No. 73: Gumbo from Bistro One I was about to get fried chicken — the best in Denver, ballyhooed the bartender at Bistro One — but somehow, the subject switched to gumbo, and since the guy sitting next to me at the bar, who happened to be the owner of…
In a highly charged and extremely political fight, residents of Maine find themselves trying to answer a life-or-death question: What should be the state’s official dessert? The question threatens to divide families, as the whoopie pie camp battles the blueberry pie camp over what’s more representative of the Pine Tree…
Earlier this week, Pete Marczyk, who co-owns Marczyk Fine Foods with his wife, Barb, shot me an e-mail asking which Jewish deli in Denver was the best. If I had to pick just one, I told Pete, it would be Deli Tech, a persuasively authentic fortress of pastrami, corned beef,…
Protesters demonstrated at Minnesota outposts of Denver-based Chipotle last month after the company fired a significant population of its workers in that state. The dismissals came after a federal immigration audit questioned the authenticity of the documents provided by several employees regarding their eligibility to work in the United States…
There are very, very few restaurant menus in the Mile High City that lay claim to clam strips, which is why we were pleasantly shocked to find these. 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…
A quick jaunt through Open Table confirms what we already know: If you haven’t already made a reservation for Valentine’s Day, good luck snagging one. Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular nights of the year for dining out, and more often than not, it’s an expensive proposition, but…
Turns out, there is accounting for taste — at least according to the World Carrot Museum. Earlier this week, I posted a photo and explanation detailing why I now have a giant carrot tattooed on my body. Soon after, I heard from the curator of the World Carrot Museum –…
While comments about the ubiquitous butternut squash soup keep appearing, like the dish itself, at the end of Laura Shunk’s Groundhog Day list of The Five Most Overdone Menu Items , a few notes about the equally ubiquitous sliders were particularly tasty: For example, Max says: I want to open…
The number of restaurants that have left their doors locked (or shuttered early) over the past few days because of Denver’s chillathon is, frankly, a little unnerving, but the takeaway sushi in the above snap came from a restaurant that, despite the bitter cold, was busy till the bitter end…
The second Qdoba store to open, at 1533 Market Street, is now the second (after the Centennial location) to show off the home-grown chain’s new look — and any Auraria students who want to sneak a peek from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight will get free chips and salsa, along…
They sent Tre home on last night’s Top Chef All-Starsbecause his risotto wasn’t loose enough? Give me a break. Perhaps it tasted terrible. Perhaps Anthony Bourdain was right in saying the focus should be on the rice, not the accompanying ingredients (Antonia had commented earlier that Tre wasn’t cooking the…
No. 74: South African ruff from TAG Troy Guard, chef/owner of TAG (and soon, TAG Raw Bar), has roots in Hawaii, which may explain, at least in part, why his board at TAG swims with shellfish and fish, including things like Maine diver scallops puddled in a parsnip vanilla puree…
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has had a beef with Denver before, most recently when PETA’s McCruelty statue planned for the 16th Street Mall was determined to violate Denver sign ordinances. This time, PETA’s billboard of a sexy, sausage-draped model has been snubbed by the city (correction: the…
While the Denver Broncos are busy figuring out who to select from the second pick of the draft, at least a few of their fans are picking up the slack and trying to bring home a trophy. The guys who designed the Broncos Bus, a former school bus that’s painted…
Marco Ramirez The Palm 1672 Lawrence Street 303-825-7256 www.thepalm.com This is part two of my interview with Marco Ramirez, executive chef of The Palm. In part one of that interview, Ramirez talks about life in a crazy-busy kitchen, the flood that almost drowned it, and how hard work and determination…
Welcome to In the Weeds. Kyle will be right with you — most likely to complain about something. Usually he is pleasant, but this is his place to blow off some steam. Don’t take it personally; he just needs to vent because he’s been doing this for about thirteen years…
As a resident of a town even further south than Vallagio at Inverness, the new development at Dry Creek and I-25 that’s now trying to call its restaurant-centric self “Midtown,” I have to admire the guts of developer Peter Kudla. By bringing a number of established restaurateurs and chefs, including…
Yesterday, a reader wondered if the restaurant-packed Berkeley neighborhood in northwest Denver was suffering from too much of a good thing. But the revelation that Brian Laird was heading south to Russo’s Kitchen + Tavern, one of several restaurants slated for the Vallagio project in Englewood or Centennial (depending on…
Serving barbecue is a world away from high-end fashion retail, but Big Papa’s BBQ owner Frank Alfonso compares his decision to close his location at 12652 West Ken Caryl Avenue in Littleton to the decision Saks Fifth Avenue made to close its store in the Cherry Creek mall. “We’re like…
Mission-style burritos might be named after San Francisco, but let’s face it: Between Chipotle and Qdoba, Colorado has put its own stamp on foil-wrapped behemoth burritos. And although those two chains are the most widely known outside of the state, the four metro locations of Illegal Pete’s are local favorites,…
Long-lost evil twin? An intergenerational love affair between family members who don’t know they’re related? A romance forged via ESP between two people in a coma? As long as the dramatic music was right, we wouldn’t blink if we saw one of those absurd scenarios unfold on a daily soap…
Six months ago, Mark Dym, the owner of Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza, 2129 Larimer Street, was interviewing potential chefs to oversee a new temple of gastronomy at Vallagio at Inverness, an urbanized, retail, restaurant and residence development spearheaded by Peter Kudla, the COO of Metropolitan Homes. The Vallagio, which already showcases…
