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…
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…
Are lawyers in the class-action suit against Yelp smelling victory? Yesterday, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman announced the user review giant would drop the “Favorite Review” feature and let readers see the reviews that would otherwise have been filtered out by its automated review filter. “Now you can take a look…
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…
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],…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, which was published April 1, Cafe Society served up, in no particular order, 93 of our hundred favorite dishes in Denver. But we’re not done yet. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
Denver is one of the 25 Best Places to Live, according to the April issue of Men’s Journal . The manly mag touts the downtown living here, which allows you to walk “to everything from an NBA game to deliberately divey bars.” But that could be a long walk, because…
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…
“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…
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…
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?…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up, in no particular order, a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
For the past 25 years, Ba Forde has been the matriarch behind Kim Ba, the excellent Vietnamese joint at 2495 South Havana that’s been the recipient of numerous Westword Best of Denver awards, including Best Vietnamese Restaurant, a prize it snagged every year between 2005 and 2009. And now her…
Despondent over a breakup with his girlfriend on Friday, Chad Allen did what any 22-year-old would do: He drank a lot. Unfortunately, he decided to take his binge on the road on the afternoon of April 2, stopping off at the New Panda restaurant at 17732 South Golden road in…
Cafe Society served up five Guess Where I’m Eating/Drinking contests last week, featuring everything from D Bar’s delicious fries to a still-unidentified order of eggs Benedict to the chiles relleno at La Pasadita, a former Best of Winner. For correctly identifying that dish, Lisa is now the lucky winner of…
What you may have missed this week on Cafe Society, while bickering over whether Argyll, Colt & Gray, Olivea or TAG should have walked away with the Best New Restaurant award in this year’s Best of Denver 2010 (Argyll, if you didn’t already know, won that award):…
The United States government thinks your child is an obese, junk-eating machine. How to put a stop to this? The best idea the feds have come up with is to remove the toys from fast-food meals — because the meals contain so many calories and the toys contain lead from…
As part of an upcoming photo essay project spotlighting Denver restaurant pros whose tatts are as prevalent as their dissections, burns, blisters, knife slashes and stabs, we promised that we’d post some of the best on the Cafe Society blog. Earlier this week, we posted the food ink of Brandon…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up, in no particular order, a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
We swung by Buffalo Doughboy Bakery, which just won our Best of Denver Best Bakery award, early Thursday morning to see what was on offer. The pastry case overflowed with fat danishes and hefty croissants, making it hard to decide what would best accompany that morning cup of coffee. Though…
While the service can be brusque — even rude — at this quirky neighborhood feeding hole, the kitchen doesn’t miss a beat, turning out plate after plate of excellent food, including a comforting chicken pot pie fashioned with biscuits, to appreciative crowds squeezed into the vividly painted dining room. Can…
Green chile could well be this state’s major contribution to the culinary canon. Unlike the stew of green chiles, and sometimes just green chiles, served in New Mexico, Denver’s various green chiles can feature pork, tomatoes, even beans. We thought we’d tried them all (and loved most of them) until…
