Mountains of food and wine at the Taste of Vail

You know that spring has sprung when the crest of Vail Mountain morphs from a skier’s powdered paradise into an al fresco grazing ground for foodniks and oenophiles, a transformation that takes place every year during the Taste of Vail, a three-day gastronomic romp that begins today…

Lard of the land: John Hinman wins cherry pie fight

It started off so innocently: Elizabeth Thomas, pastry chef forWaterCourse Foods and City O’ City, was visiting her sister, who works at Marczyk Fine Foods, and got a taste of the pie that John “Haji” Hinman had been making for the market. “She said it was lame,” Hinman remembers, “and…

Tryst to re-open as Dive on 15th this weekend

Last week, when Paul Piciocchi announced that he was closing Tryst and moving the club concept down to Playa Del Carmen, he said that its former home at 1512 Larimer Street would soon become a new watering hole. Ana after less than a week of remodeling, Dive on 15th is…

Got milk? Breasts are not on the menu at this Old Country Buffet

When does breast-feeding constitute a crime? When local police officers don’t know the law. Bethany Morton was at the Old Country Buffet in Maplewood, Minnesota, for Easter dinner when her six-month-old son, Dawson, got hungry — so she started feeding him milk au natural, without bothering to cover up for…

Boulder Farmers’ Market starts a season of shopping

The Boulder Farmers’ Market, which opened for business this past Saturday (read Juliet Wittman’s story about opening day here), is always the first farmers’ market of the season. In fact, when Boulder introduces its Wednesday hours on May 5, only a few other markets will have started up along the…

New Relaxing Tea follows in the footsteps of Mary Jane

The soda jerk who brought us Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda has taken his love for kava to the next level of mixology and given us…the Relaxing Tea. “It’s a move away from carbonated drinks,” says Matt Moody, CEO of the Relaxing Company Inc. “Tea is a hot market, and the…

Cooking with Pete: Split pea soup

Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. “Eternity is a ham…

Chef and Tell with Jennifer Jasinski from Rioja and Bistro Vendome

Jennifer Jasinski Executive chef/owner: Rioja and Bistro Vendome Unless you’ve been in self-imposed isolation or mandatory lockdown, you’ve no doubt heard the news: Jennifer Jasinski, executive chef/co-owner of Rioja and Bistro Vendôme, is just months away from opening Euclid Hall Bar and Kitchen, an American tavern that she describes as…

Fruition’s Alex Seidel named a Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef

Just minutes ago, Food & Wine magazine released the names of the country’s Best New Chefs for 2010, and Alex Seidel, executive chef/owner of Fruition, earned one of the ten coveted spots. Bryan Moscatello, the former exec of the long defunct Adega Restaurant and Wine Bar, was the last Denver…

Backcountry Provisions about to provide for LoDo

Backcountry Provisions is shooting to open its LoDo store on Thursday morning — just in time for Friday’s Colorado Rockies home opener. The sandwich shop/deli has moved into the former Willie Matthews Gallery space at 1617 Wazee Street — and don’t worry, says Denver store manager Chelsey Moore, “We’re keeping…

Café Aion opens in Boulder

When Burnt Toast closed last December, on the day before Christmas, Boulderites mourned the loss. But the mourning was short-lived, because owners Buddy Kring and Ellen Dale sold the joint to Dakota Soifer, one of their chefs. Soifer, whose past gigs include an executive chef stint at The Kitchen [Upstairs],…

Fighting for the American way — but not fueled by American fast food

There’s a saying that war is not won on an empty stomach, but American officers on the battlefields of Afghanistan seem to have forgotten that adage, since Reuters reports that some American eateries have been stricken from the menu there. Kandahar, the location of our biggest base in that opium-based…

Tavern Downtown uncovers its colossal rooftop patio

“I don’t worry about what they think, I worry about what I think,” answers Frank Schultz when I ask what the owners of Lodo’s Bar & Grill, located directly across the street from the new 9,500-square-foot rooftop patio that Schultz unveiled earlier today above the Tavern Downtown, say about what…

Star Bar is now shining on Larimer Street

It didn’t make it by the promised April 1, but close enough: The new, improved Star Bar at 2137 Larimer Street opened its doors on Friday, April 2, with new owners (after more than fifty years) but some of the same down-home, divey atmosphere…

Guess where I’m eating?

Over a succession of several different dishes at a restaurant whose soundtrack is more Sinatra than Sound Tribe Sector 9, the scampi puddled in a buttery white wine broth scented with garlic and studded with Italian parsley, was the runaway favorite. Can you guess where I’m eating?…