Tossa opens today in Boulder

Boulder has welcomed several wood-fired pizza joints in the last couple of years, and it’s not exactly short on Italian restaurants, either. So we were curious how Tossa, which signed a lease on a place near Folsom and Arapahoe two months ago, would differentiate itself from the rest…

Guess where I’m eating?

I’m always on the lookout for new Indian restaurants, and at this recently-opened Indian emporium located in a part of town that most foodniks bypass, I found the usual suspects, including a lamb vindaloo that was passable but certainly not fiery. Alas. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus:…

Pasquini’s will take over the old Panera space in Cherry Creek

Since he opened the first Pasquini’s on South Broadway in 1986, Tony Pasquini has grown his Italian restaurant into a family of five, expanding (in some cases via franchise) into the Highland neighborhood as well as Uptown, Lone Tree and the Tech Center. Now the owner is about to add…

ZaZa’s Pizzeria opens in the DU neighborhood

There are nearly a half-dozen pizzerias slated to pop up all over Denver within the next several months, including Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza, a new joint from celebrated New York chef and restaurateur Charlie Palmer that’s taking over a portion of the former Big Game space. In addition, Slices will open…

Guess where I’m drinking?

Margaritas are a dime a dozen in this city, but a margarita shaken with an avocado? You’ll find that in only one restaurant in Denver. Even weirder than the margarita itself is the fact that I really liked it — and wouldn’t think twice about ordering it again. Can you…

Reader: Five beers later, the Deluxe skillet was mine

Hot sauces? Steak knives? Wallpaper? Yesterday, Lori Midson dished the dirt on “Dining thieves: Weird and crazy stuff people steal”. And while Cafe Society’s readers aren’t quite the scofflaws described on seattle.eater, her post still collected a few interesting admissions…as well as this from GFTW: This is all small beans…

The Szechuan specialties shine at Chef Liu’s in Aurora

So, have you been to China?” I was sitting at the small bar in Chef Liu’s Authentic Chinese Cuisine on a slow Sunday evening, waiting for the feast that Vincent — my inquisitor, and also Chef Liu’s waiter, bartender and host — had ordered for me from the Chinese dinner…

Four Sunday pre-game meal suggestions for Tim Tebow in Denver

Miami, the city that hosted Tim Tebow’s high-school championship game, his national championship game and, only yesterday, the Tim Tebow Revival Hour, is just the starting point on the Tebow Man of the People tour. Tebow is now tasked with winning on Sundays. In that, umm, spirit, here are the…

Boulder’s Amu brings on a new chef, Mune Taira

Six years ago, Japanese restaurateur Nao-san took the sliver of space next to his raucous Boulder sushi joint, Sushi Zanmai, and built the tea-garden-like Amu Sake Bar and Restaurant, an authentic izakaya that serves an array of Japanese dishes — but no sushi — to the few patrons able to…

Foodography from Russell’s Smoke House

Russell’s Smoke House, Frank Bonanno’s new shrine to smoked meats, opened softly on Friday, but on Saturday, the staff was gearing up for a busy night, But first, there was a fantastic food tasting orgy that I was lucky enough to attend, stomaching my way through tender prime rib, sweet…

Kelly Whitaker tends an urban garden at Pizzeria Basta

Kelly Whitaker, chef-owner of Boulder’s Pizzeria Basta, spent every summer of his childhood on a farm — and he hated it. “My grandfather was a farmer, and I spent every single summer on his farm, but I hated vegetables, and my family was the kind that said, ‘You’re going to…

Pig & Block Charcuterie opens in Highland

Earlier this year, Jeff Bauman and his brother, Marc, signed a lease on a small storefront at 2009 West 32nd Avenue with the intent of opening a charcuterie and butcher shop. But after a myriad of construction and electrical issues stonewalled the process, the brothers, who are the grandsons of…