Another chapter in Denver’s northwest side story ended when Elitch Lanes closed last night, after a weekend-long goodbye. “If you’ve been around northwest Denver, you know: The people who come in here are so much nicer than the average person,” owner Cal Eichinger had told us back in December, when he…
With weather looking better this week, at least before afternoon storms roll in, it’s the perfect weekend to roll out of bed and check out some of the restaurants on our list of the ten best brunches in Denver. If eggs and mimosas aren’t you’re thing, oysters and Anchorman-themed cocktails…
Darren “Big Country” Byrd came to Colorado from Texas to attend culinary school at Colorado Mountan College and opened a barbecue joint in Keystone in 2007. But he grew tired of nine months of winter a year and so moved his operation to Denver, where he’s been running a fleet…
When Blackbelly Market opened in east Boulder last fall, chef/owner Hosea Rosenberg had grand plans for offering the Front Range a full market, butcher shop, breakfast and lunch counter, and destination dining establishment. Those plans have all come together and Rosenberg’s kitchen is in full swing, offering a meat-centric menu…
After being served with a lawsuit last week over an alleged cat bite, the Denver Cat Company has received an outpouring of community support. Sana Hamelin, owner of the Denver Cat Company, one of only a few cat cafes in the country, wrote an emotional and frustrated Facebook post after being served…
Gretchen Kurtz did not have great experiences at Lo Stella Ristorante, which last fall moved into a space in the Golden Triangle that has swallowed up several other restaurants. And as she writes in her review this week, Kurtz found several things hard to swallow at Lo Stella, including the fact…
To win Alton Brown’s Cutthroat Kitchen on the Food Network last year, chef Dakota Soifer of Boulder’s Cafe Aion had to run a maze of red velvet ropes and make a red velvet cake using beets for color. It was, he says, “really fun and really cool, but I wouldn’t…
On Mother’s Day, we gave a collective shout-out to the moms in our lives. But mothers aren’t the only ones who help us reach our potential. Last week I wrote about the impact that well-known chef Max MacKissock had on Joshua Bitz, who worked with MacKissock for seven years and…
Jerry and Laura Lasco just opened a location of Max’s Wine Dive, their Texas-based chain, at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Sherman Street, but they’re into more than fried chicken and champagne. Diving into healthier eating as a way to combat high blood pressure and other health issues, they…
Mark Antonation is eating at soul-food restaurants for this month’s Ethniche, and his travels recently took him to Kirk’s Soul Kitchen in Aurora, where the restaurant occupies the former home of a payday loan. And given the setting, Kirk’s serves up some unusual stories along with authentic soul food. Says Joshua:…
Steve Horner, go back to your corner. Eight years ago, members of this city’s bar/restaurant industry felt like they were being held hostage by Steve Horner. The onetime radio personality/self-published author had filed one of the first major claims that ladies’ nights were discriminatory in his home state of Minnesota,…
Although opening day of Civic Center Eats was rained out on May 5, the twice-weekly food truck rally in Civic Center Park managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of lunch service last Thursday — and the sun even peeked out a little for the rescheduled official kickoff yesterday,…
Aurora’s Havana Street is awash with some of the most diverse ethnic cuisine in the Denver metro area; the cultural landscape is primed with every kind experience, from fine-ish dining to lovable dives to mom and pop eateries from almost every nationality and culture: Ethiopian, Vietnamese pho, dollar-a-scoop Chinese, Mexican…
The Squeaky Bean is about to get a new executive chef, Chris MacGillivray, who worked at the LoDo Bean under opening chef Max MacKissock; MacGillivray will be back to take over on May 20. Current chef Theo Adley’s last day will be on May 16; he’s given the Bean two…
Angus and John Hicks of Jozi’s Kitchen & Shebeen Brothers Angus and John Hicks grew up in apartheid-era Johannesburg, South Africa, where illegal bars and restaurants called shebeens were a part of the culture. For decades, native Africans had been prohibited from purchasing alcohol in liquor stores and bars, so the…
Maybe things would have been different in Portofino. There, a table at Lo Stella Ristorante would have been al fresco, steps from the harbor, with the sound of water lapping gently at boats. Servers would have spoken Italian, a language I learned so long ago that it’s only music to me…
Beer and burger specialist the Pint Room got its start in Dublin, Ohio, three years ago offering 101 beers on tap. A second spot with 126 taps opened last year in Carmel, Indiana. And this week, the company will open its third Pint Room in Littleton, in the former home…
Green Labs is on a roll. Even though recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado, safe havens where people can consume cannabis are few and far between. But Green Labs found a solution: an array of cool, cannabis-themed classes each week, including this Saturday’s Sushi and Joint Rolling course. Yes, you…
First we had Shooters Grill in Rifle arming its waitresses — and getting on the national news. Late last week, KUSA TV reported that Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ in Milliken would be holding a “White Appreciation Day” on June 11 — and once again, the story blew up across the country…
Kirk’s Soul Kitchen in Aurora lacks the homey charm of Cora Faye’s or the Welton Street Cafe, but the setting isn’t quite modern enough to give it hipster appeal. Instead, its appearance falls somewhere between a divey joint of the kind so prevalent in Aurora (and not at all indicative…
Cinco de Mayo kicked off a couple of days early in Denver, so a Saturday that also featured the finest two minutes in American sports, the Kentucky Derby, was a fitting time to make brunch a Mexican affair. It was a good thing the Uptown outpost of Marg’s World Taco…
When Johnny Ballen first opened the Squeaky Bean in Lower Highland in 2009, chef Max MacKissock was behind the burners in a kitchen that was barely big enough for him to turn around. Ballen and MacKissock opened a spacious new restaurant and kitchen in LoDo in 2012, but MacKissock moved…
