The variety of dining options near the hip Highland intersection of 32nd and Lowell recently got a little more diverse. Ben Ke opened Highlands Asian Grill about three months ago, at 3940 West 32nd Avenue. In addition to a stellar-looking variety of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese options, the menu…
The First Avenue Hotel in 1917. Denver restaurateur Jesse Morreale (Mezcal, Tambien, La Rumba, Rockbar) recently announced he was taking the next step in building the nascent hotel empire that started with the All-Inn at 3015 East Colfax Avenue by purchasing the historic/empty/decrepit 1st Avenue Hotel building at 101 Broadway…
High School Musical cereal Kellogg’s Rating: Two spoons out of four Cereal description: Round-cornered corn-and-oat stars evenly split between a robust yellowish-brown and a ripe red — and all of them are speckled with white sugar pustules seemingly ready to erupt with sweetness. It’s a look that raises expectations soon…
Chef Frank Bonanno. I think we all knew that it was only a matter of time before Sparrow Market Café (701 Grant Street) tanked, since Sparrow restaurant had already flown the coop. And guess who’s picked up the space? Frank Bonanno, who already owns the restaurants on either side of…
Morreale is feeling confident after his makeover of RockBar at the All-Inn. Remember a couple years back when Jesse Morreale, out for one of his morning constitutionals, just up and decided he was going to buy the aging transient hotel at 3105 East Colfax, so he walked into the All-Inn…
There’s a new Asian spot in Aurora, and it’s dishing up a wide variety of Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines with a menu that includes an extensive array of sushi, bento boxes and teppanyaki. Purple Orchid Asian Bistro, the vision of owner Rui Shang, opened about two weeks ago at…
Now, I’m a huge fan of caramel candy. Something about the rich, deep sweetness of good cooked sugar is pure candy heaven to me. On a recent trek to Big Lots to find strange and unusual candy, I spotted two filled caramel options that looked intriguing. Goetze’s “Original” Caramel Creams…
Construction — or, rather destruction — began this week on Sean Yontz’s old Chama space in the Belmar development, which is scheduled to become Phoenix chef Mark Tarbell’s second Colorado restaurant, following the success of his first, The Oven, in that same Lakewood project. One complication: Tarbell doesn’t yet have…
“No more root beer for me, bartender. I’m driving.” Happy Hour: It’s no longer just for alcohol. That’s the idea behind the Red Trolley ice cream shop’s root beer float happy hour. The phrase alone inspires giddy excitement; saying it aloud will certainly leave a childish grin on your face…
Goodnight, Mel’s. I got word last night from Charlie Master that the last location of the Master family restaurant empire is finally closing. Mel’s Bistro, at 1120 East Sixth Avenue, has been on the block for some time now, and while many of Denver’s big names were rumored to have…
Either it’s the best kept secret in town, or other Denver-ites just don’t appreciate the restorative qualities of a good soyrizo-and-egg burrito and an icy cold Chelada after a night of too many indulgences as much as my husband and I do. When we first stumbled upon the abundance of…
After just a couple of years as Leenah’s Deli, the long-standing Greek market at 1035 Lincoln Street has changed ownership and is now called Melit’as Greek Cafe & Market. New owner Maria Gibson took over the deli about six weeks ago from Nader Wadhen, and while the menu does have…
I took my first cooking job in 1988. Fifteen years old, I walked into a neighborhood pizza shop knowing precisely nothin’ about nothin’ and proceeded to prove it at every opportunity. That I wasn’t fired after my first night was odd. That I survived my first week, near miraculous. It…
While Lo Coastal Fusion presents itself — perhaps unwittingly — as a champion of all things ’80s, particularly the dreaded fusion, Avenue Grill has actually been around since the 1980s (and has the documentary evidence to prove it, hung all over the walls behind and beside the bar) and has…
Rumors are swirling that French 250 , which Jason Sheehan raved about this spring, is bidding Denver adieu. A sign on the door notes that the restaurant is no longer open on Mondays and Tuesdays — which could explain why no one was answering the phone yesterday. (The web site…
A few weeks back, we asked readers where we should take Gustavo Arellano of Ask a Mexican fame during his visit to Denver, so that he could try a real Colorado Mexican eatery. One suggestion was for a spot we’d never heard of: Las Tortas, a torta joint at 5307…
Lo Coastal Fusion It was a decade of experimentation — like the ‘60s had been with drugs and the ‘70s with sex, the ‘80s were about testing the boundaries of money, power and food. And an argument could be made that it was a necessary period of madness, a kind…
Your total comes to $7,386. For evidence that times are tough, one need look no further than the eighteen-page section inserted in last Friday’s Denver Post recording the thousands of properties on which the city has filed liens for failure to pay back property taxes. It’s not just foreclosed homes,…
If you didn’t think Park Hill could get any sweeter, the neighborhood welcomes its fourth bakery, Cake Crumbs, which just opened at 2216 Kearney earlier this month. Owners and Park Hill-ites, Denon and Sean Moore decided to bring their passion for baking and community pride by bringing their bakery from…
The previous occupant of 1066 South Gaylord, Chi Bistro, was one of Jason Sheehan’s most hated restaurants, as is evident from this review. But everyone — parking-paranoid Wash Park residents included — should be pleased by the place that will be opening in that spot on Monday, October 27. It’s…
Parker just got a new neighborhood hang-out, with the September 22 opening of Otto’s American Grill at 18366 East Lincoln, in the old Pasta Bella location. Otto’s was opened by John Davis, a restaurateur who had a variety of spots in Phoenix before setting down roots in the Denver area…
Valente’s Italian Restaurant, which had been up and running for 44 years, closed today following a combination Columbus Day/retirement party for owner Ray Valente. And that festive, long goodbye wasn’t the only thing that distinguished the Valente’s closing from another recent high-profile closing: that of Jim Sullivan’s Nine75 (the restaurant…
