Restaurants

Root Down, Justin Cucci’s stylish new restaurant at 1600 West 33rd Avenue, officially opens for dinner tonight, To whet your appetite, we’re serving up a sneak peek at the menu…

Friends had been telling us about the unique candy and other goodies at Urban Pantry, 1242 South Broadway, and with the holidays approaching we decided to stop by and see if the Pantry stocked treats that might make good gifts. But nothing could have prepared us for the bounty of…

Scottie Ewing, who last year opened the Sugar House (a nightclub/martini lounge billed on its website as “the classy Denver Colorado swinger club”) at 1395 West Alameda Avenue, now has something else cooking there: the Sugar House Grill. The restaurant adjunct to the lounge just opened yesterday, after a couple of test lunches and happy…

The space at 2505 Federal Boulevard that was once home to Fritangas and then — very briefly — La Parrallida is once again for lease. Given this spot’s proximity to Jack-n-Grill, right across the street at 2524 Federal Boulevard and our perennial winner of Denver’s Best Green Chile, the next person to lease…

According to the French 250 auction listing reported here yesterday, the space at 250 Steele Street is being stripped down to the wall-bolts — so, bad news, it looks like we’re never going to see the French Underground concept that I once thought might revive the space. But there’s good…

I just finished eating my oversized fry-bread thingy at Tocabe: An American Eatery and was definitely pleased with my meal. I’d written about Tocabe, the Native American, Chipotle-esque establishment yesterday, and was eager to try the place when it opened officially today. Owner Ben Jacobs told me that despite the bad weather,…

Boulder-based Phil’s Fresh Foods has just won a $96,000 loan from Whole Food’s Local Producer Loan Program. Phil’s is a wholesale, all-natural burrito manufacturer; its product is stocked by local Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage and Sunflower stores, as well as some King Soopers. Selling at about $2.50 each, this is “not the typical frozen burrito,” says Phil’s…

Jax Fish House Denver, whch netted a rave review from Jason Sheehan this fall, moved into the old Terminal Bar at 1539 17th Street back in 1996. And while Jax doesn’t feature three happy hours, the way the Terminal once did, it is offering twelve days of specials that run through Tuesday, December…

I love Italian food. So much, in fact, that I once spent a month in Florence taking Italian language classes — that I then immediately put to the test in my Italian cooking classes. Not a word of English was spoken, and sure, there was some confusion (my book of…

Get an early holiday gift in Cherry Creek North today: free parking. Thanks to Prestige Audi, parking will be free all day — for the first time since parking kiosks were installed in that shopping district (excepting Sundays, of course). And parking enforcement officers will even be on hand to…

Root Down, Justin Cucci’s spanking-new restaurant, isn’t slated to officially open until Friday afternoon — but we have it on good authority that if you stop by 1600 West 33rd Avenue this evening, Root Down will have its doors open. And what doors they are. We stopped by for a preview…

Schur Success Auctions is advertising a January 5 auction of the contents of French 250, the fancy French joint that had Jason Sheehan all haute and bothered when he reviewed the place this spring. But six months later, owner Ted Reece (right) abruptly closed his restaurant at 250 Steele Street.  And now the contents — “lots…

After more than thirty years in business, La Chaumiere, the charming, classical country French restaurant in Lyons, has closed its doors. Kyle Wagner loved the place when she reviewed it for Westword in 1998, and in “French Toast” recounted the tale of how Elizabeth and Heinz met in Munich, married other people,…

For photos from inside Brasserie Felix, go to westword.com/slideshow. You know what they call French food in Paris?” the chef asked, repeating his shtick. “What, chef?” I responded, my fingers sore and shredded from peeling hard-boiled eggs under tap water, my brain numbed from hours of prep. I’d heard the…

I’ve talked about a lot of the town’s French restaurants this week, but one has been left out in the cold: Aix. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the most important is that Aix is no longer really a French restaurant. It was once. Seared foie gras,…

“Value.” “The economy.” “No new concepts.” “Staying open.” I talked to four of the top chefs in the state (and possibly the western United States) and asked each of them about the top Colorado food trends of 2009. I wanted to share their bold predictions, like “the new hottest dish will be anything with…

Someone forgot to tell Red Trolley Cake, Coffee and Cone that ice cream shops are supposed to focus on summer fare. This establishment at 2639 West 32nd Avenue is not only doing a brisk coffee, breakfast and lunch business alongside its sweeter offerings, but it’s filling these wintry days with…

The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board has just announced its fourth restaurant recognition program, to single out restaurants that promote Colorado wine. Last year’s winners were Juicy Lucy’s (the original, not the second spot in Cherry Creek), the Mercury Cafe and Restaurant Six89 in Carbondale. For this year’s program, awards will be given…

Nation’s Restaurant News, the bible of the restaurant industry, has reported that David Giesen, who owns Steak Escape and Johnny Rockets franchises in Colorado, on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. According to court filings, his Giesen Restaurant Enterprises LLC and Rocket Restaurant Ventures LLC have debts of between…

Tocabe: An American Indian Eatery opens tomorrow at 3536 West 44th Avenue, and even in a city stuffed with restaurants, it has the potential to set itself apart. The creation of Ben Jacobs, a member of the Osage tribe whose home is in northeast Oklahoma, Tocabe (the word is Osage for “‘blue”, Jacob’s mom’s favorite color) will be…

Mezcal kicked off its fifth anniversary celebration last night, a five-day affair full of five-buck deals through December 20: five-hour happy hours, five tacos for $5, five tamales for $5, tequila shots and coin-style margaritas for five bucks. (BTW, we’d pay five times that for a plate of the barbecued lamb ribs,…

212 Salad and Sandwich Company 1710 Sherman Street 303-861-7212 42nd Street Corned beef, turkey, coleslaw, lettuce and thousand island dressing on rye $6.49 I don’t know if it’s a rule that every New York-style deli that opens outside of the five boroughs has to name all of its sandwiches after…