Restaurants

No. 60: New Mexico Benedict from DJ’s Berkeley Cafe…

While this diminutive cafe is justifiably celebrated for its sandwiches, the soups, including a vibrant gazpacho bobbing with fresh berries, are equally as delicious. 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…

Valentino Ujkic Trattoria Stella 3201 East Colfax Avenue 303-320-8635 http://trattoriastella.squarespace.com This is part two of my interview with Valentino Ujkic , executive chef of Trattoria Stella. Part one of that interview ran yesterday. Favorite restaurant in America: Kabob Cafe in Astoria, Queens. There’s no menu, no front-of-the-house staff and no…

While we finish compiling our Restaurant roll call for June — a compilation of all the openings and closings over the past month — Cafe Society has also been checking up on the status of some projects announced long ago. Botto Italian Grill, for example, which was originally supposed to…

How close is too close? How many falafel joints can a town, even a college town, support? The news that the family behind Udi’s had opened Pickled Lemon, a fast-casual Mediterranean concept, on the Hill in Boulder brought this from Rebecca: This concept sounds very familiar to Garbanzo’s. Isn’t there…

Several of the restaurants on Colorado Boulevard, across the street from the former University of Colorado Hospital, the land of which was recently purchased by a Florida developer, are suddenly becoming vacant. In the last month alone, a Spicy Pickle outpost, a Smiling Moose Deli plot and a Cava Greens…

Matt and Mike Casarez have their hands full running Crook’s Palace, the historic Black Hawk restaurant they opened in 2008 with a board of burgers and beer — and a commitment to making what they could in house. “I have a passion for food and so does my brother,” says…

I never tire of the lusty, spice-bombed food turned out at this addictive restaurant that always elevates my mood, and now that it’s increased its beer selection, showcasing more than a dozen brews that mirror its cuisine, I’m even more enamored. Guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Like any other diner, sometimes plant-based eaters are looking for a nice sit-down meal, sometimes quick and casual grub, and sometimes we just want a place to kick back and relax with some craft beer, maybe play some skeeball or pool, and possibly sit down in a photo booth with…

Valentino Ujkic Trattoria Stella 3201 East Colfax Avenue 303-320-8635 http://trattoriastella.squarespace.com This is part one of my interview with Valentino Ujkic, the executive chef of Trattoria Stella on East Colfax. Part two of our interview will run in this space tomorrow. Valentino Ujkic emerges from his open kitchen at Trattoria Stella…

Summer is hamburger season. (But then, what time of the year isn’t the right time for hamburgers?) Green-chile cheeeseburgers at the Steuben’s truck at Civic Center Eats. JCBs on the patio at My Brother’s Bar. A big burger for a growing boy in this Guess where? post yesterday. But sadly,…

We just finished up the Colorado Cocktail Project, during which distillers and bartenders from across the state gave lectures, poured samples and, ultimately, created the ultimate Colorado Cocktail: the Tree Line, concocted by the Avenue Grill’s Marnie Ward, who bested nine other mixologists with her drink made with Leopold Bros…

“I had nothing to do with it, other than drinking at the bar last Tuesday night,” claims Jamey Fader, the culinary director of Big Red F, the Dave Query restaurant group that operates numerous dining dens in Denver and Boulder, including West End Tavern, Lola, Zolo Grill, Happy, Centro and…

Fourteen bartenders. Twenty minutes. One winner of an iPad. That was roughly the formula for the bartending competition Sunday night at Lola, sponsored by Don Julio. Using either Don Julio’s Reposado or Blanco, the participating bartenders made mini-cocktails, a concept that the tequila brand calls “Luxury Drops.” The winner, Dylan…

At the tender age of incredibly-awkward-teenager, I was packed, along with an econo-sized bottle of zit cream and my discman, into my family’s mini van for a summer road trip through the romantic Midwest. I was a terrible human to be around at that age, bitching about every stop along…

From the beginning, the founders of H Burger Co said they wanted to expand outside of their first location at 1555 Blake Street. Now a banner adorning the storefront at 727 Colorado Boulevard signals that expansion has finally begun. An H Burger location will take over the former Smiling Moose…

Last month, when I interviewed Robin Baron, executive chef of Udi’s Pizza Bar and Udi’s Bread Cafe, of which there are four locations scattered across the Front Range, she let on that the Baron family, spearheaded by her father, Udi, a confirmed bread head, were unleashing a quick-casual Middle Eastern…

Last night was you-get-a-burger night for the preteen, who scored this one an eight out of ten. The service, however, definitely gets a ten — and then some — since I’d forgotten my wallet and didn’t have $7.76 in spare coinage in my car. Instead of denying the kid the…

Noy Farrell doesn’t use pesticides in her garden. The chef/co-owner of Taste of Thailand uses ladybugs and beer instead. The ladybugs eat the insects that try to devour her greens and herbs, and a shallow bowl of beer attracts — and kills off — any snails. Noy’s primary garden is…

Over the past few years, Boulder’s Pearl Street has added several independent coffee shops — including Atlas Purveyors, Caffè and Ozo — to a strip already stuffed with caffeine stops. But now one of the area’s older cafes has made an exit…

Yesterday, Lori Midson reported that the former home of Walk-In Burger, at 2401 Sheridan Boulevard, was going to become Nobu — a NOBU! — with the notion of serving sushi and oysters after a hearing next week. Which prompted this from davebarnes: “a date with the Edgewater liquor-license board at…

I’ve yet to find a spirit that I really hate. I’ve had gins so smooth and floral, I’d willingly drink them neat. I’m a sucker for a good, smoky mezcal. Put tequila in just about anything and I’ll pour it straight down my throat. But at the end of the…