When I reviewed Arada last summer (“Stranger in a Strange Land,” June 29, 2006), Ethiopian food was still new to me. Somehow, I’d managed to miss this incredible, uncorrupted African mother cuisine for years — even here in Denver, where African cuisines in general have established a foothold far more…
I don’t know why seeing Cedric the Entertainer would make you want to drink vodka, but clearly the people who sell Ceren Vodka think it’s a great idea, because Cedric was at the Ceren launch party at the Mile High Station last week. When I asked Cedric for his favorite…
While art galleries keep looking for loopholes in the state liquor laws that would allow them to serve alcohol during openings, one bar has already come up with a solution. The Highland Tavern, located at 3400 Navajo Street, is passing out Art Bucks good for a dollar off your tab…
The Stapleton neighborhood just got a new place where you can grab a quick bite for breakfast. Udi’s Bread Café (7357 East 29th Avenue, 303-329-8888) — already revered for dishing up some of the neighborhood’s best dinner and weekend brunch entrees — began serving up a pared-down weekday breakfast menu…
I am spoiled. Most culinary adventurers would be happy to find one Peruvian restaurant in a town this size, but Denver has several, with more coming all the time. Early this year, Cebiche opened in the space once occupied by El Chalan, a Peruvian restaurant that pioneered this neighborhood more…
A few months ago, the awkwardly named Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace rose up, phoenix-like, from the ashes of La Rhumba — Dave Query’s failed attempt at Caribbean-Asian fusion, a place I loathed with a fine, hot passion — and further fortified the multi-unit owner’s entrenchment on this hard-fought…
Just two months after I gave Aqua a thorough literary ass-kicking, it already deserves a second shot. Chef Duy Pham (late of Kyoto and, years back, Jay Chadron’s other restaurant, Opal) recently signed on to take the reins at this eatery that, several revisions ago, was based on his concept…
Like beer, like ice cream, like truffles, the pig is proof on the hoof — evidence that the food gods love us and want us to be happy. And the masa cake on the menu at Centro is proof (to me, anyway) that not only is Dave Query in league…
My cell phone rang around one in the morning. For most people, this would be a harbinger of bad news — kid in jail, someone in the hospital. For me, it almost always means work: a debriefing, a confession, an eleventh-hour emergency like a restaurant on fire or, worse, dead…
I was out at Park Meadows, and I was hungry. Absolutely unwilling to eat anything from the food court (and already suffering from my mistake in ordering a grainy, chalky cafe au lait and a cookie that tasted like chocolate-covered balsa wood from the little cafe attached to Nordstrom), I…
My cell phone rang around one in the morning. For most people, this would be a harbinger of bad news — kid in jail, someone in the hospital. For me, it almost always means work: a debriefing, confession, eleventh-hour emergency like a restaurant on fire or, worse, dead cold on…
I don’t think that Kelly Clarkson can be considered hard rock. Neither can Sugar Ray vintage 1998 when Mark McGrath got down on his knees to deepthroat VH1. But that’s just my opinion. Obviously it should be left up to the experts, and when the Hard Rock Café decides to…
I love the Brown Palace. I’ve never spent a night there, never seen the inside of one of the rooms, never even gotten off the ground floor, but something about the place just moves me. Which is odd, because normally I don’t care a whit for architecture, have no particular…
Everyone should have a restaurant that is saved for special occasions — not for birthdays or anniversaries or celebrations of life’s small victories, but for dinners that are themselves the occasion. For me, the Palace Arms is that place, a restaurant that always makes a meal worth remembering. When I…
The Brown Palace comes close to what I’ve occasionally imagined heaven might look like: big and wide open, with a huge stained-glass skylight capping some distant ceiling, a well-connected concierge standing by, several restaurants to choose from and a nearby bar that not only stocks a fine collection of bottled…
To get a good meal in Northfield, first find yourself a child. If you’ve got a rug monkey of your own, fantastic. If not, acquire one. Far be it from me to suggest something as gauche as kidnapping, but the little creatures are often running rampant through the carefully designed…
Some people (and you know who you are) seem to think that I do not love the food being done at Luciano’s Pizza and Wings. Yes, I have compared the pizzas there with the pizzas I remember from “Pizza Thursday” back in high school. Yes, I have stated that the…
Ling & Louie’s is a place aimed squarely at families, at young, quote-unquote adventurous eaters with a taste for Asian flavors who want something better than Happy Meals and cheeseburgers when they go out to eat. A restaurant with a kids menu and a liquor license? I’ve got to think…
The tablecloths at Cora Faye’s Cafe — heavy, almost like oilcloth but patterned with flowers — are a little sticky. And so is the air. It’s close and warm in the cluttered front dining room, the atmosphere rich with smells that are both food smells and the smells of people…
I’m fairly sure that if you were to make a list of all the songs least likely to be heard in a Deep South barbecue shack, “Dead Man’s Party,” by Oingo Boingo, would be damn close to the top of the list. And yet that’s just what was playing over…
A sit down at Cora Faye’s Cafe. The tablecloths at Cora Faye’s Cafe — heavy, almost like oilcloth but patterned with flowers — are a little sticky. And so is the air. It is close and warm in the cluttered front dining room, the atmosphere rich with smells that are…
On the floor at Chutney’s, manager Subash Shetty moves silently from table to table, filling gaps in service left by his waiters and waitresses. He takes drink orders. He answers questions the servers can’t — how to pronounce tikka-e-noorjahani and which is spicier, the Peshawari chicken or the chicken Chettinad…
