps of hole-in-the-wall Mexican joints. But every once in a while, I find one that’s just too good to let go without some small observation. In this case, it’s about the chips and salsa. The free chips and not-quite-salsas that appear…

Tonight: Happy birthday to Tavern Wash Park!

Celebrate a one-year-old’s birthday with drinking and debauchery! The Tavern Wash Park turns one today, and is offering $1 Shock Top Belgian white beers and a complimentary buffet — which will include the Tavern’s always-popular Kobe beef sliders — plus chances to win a gift card good at any Tavern…

My dinner at Mezcal: the aftermath

Those of you watching the Cafewestword twitter feed over the weekend already know that I survived my night “cooking” at Mezcal without any serious difficulties. Nothing got burned down, no one got punched and, by the time we were done, we’d managed to serve several turns of the dining room…

Aurora burger lovers get a serving from Smashburger

Attention, Aurora residents: Your wait for the “better burger” is almost over! Smashburger will open its ninth metro location tomorrow at 2630 South Parker Road. Taking its name from the cooking method, a Smashburger is either a one-third or half-pound ball of 100 percent Angus Beef smashed on a flat…

Guess where I’m drinking?

This restaurant is the first place I take out-of-town guests who think Denver is fly-over culinary country. And while their shock over our incredibly good dinner was sweet, the bar’s new selection of fall cocktails was perhaps too sweet. The one above was made with Leopold Bros. Cranberry Liquor and…

Miss Audry now behind a stove, not the decks

After more than a decade behind the decks, DJ Miss Audry is retiring. But music’s loss is food’s gain, since she’s going to be devoting her time to helping out at Melita’s Greek Cafe & Market, the spot that took over for the Economy Greek Deli at 1035 Lincoln Street…

Guess where I’m eating?

The dish that you see at the top of the page was sabotaged by the “chef,” and returned to the kitchen with a plea that he redo the damn thing and make it look, well, if not stunning, then at least quasi-presentable — which it wasn’t when it first landed…

Update: Everything all right at Delite and Deluxe

Last Monday, everyone driving down Broadway knew that something bad was going on. Traffic was backed up for blocks, cars were going nowhere fast. And when they did finally make it to the block that holds both Deluxe and Delite, the reason for the jam became clear–both of those places…

From the Pour House Pub in LoDo to the Archive Room in Arvada

Neil Arnold, Jeff Arnold and Storm Ireland, the owners behind the Pour House Pub at 1435 Market Street, will bring some LoDo fervor to Arvada in early November when they open the Archive Room at 5601 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. That’s the space that held, briefly, the Arvada Grill. “We’re doing…

Guess where I’m eating?

Talk about a wake-up call! On weekend mornings, kitchens across Colorado start rolling breakfast burritos up and out — some served simply, to-go in aluminum foil; some served on fine china on linen tablecloths. This burrito is a cut above even that: offered only on Saturday and Sunday brunch, it’s…

Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed this week on Cafe Society while you were commiserating with Jason Sheehan over his abysmal dinners at Mark & Isabella, the Italian restaurant run by Arizona-based hot-shot restaurateur Mark Tarbell. A man was shot dead in an altercation inside Chopsticks & Sushi, the downtown restaurant…

Guess where I’m eating?

In the market for a late lunch? At 3 p.m. today — or any weekday — you can pop into this spot and order meatball sliders, paired with a great, garlicky marinara sauce, for just $2 each. But first, you need to guess where I’m eating…

Tacos Rapidos is open and turning out tacos 24/7

The yellow tape and chain-link fence formerly surrounding the Tacos Rapido compound at 2345 West Alameda Avenue have finally been removed, which means that all you drunkards hankering for breakfast burritos, tacos, tostadas and and tortas at 2 a.m. now have another 24/7 pit stop at which to get your…

Top ten Italian restaurants in Denver

Denver has many great Italian restaurants. As I wrote this week, Mark & Isabella is not one of them. Here are ten of my favorites: Il Posto (2011 East 17th Avenue, 303-394-0100). Il Posto has an excellent location, crammed between other bars and restaurants, their patios shoulder to shoulder. The…

A tale of two Chopsticks

Chopsticks & Sushi, the Asian restaurant and bar at 1630 Welton Street that was the site of a fatal shooting yesterday, is not connected to Chopsticks China Bistro, the goofily-named restaurant that just moved from South Federal Boulevard to 5117 South Yosemite and is a Jason Sheehan favorite. But plenty…

Lights, camera, action: Last call for Mezcal dinner

As of late Thursday, there were just five reserved spots left at the tequila dinner being thrown by Sean Yontz at Mezcal. He’s putting together this dinner (the menu for which I posted a few days ago) in order to properly celebrate the TV pilot that will be filming at…