Oh! The great culinary gods have bestowed upon me the most exciting of jobs to start my quest to sous chef stardom: inventory! I have seen many others do inventory, but I’ve never done it myself. But nothing captures the glory of a restaurant kitchen like counting how many boxes…
Ah, the burger. Labor Day grilling tradition, force of good and ease in the American diet. We take you for granted, burger. We assume that because you are a national culinary treasure that you are also unassailable, that you can be toyed with–unmercifully at times–and that you’ll still come out…
Da Capo’s Best Food Writing 2009, is out, and once again it includes a piece from Jason Sheehan: “The Last of the Great $10 Steaks,” his wonderful Westword review of the Columbine Steak House. Here’s a taste: The smell of cheap steaks burning on a grill, of char smoke on…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Tyler Wiard, the executive chef at Elway’s Cherry Creek. You can read the first part of Midson’s interview with Wiard here. Proudest moment as a chef: When I won the National Pork Award in May of 2008. I had won the…
From 5 to 7 p.m. tonight, Black Pearl, the Platt Park hot spot at 1529 South Pearl Street, is hosting its first-Thursday-of-the-month summer sip series, an intimate wine and food gathering that will focus on Italian varietals chosen by general manager and sommelier Jeffrey Musat, paired with appetizers from exec…
For days, I’d eaten nothing but crap and tourist fodder and overpriced lunches and dinners in the mountains while trying to pretend I was relaxing amid the spectacular views, German tourists and stands of regal, if dying, pine. I needed a great burger the way some people need oxygen while…
“I got my ass kicked, but man, did I learn a lot,” recalls Tyler Wiard, talking about the early ’90s and his days as a line cook for Dave Query and John Platt at Q’s Restaurant in the Hotel Boulderado. He must have been up to the task, because Query…
While talking with Tom Ryan, the man behind Smashburger, I heard how the original Smashburger service model — in which customers wrote down exactly what they wanted on their burgers by checking boxes on a sushi bar-style paper menu — was abandoned rather quickly once the company realized that a)…
So I was cruising around the web’s nethers this morning, and what should I stumble across but the BEST CHEF’S ACCESSORY EVER. Or at least the best accessory ever until I find something even cooler. This meat tenderizer ring made the front page over at Eat Me Daily (which, if…
The decision went like this: “Okay, head to class now, or… ” I glance over at the simmering basil syrup in the works, and the strawberries blending in the robo-coupe …”just stay here.” “Here” was the kitchen, and “class” was college. And finally, I decided to stay “here,” because it…
Modmarket opens tomorrow at 1600 28th Street in the struggling 29th Street retail district in Boulder. But since Boulderites have a thing for green, and Modmarket’s “menu is created from ingredients like you find along the perimeter of your local grocer … you know, fresh produce, the highest quality of…
Our listage of new restaurants that opened in August is lengthy, and September is shaping up nicely, too, especially with the very new opening of SALT Bistro, which served its first lunch on Tuesday in the former Tom Tavern’s space, the iconic Boulder burger joint and bar that occupied the…
“I got my ass kicked, but man, did I learn a lot,” recalls Tyler Wiard, talking about the early ’90s and his days as a line cook for Dave Query and John Platt at Q’s Restaurant in the Hotel Boulderado. He must have been up to the task, because Query…
No, that’s exactly what it looks like. It’s a pumpkin-carving kit. And I can’t even begin to explain why I kept this at my desk…
I believe that a great cheeseburger can change your life. Depending on the circumstances, depending on the time, the place, the company or lack thereof, your age and, most important, depending on the cheeseburger itself, a truly great one can alter your fate, leave you feeling elated and in a…
Lucy, the restaurant that occupies the second floor of Comedy Works South at the Landmark in Greenwood Village, has been on hiatus since July 2. At the time, Comedy Works marketing manager Susan Collyar told Westword that the restaurant was being “revamped” and would be open by the end of…
Smashburger has long been a point of contention in Denver’s highly competitive cheeseburger scene. There are those out there who love the place all out of proportion — swearing up and down that it is our answer to In-N-Out, that it is the long-awaited Chipotle for the American food enthusiast. …
“I seriously closed the restaurant because I was scared,” joked Dianna Williams, co-owner of Diego Zhang’s Burger Cafe, the mini-burger joint at 12073 East Arapahoe that yesterday unveiled a second outpost in Centennial, in the Streets of SouthGlenn at Arapahoe and University Boulevard. “We had more than 200 people come…
RESTAURANTS OPENING IN AUGUST Doghouse Tavern, 3100 South Sheridan Boulevard Colt & Gray, 1553 Platte Street Cheba Hut, 1531 Champa Street Hutch & Spoon, 3090 Larimer Street Larimer Hot House, 2810 Larimer Street The Living Room, 1055 Broadway Blue Moo’d Lounge, 5950 South Platte Canyon Drive, Littleton Mellow Mushroom, the…
Even though green chile is not a traditional Mexican dish, it’s a traditional dish at Mexican restaurants north of the border. It changes as it travels, thickening and becoming more hearty as it travels up towards the Canadian border. The Colorado version is thick and gooey, stuffed with pork chunks…
That’s what we’ll be doing on Wednesday, September 2nd at Content Studio, 3033 Blake Street — chatting about Denver’s food, its bars and its music, in front of a crowd that will (hopefully) be all liquored up and rowdy. Think of it like the old-fashioned Jerry Springer show with an…
So here’s a question for all you hardcore gastronauts out there: We all know that Denver is a good food town. There are seasons when it can almost feel like one of the great ones. We have fine dining and we have innovation, we have French, we have Italian, we…
