In late 2014, Small Wonder Food & Wine took over what had been the Coral Room at 3489 West 32nd Avenue; the West Highland eatery gave up the ghost earlier this year, leaving a glaring vacancy in a popular restaurant neighborhood. But now neighbors can get a taste of something…
No. 31: Chicken Tenders at the Fainting Goat Chicken tenders aren’t just for kids — not at the Fainting Goat, a great downhome bar at 846 Broadway that makes its own tenders. A $10 order gets you five big pieces of actual chicken, hand-breaded to order, then fried, along with…
The fast pace of Denver restaurant openings looks to continue at least through the beginning of 2107. Here are eight that will hit in January and February, with moves from old favorites, new locations for Denver chefs to expand their offerings, and newcomers to the Colorado culinary scene. American Grind…
This past year was frenetic — and not just in the political arena. Denver’s dining scene continued to move at a breakneck pace, as seasoned restaurateurs, rising stars and fresh transplants alike all opened ambitious new restaurants. Amid all the activity, what were the Mile High City’s hospitality professionals talking…
Many Denverites took some time off from work over Christmas weekend, but not Matt and Brad Gruber, two brothers who opened Session Coffee at 1340 South Santa Fe Drive on Friday, December 23. The week before, Matt Gruber told us he and and his brother were just waiting for final…
As a restaurant critic, I’m often considering minutiae. Was the steak overcooked? Was the server informed? How were the scallops plated? These details aren’t insignificant; taken together, they determine which restaurants are worthy of our most precious commodities — i.e., time and money. But I often wish I could judge…
As the year comes to an end, we’ve started looking back at the best of what Denver chefs and restaurateurs brought to the table in 2016. Gretchen Kurtz chalked up her final restaurant review of the year — and it was a good one. Read what impressed our critic about…
As in the days of the Denver oil boom, steakhouses are a big part of Denver’s current restaurant renaissance. While old meat palaces are being revived under new leadership, others are stampeding into town from respected restaurant groups. Here are five eateries specializing in the art of grilled beef, from…
What will be the best restaurant to open in Denver in 2016? We just rolled out our list of the best restaurants that debuted before December, and several more contenders have opened in the last few weeks. But some readers already have favorites. Robert is a fan of Matsuhisa, and…
No. 32: Flavorsome Ramen at Sera’s Ramen Enclave Sera Nguyen opened this laidback West Highland noodle joint in the former Bang! spot (3472 West 32nd Avenue) in May, and has been making fans ever since. All it takes is one bowl of Nguyen’s comforting ramen to seal the deal, and a…
No. 33: Bagna Cauda Broccoli Rabe at Dio Mio Handmade Pasta Broccoli rabe isn’t exactly sexy; the bitter vegetable more often than not looks like nothing more than limp weeds on a plate. But the cooks at Dio Mio Handmade Pasta at 3264 Larimer Street turn broccoli’s skinny cousin into…
Chef/restaurateur Jeff Osaka just opened 12@Madison after a two-year period spent building Osaka Ramen, Sushi-Rama and the Denver Central Market, but he says there’s one person on his team who has made the growth of a restaurant mini-empire much easier, someone who takes care of business behind the scenes without…
At the end of this year, Andrea Frizzi will shutter his Il Posto on East 17th Avenue and start anew in a fresh space in RiNo, just around the corner from Vero, the Milano pizzeria he recently launched in Denver Central Market. Il Posto’s new digs are dazzling, a sleek…
Is Avelina where the pendulum begins to swing in the other direction? At some point in the future, maybe in three years, maybe in five, will we look back on the opening of this quiet downtown restaurant and trace the return of the soft-spoken, the sophisticated, the beautiful to the…
Corporate buyouts, gentrification, urban infill: These are the forces that get vilified when time-honored corners of our city are lost to change. But sometimes something as simple yet inevitable as growing old can close a popular business. Such was the case when Ron Cito and Kim DeLancey retired and closed…
The Original Chubby’s on West 38th Avenue just opened a brand new dining room and kitchen over the weekend that replaces the tiny, takeout-only joint operated first by Stella Cordova and then by her grandson, Danny, over the past fifty years. But another grandson, Julian, has opened and closed a…
The Original Chubby’s never had to call itself “the original” until other Chubby’s locations began popping up around town, some which even called themselves the Original Chubby’s. But there’s only one original, and that’s the Chubby’s at 1231 West 38th Avenue, purchased and run by Stella Cordova in 1967 and…
Remember Wurstküche? The sausage emporium out of Los Angeles was one of the first restaurants to close in 2016, but hardly the most memorable. Since it lasted less than a year, we barely got to know the place before it shuttered. But sadly, some of our favorites spots around town, from…
Gretchen Kurtz recently reviewed the Steuben’s that opened in a former Gunther Toody’s in Arvada earlier this year. Not only did she find it a worthy, smart addition to Josh Wolkon’s Secret Sauce group of local restaurants, but the fried chicken immediately joined that of the original Steuben’s on East…
December is when commerce usually slows down, but not in the restaurant industry, where holiday parties and revelers pack dining rooms and pad reservation lists. Those who open new restaurants have been busy this month, too. Here are ten new bars and eateries we’ve covered so far this month, along…
This week we went on the Colorado grand tour as our Beer Man, Jonathan Shikes, talked to several beer lovers who have visited every brewery in Colorado. To help you plan your own sudsy adventure, Shikes shared seven tips on the how to be an efficient beer tourist. But if…
The morning commute on Santa Fe Drive just south of Mississippi Avenue gets a little treacherous when cars queuing up at a Starbuck’s drive-thru overflow into northbound traffic lanes. Brothers Matt and Brad Gruber noticed the number of drivers stopping to fuel up on caffeine as early as 5 a.m…
