Calling all Daves: Famous Dave’s has a deal for you

If you are so fortunate as to be named for the King of the Israelites, the Famous Dave’s BBQ outlet in Thornton rules! Because this outlet, and this outlet only (for now), of the 170-store chain has made every Sunday Dave’s Day, when anyone with the first name of Dave…

Hangover graveyard: Ogden Street South

Waking up on a couch fully clothed and feeling like death warmed over is no way to start a day, yet it happens all too often. Everyone has his own remedy, but for me, nothing beats a salty, greasy breakfast. Blurry-eyed and flat-tailed on my couch this past Saturday morning,…

Zaidy’s fuses a deli with a hipster hot spot

As we noted last week, the downtown Zaidy’s will be transforming at night — from Zaidy’s Deli into Zaidy’s Fusion Grill, taking advantage of its perch at the edge of Larimer Square and the start of LoDo. Here’s the restaurant’s announcement: Zaidy’s Fusion Grill is opening Saturday, March 21st downtown…

Eat my dust: free burgers at Trail Dust Steak House

Trail Dust Steak House was once known for cutting off the ties of overdressed diners. But today, it will have another claim to fame: free burgers. The Denver area’s sole surviving Trail Dust, at 7101 South Clinton Street in Englewood, is offering free burgers (with fries) from 11 a.m. to…

Noodling around at Bones

I’d already been out for a working lunch, out for drinks, then out for more drinks. Stopping in at the office, I got word that the James Beard Foundation had announced its semifinalists for the restaurant and chef awards, and that Bonanno was on the list. The announcement had just…

Get cracking! LoDo’s Delectable Egg is now open weekend nights

The Delectable Egg at 1642 Market Street is now capturing the night owl as well as the early bird. The latter have been flocking to this restaurant since 1982, going for hearty breakfasts and wholesome lunches before the Egg closed mid-afternoon.This location still closes at 2 p.m. — but for…

Chuck E. Cheese’s wants you to snap

  I love Chuck E. Cheese’s, but not for the reasons you might think.Several years ago, when my now nine-year-old son was still enamored of cheap carnival games, shitty pizza raked with rubber cheese and wasting quarters in the gumball machines, he was a certified Chuck E. Cheese fan.It all…

Go for the green today — the green chile at La Fiesta

You can eat green and get green at La Fiesta these days. The Mexican lunch joint — which took over an old Safeway in Curtis Park more than forty years ago and has been serving great green chile and other Colorado-style Mexican dishes ever since — is giving diners $5…

A quick sketch of Sketch

I stopped by Sketch last night, the new wine bar in Jesse Morreale’s project at the old First Avenue Hotel at First and Broadway. Technically, it doesn’t officially debut until March 20 (and from then on, will be open from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m. seven days a week), but…

Centro dinner pairs Chilean wine

The Big Red F restaurant group has been making some big noise in the past few weeks, what with Hosea Rosenberg of Jax winning Top Chef and the opening of Happy Noodle House. Now Centro Latin Kitchen, whose sous, Melissa Harrison, was also a Top Chef contestant, is hosting a…

Colt & Gray, a new gastropub, slated for May

Where the hell is it?I asked myself that question a half dozen times while aimlessly driving down Platte Street searching for Colt & Gray, a new gastropub opening in late May at 1553 Platte Street in the Platte River Valley. It wasn’t that I couldn’t find the address: The numbers…

Castle Rock gets its Goat

The Celtic Crossing at 363 Village Square in Castle Rock closed a couple of months ago, leaving that town without an Irish bar. The Barking Goat to the rescue! The pub just opened in the Celtic Crossing space last Thursday, and although it’s not technically an Irish bar, it will…

Something else to learn from the Great Depression

I am continually astounded by the depth of food, the many levels of meaning it can have to anyone — no, everyone. Food is about culture, memories, competition, entertainment and so much more. And it tells stories that words never could: If a picture says 1,000 words, then a dish…

Bring out your best (by March 19)

Just got a copy of a restaurateur’s plea to his regulars: OK, last chance to rock a new vote: voting ends on Monday. This one is way important if we could win https://www.westword.com/polls/bestof09/. On last page is best new restaurant, type in HIS RESTAURANT HERE but if you do vote,…

Milking It: Cookie Crisp

Cookie Crisp General Mills Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: Whole grain corn, corn meal, corn starch and corn syrup — in other words, a helluva lotta corn — mashed together and pressed into light brown, slightly puffy discs with what looks like a light sprinkling of powdered…

Kevin Taylor goes for seven

Word came down from on high late last week that Kevin Taylor and his Kevin Taylor Restaurant Group will be adding a seventh name to their reconstituted roster of super-high-tone food-service operations.  Let’s run the numbers, shall we? First, there’s Taylor’s namesake, the flagship Restaurant Kevin Taylor at 1106 14th…

Don’t be confused by two markedly different Marco’s

On your Marco’s, get set, bake!  Last month, a Marco’s Pizza opened in Broomfield. Only one problem: We already have a Marco’s. Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizzeria, at 2129 Larimer Street, which Jason Sheehan gushed over last October. I called the new Marco’s and asked manager Amie Peterson if she knew about the…

Aaron Whitcomb goes south to Yia Yia’s Euro Cafe

“Seriously, you left Strings for this?”We were sitting at the bar at Yia Yia’s Euro Cafe (8310 East Belleview Avenue in Greenwood Village), Aaron Whitcomb’s newest place of employment, when the words just kinda tumbled from my mouth — in part, I suspect, because I had just eaten lunch at…

Hi*Rise opens today

I stopped by Hi*Rise yesterday, hoping to grab a sandwich, but as the sign in the window promised, March 14 was the opening day — “Seriously.”Owner Doug Anderson said his place will definitely open at 6 a.m. this morning. And Hi*Rise will be much more than a bakery — although…

Go Organic!…and get coupons

Go Organic!, a comprehensive organic food education group, wants you to eat better. It also wants to help you learn why you should, and what “eating better” means. So in conjunction with King Soopers, Go Organic is offering a coupon book that can be picked up at stores, or by…

St. Paddy’s Day gets off to an early start

Just in case you haven’t made your plans yet, the Fainting Goat has you covered this St. Paddy’s Day weekend. The bar at 846 Broadway starts the action at 5 p.m. tonight with a benefit for Volunteers for America that costs $40 but keeps the Guinness coming until the keg…

Shead’s, back from the dead

Today I was driving along East Iliff Avenue in Aurora when I spotted a name from the distant past: Shead’s. I’d reviewed Shead’s Fish and BBQ Heaven back in August 2002, just two months after I took this gig, and I remember the place as a rattletrap, strip-mall barbecue joint…