Chipotle Mexican Grill opens 1,000th restaurant

Chipotle Mexican Grill, the big-ass burrito-monger that started in a tiny renovated ice cream shop at 1644 East Evans in 1993 has reached a couple of milestones recently. The first European Chipotle started hawking the goods to Londoners in May, and yesterday, the chain opened its 1,000th restaurant in Flower…

Leigh Jones set to open Bar Car in former Recovery Room

When Leigh Jones first moved to Denver a decade ago and was living in Park Hill, the Recovery Room, at 819 Colorado Boulevard, was her neighborhood bar. She went on to open several bars and restaurants of her own — Brasserie Rouge and B-52 (both of which she owned with…

When it comes to charm, Cafe Brazil is the Rio thing

Legend has it that the first owner actually was Brazilian,” our waiter muses as he admires the caramel-colored crema on top of our post-dinner espressos. “He left town after a year and a half because he couldn’t find fresh mangoes in the state of Colorado.” This is my aha moment,…

Want rum service? Visit Cafe Brazil

Cafe Brazil isn’t a trend-follower. The owners have had a good ride for close to twenty years without jumping on any passing bandwagons, and it’s worked just fine. But last year, as cocktail culture amped up, Marla, Tony and Mauricio opened the Rum Room to give the Front Range a…

Larimer Square restaurants collaborate for Affair on the Square

With the concentration of eateries in Larimer Square comes endless opportunities for roving culinary events, although the next manifestation of that won’t be roving, exactly. On Wednesday, July 21, the Square will be closed to traffic from 6 to 9 p.m. so diners can converge on the street for a…

Guess where I’m drinking?

Ever since I made my first trip to Oaxaca, six years ago, I’ve been enamored with mezcal, the distilled counterpart to tequila whose most recognizable asset is its smoky aftertaste. I once sat at the bar with a convoy of cowboys at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Santa Fe…

Veggie Girl: Pho 95 dishes up steaming hot noodle soup

Pho 95, 1002 South Federal Boulevard, has won over other writers on these pages: first, Jason Sheehan, who titled his August 2009 review “Bowled over by Pho 95”; and again when the restaurant won Best Pho in this year’s Best Of Denver. I haven’t been to the new location at…

Construction begins on Frasca Food & Wine’s expansion

A permit application has been posted in the front window of Frasca Food and Wine, 1738 Pearl Street, for some time now, indicating the Boulder restaurant’s plans to erect restaurant or retail square footage in the empty space next to their existing dining room. The permanent modification and liquor license…

Mi Cocina v Mi Cocina

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of la cocina. Back in 1995, Saul Sierra was a nineteen-year-old high-school drop-out and dishwasher when he opened Mi Cocina Grille at 4935 West 29th Avenue with the help of his mother. Three years later, he sold that location (it’s now LaCocinata)…

Bugs Bunny wants to feed your children

The smart people at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University just delivered a brand-spankin’ new study that shows a correlation between licensed cartoon characters and kids’ affinity for snacks. A motley crew of forty munchkins between the ages of four and six was subjected to…

Mirch Indian Grill brings chaat that hits the spot to Greenwood Village

Greenwood Village, with its affluent socialites, mega-priced steakhouses and chain horrors, wallet-robbing boutiques and multi-million dollar mansions, is hardly the kind of suburb where you’d expect to find what may very well be the most interesting Indian restaurant in the city. But it’s there, just a samosa’s fling from Cool…

How to dine like a pro (and selfishly reap the benefits)

I’ve been on the front lines of the service industry long enough to have seen some pretty weird requests accommodated. I once came upon a diner who wanted to have his food cut into little pieces by the chef, just the way his mother did when he was five. I…

Guess where I’m drinking?

On a recent Friday night on the patio of a bar that’s dormant during the day but overflowing after 11 p.m. when the dance floor becomes a sweat pit, a gaggle of girls paraded trays of fruity adult slushies from table to table. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special…