Chef Patrik Landberg is heating things up at Charcoal

Any cook can call himself a chef — and often does — these days. Historically, though, the term was reserved for those culinary professionals who’d actually mastered the craft of preparing food, which involved everything from running the kitchen to adding the perfect finishing garnish to a brilliantly constructed plate…

Guess where I’m eating shrimp tacos suffocated by cilantro?

Would you like a jungle of cilantro smothering your shrimp tacos? If so, then this is your place. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into a pool — and every Monday,…

The Desk delays opening by a week

Mandy Stevens and Kristian Barowsky were planning to unveil The Desk today, giving Denver a combination cafe-workspace that would allow the city’s numerous freelancers a place to post up with a cup of coffee, reserve a desk for hours at a time or hold a meeting in a conference room…

Guess where you’re eating if you’re Sarah D.?

Cafe Society dished out seven Guess Where? contests last week ranging from a blood orange mimosa from Racines to a noble pastrami sandwich at Backcountry Provisions to a waste-of-a-burrito among well-on-their-way wasted patrons at Hanson’s to a morning gut bomb of sausage-studded Hollandaise sauce, poached eggs and chicken-fried steak. For…

PastaVino opens today in Boulder

It was a photo in a magazine of a chef in his whites that inspired Fabio Flagiello to pursue a culinary career. “I was nine years old and leafing through a magazine and saw a chef in his jacket and hat, so I told my mom that I wanted too…

Guess where I’m drinking this mimosa?

Looking for a way to resurrect your energy on Easter morning? This blood orange mimosa could be just the cocktail. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Guess Where posts is entered into a pool — and every Monday,…

Lao Wang Noodle House reopens

Denver dumpling enthusiasts can breathe a sigh of relief: Lao Wang Noodle House reopened today, several days after Chung-Ming and Tse-Ming Wang had closed the place for renovations. Follow @CafeWestword on Twitter and at facebook.com/denvercafesociety…

Los Carboncitos is still a favorite

I wasn’t thrilled with Paxia, the upscale Mexican joint brothers Cesar, Roberto and Ignacio Leon opened in the Sunnyside neighborhood last year, especially because their original restaurant, the vibrant Los Carboncitos, is located just six blocks away. And after I’d eaten my review meals at Paxia, I went diving into…

Tyler Nemkov is now the exec chef at Mateo

When Tyler Nemkov joined Cafe Society as a twenty-year-old intern from Johnson & Wales three years ago, he knew he wanted some kind of career in the culinary world. And now he’s found it — although he’s still a month away from graduation at the University of Colorado, the 23-year-old…

Nanna’s Teas dries up in northwest Denver

Denver’s most doomed address has claimed another victim. Nanna’s Teas opened last summer in the charming Victorian bungalow that was the original home of La Loma, and over the past four decades has housed restaurants ranging from Filipino to Mexican to Chinese to Mexican to continental to Mexican. After El…

Guess where I’m eating chicken-fried steak eggs Benedict?

Yes, that’s sausage studding the spicy Hollandaise on top of poached eggs on top of, yes, chicken-fried steak! Guess who’s serving this gut bomb? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into a pool — and every Monday,…

Happy Titanic anniversary! Five famous celebrity last meals

The RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, and for the hundredth anniversary of that event Cullen’s Upscale American Grille in Houston is offering a replication of the first-class passengers’ last dinner. For a thousand bucks a plate, ten lucky diners can enjoy a ten-course meal that includes such dishes…

Uncle Fred’s Franks will soon hit the pavement

Fred Rex worked in the electronics business for two and a half decades, but when his company closed in the early 2000s, he decided to change careers. “I ran a pretty successful hot dog stand in the Boston area for about seven years,” he explains. “We’re not just a stainless…

Guess where I’m eating a pastrami sandwich?

Like a lot of people in this city, I yearn for a great Jewish deli, but until we get one, most of us can agree that this sandwicheria passes mustard — er, muster. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the…