Chris Long, ex sous chef of Boulder’s Black Cat (and a former line cook at Charlie Trotter’s) and Cyrus Stroker, a former manager of The Kitchen, also in Boulder, have given up the restaurant business to further their careers in trucking. Sort of. Seems the two have teamed up to…
Perfect apple desserts are a rarity. Too often, high expectations are met with watery fruit, a flavorless crust or cloying sweetness. Perfection, however, is attainable, and if that’s what you’re seeking in an apple tart, look no further than the torta di ricotta at Venue, 3609 West 32nd Avenue. …
Yesterday I kicked off “Staffing Up,” with some free advice for how Mark & Isabella can get its act together. But the idea doesn’t have to be confined to restaurants that need a swift, motivating kick in the ass; reading through these blog posts for the last few days, I…
Last week, my buddy Dave Herrera over at Backbeat debuted a new bloggity thingamajig called Recast, in which he and his guys redo the soundtracks of existing movies. First one? Blade Runner — one of the greatest movies of all time, and one with a soundtrack that already kicks some…
“I’ve just become the chef of Le Chateau,” writes James Mazzio, one-time Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef winner and until recently the exec at the Icehouse Tavern, 1801 Wynkoop Street. But that stint ended early this month when the “high-powered” Mazzio was turned loose by powers higher than…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Chad Clevenger, exec chef of Mel’s Bar and Grill. You can read part one of Midson’s interview with Clevenger here. Rules of conduct in your kitchen: Work clean, work quiet, ask questions if you don’t know the answer, respect your team,…
Just got off the phone with Bill Feid, a Denver entrepreneur who’s never done a restaurant, but has firm plans in place to open Billy’s, a gourmet hot dog and sausage shack, at 2445 Larimer Street in mid-November. According to Feid, this isn’t going to be your average dog house…
There are some restaurants I talk about a lot. There are others that I talk about hardly at all. And one of the very few places that I talk about continuously (some would say obsessively) isn’t even open yet. It’s Ondo’s. Ah, Ondo’s….I’ve been dreaming about having a new tapas…
Ceviche is a nearly perfect dish — simple and organic and beautifully balanced, using the strengths of every single ingredient to subtly alter every other; a dish virtually unchanged through generations of cooks, both amateur and professional. No one knows for sure where ceviche was invented, only that it most…
After my last meal at Chili Verde, a new and very traditional Mexican restaurant that was about to get its liquor license, I stopped by Chubby’s, a forty-year-old Mexican joint that never has (and never will) serve a drop. They’re in the same northwest Denver neighborhood, yet fill very different…
This just in from the boys at Frasca: “Despite receiving over 14 inches of snow (and counting…) on Frasca’s patio today, we’ll still be open this evening for regular dinner service. We hope to see you soon.” Two feet of snow. More on the way. But what do chefs do?…
I got a call from chef Andrea Frizzi yesterday, thanking me for including his little 17th Avenue restaurant in my list of Denver’s best Italian spots, and then letting me know that he’ll soon add lunch service at Il Posto. Oh, and not just any lunch. I checked out the…
Now that my kid’s favorite Old School Burgers location has fallen victim to the economy, we’ve been hunting for a new burger palace. More to the point, we’ve been scouting a burger joint where my kid will actually eat a burger without gagging. He’s weird like that.Anyway, as those of…
Is there anything more disappointing than a dish of old, cold chicharrones? That’s what Jason Sheehan got on his recent visit to Chubby’s. Then again, is there anything more sinfully porkorific than a dish of absolutely fresh, hot chicharrones? That’s what we got when we stopped by another Mexican restaurant,…
“It’s interesting how my hands are in everything now,” muses Chad Clevenger, the chef-owner of Mel’s Bar and Grill, the Greenwood Village restaurant that Mel and Janie Master opened two years ago and then sold to Clevenger, a Florida native, last year. “Before this restaurant, I could have cared less…
Pete 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. This is the…
The first dish I tried at Chile Verde was the fish ceviche. It arrived in a plain white bowl set on a saucer, with an honor guard of Saltine crackers in their little plastic envelopes – the traditional Mexican accompaniment. And one bite told me nearly everything I needed to…
As I reported earlier today, Jax-Boulder chef Hosea Rosenberg is the official grand marshal at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s 2009 homecoming on Friday, October 30. And one of the perks (if you can call it that) of living in the residence halls, at least on Friday, is that…
Looks like plans are moving fast for the new Den Deli and Sushi Market, which is going into 1501 South Pearl Street — conveniently located between Sushi Den ( 1487 South Pearl) and Izakaya Den (1518 South Pearl). Brothers Toshi and Yazu Kizaki are hosting a job fair for their…
After two owners, two locations — first at 1555 Champa Street, then at 1543 Champa, in the circa 1889 Odd Fellows Hall (right) — and one Best of Denver award, Emily’s Gourmet-to-Go is finally a no-go. Chef/owner Victor Miller, whose soups had snagged the Best Soup award in the Best…
Okay, so Jax-Boulder superchef Hosea Rosenberg wins Top Chef: New York and, along with the top title, gets $100,000 to blow on opening a new restaurant. Except he hasn’t opened a new restaurant. In fact, as I reported in this space last month, Rosenberg is taking a sabbatical from Jax,…
Life is about to get a whole lot sweeter for sugar fiends. That’s because Bravo, the network that airs Top Chef and Top Chef Masters (which got the green light for a second season), has just added the icing on the cake: a new show titled Top Chef: Just Desserts,…
