KJ’s Coffee Bar going for its bar exam

KJ’s Coffee Bar opened last summer at 1710 East 25th Avenue, but it finally held its grand opening celebration on May 23. And KJ’s could soon have more reason to celebrate. This community gathering place for the Whittier neighborhood is going for a beer/wine liquor license, with a hearing slated…

The restaurant roll call for May

RESTAURANT OPENINGS IN MAY Belemonti’s Pizzeria, 644 Santa Fe Drive Otto’s Grill, 2200 Market Street Pho on 6th, 1312 East Sixth Avenue Olivea, 719 East 17th Avenue Buffalo Wild Wings, 15570 West 64th Avenue, Arvada Recovery Room, 819 Colorado Boulevard Pizza Republica, 5375 Landmark Place, Greenwood Village Gelato Spot, 607…

Milking It: Smart Start Toasted Oat

Smart Start Toasted Oat Kellogg’s Rating: Two-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: Heavy, dark oat flakes that ripple and curl like shingles that should have been replaced a few decades earlier. They’re supplemented by rolled oats, wheat, rice and God knows what else bound together in light-hued wads that…

Frasca Food & Wine hosts the hottest pastry chef ever

Tonight, at 5:30 p.m., Frasca Food & Wine, at 1738 Pearl Street in Boulder, is hosting a winemaker dinner with Jean Georges porn star exec pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini, who also did time in several other celebrated New York kitchens, including Payard and Restaurant Daniel. Iuzzini, along with Frasca exec…

CRA Distinguished Service Award: Dick Weil

This month, the Colorado Restaurant Association inducted three people into its Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed on those who’ve had a huge impact on the local restaurant scene. The CRA also awarded the Richard P. Ayers Award for Distinguished Service to Dick Weil. Weil’s restaurant career began humbly, when…

Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed on this week’s Cafe Society:Just in time for the warm weather, we found 10 of our favorite patios.Joe Biden stopped by and got himself some Jason-Sheehan-approved barbecue.The Squeaky Bean got its share of praise from hipster Highland folks.We enjoyed our beer from a schooner.Drinking and…

Judging Tony’s by its cover

So I’m walking around over at Tony’s, just trying to get a feel for the place and the lay of the land. And it’s nice, sure. There’s ten kinds of barbecue sauce, so many different kinds of mustard that the shelving unit looks like my fridge at home on a…

The List: Real McCoys

This week’s review of China Jade gave me another excuse to bounce around the cuisine and culture of a faraway land without having to worry about the attendant shots, jet-lag or passport issues. More important, it gave me yet more examples of the myriad ways in which pigs can be…

Get your free bagel at Einstein’s

If you stop in at any of the 29 Einstein Bros Bagel locations throughout the state today before 11 a.m, you’ll get a free bagel just for rolling in. The complimentary bagels are part of the homegrown chain’s month-long free bagel Friday promotion, which ends today. The bagels won’t cost…

Taqueria Mi Pueblo goes for a liquor license

The burrito wars are heating up on North Federal Boulevard, with a new Santiago’s and Jack-n-Grill duking it out in the 2500 block, and Taqueria Mi Pueblo offering $1.99 breakfast burritos, as well as other authentic Mexican fare, just two blocks away at 2300 Federal. And Mi Pueblo could soon…

Vesta Dipping Grill puts the happy back in happy hour

As ambassadors of good will, good drinks and good food, Vesta Dipping Grill, 1822 Blake Street, recently awarded free happy hours to thirty local businesses and non-profits, which, as you can imagine, made for some damn happy employees who’ll get a few more hours of happy time at Vesta’s bar…

Update: New Snooze is a go!

We reported this morning about today’s liquor-license hearing for the new Snooze location at 700 Colorado Boulevard. And now, I thought I’d pass along the good news to all you pancake junkies in the neighborhood: It looks like all systems are go. I just got off the phone with Jon…

Three days left to win cheese! In France!

Ooh, la la. The Cheeses of France Marketing Council is putting on a 2009 “Springtime in Paris” contest, in which you could win a five-day trip for two to Paris, complete with a wine-and-cheese tasting and dinner at a Parisian restaurant, an artisanal cheesemaking experience and $500 in spending money…

Candy Girls: Juicy Oozers Sour Gummy Fun Bugs

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Free baby burgers today at CityGrille

CityGrille, the burger emporium at 321 East Colfax Avenue, celebrates eleven years of flipping patties on a flat grill with a blowout birthday bash today, from 2 to 6 p.m. Stop by for complimentary mini burgers, one-buck domestic draft beers and a slice of burger-shaped birthday cake baked by co-owner…

Bistro starts serving (and pouring) today at Tony’s

Tony’s Market opened its fourth location, at 950 Broadway, on Monday. And today that store will introduce an amenity that none of those other Tony’s outposts can boast: The Bistro, which will not only serve foods made in the Tony’s kitchen (and its on-site pizza oven), but will also be…

Snooze liquor license hearing today

Construction is already under way on a second Snooze slated to open sometime this summer at 700 Colorado Boulevard. And today will be critical for fans of Snooze breakfasts, and those eye-opening cocktails: The liquor-license hearing for the new location is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Wellington E. Webb…

A nonstop night of fun food and wine events around town

At 7 p.m. tonight, Mezcal, the rollicking Mexican cantina at 3230 East Colfax Avenue, is hosting an Ocho Tequila tasting dinner cooked by exec chef Sean Yontz, who’s preparing a four-course feast, paired with small batch tequilas from Ocho, Mexico, for $35 per person. Reservations are required; call 303-322-5219 to…

Chopsticks China Bistro is still among the best

In this week’s Cafe review, I declared China Jade possibly the best Chinese restaurant in the city. And when I told a few of my fellow gastronauts what I was about to do, here’s what they all wanted to know: Is it better than Chopsticks? For the past few years,…