The sandwich board standing beside Brighton Boulevard, in one of the more, um, interesting parts of town, carried an irresistible message: The hand-lettered words “Billy Bob’s Big Ass Burgers” and an arrow pointing to the right. We turned, of course, swerving the minivan behind a Conoco station and pulling into…
Japanese rice-bowl joints are supposed to be fast, cheap and nutritious. If they were just fast and cheap, they’d be McDonald’s. If they were just fast and nutritious, they’d be Juice Stops. And if they were just cheap and nutritious, they’d be U-Pick berry farms. You get the picture: Remove…
When the woman in the little black dress spit a mouthful of Champagne at her date, everyone in Citrus Champagne and Vodka Lounge tensed up. Was she now going to slap him across the face? Throw her glass across the room? Shoot him and drop the gun on her way…
A cowboy walked into the bar and ordered a Bud. “Sorry, we don’t have Bud,” the bartender said. “Well, what do you have?” the cowboy asked, adjusting his hat and hitching one Wrangler-clad leg up on the stool. The bartender threw out a few microbrew names, none of which seemed…
While waiting for our food to arrive at Tom’s Diner, we gaze out the window and watch two drug deals, one hooker pickup and a drunk depositing the contents of his stomach on the sidewalk. And our food arrives fast. “Oooh, sorry about that,” the server says as she spots…
Diners who see their plates as half empty rarely venture into a hole-in-the-wall eatery to discover what it might offer. Those of us with a more optimistic bent, however, regard every tiny, off-the-beaten-track spot as a potential pearl. One such lucky find: Moongate Asian Grill, a very small (six tables)…
The new kid on the block is a blockbuster. The people who brought us Mizuna are far from newbies, however. Owners Frank Bonanno and Doug Fleischmann have been around the Denver dining block a few times, usually in conjunction with restaurants owned by Mel and Janie Master, such as Mel’s…
At first glance, it would seem that the cooking of Greece and Mexico have nothing in common. The two countries are thousands of miles and an ocean apart, a distance emphasized by different terrains, different soils and different climates, which in turn translate into different agricultural practices, different ingredients, different…
We were headed into the ladies’ room when my six-year-old suddenly backed away from the door with a surprised look on her face. “We can’t go in there,” she said, pulling the door shut. “Why?” I asked. “Isn’t that the bathroom?” She nodded. “But there’s someone taking a bath in…
The next time you see a grown man walking down the street dressed in a black T-shirt, black tuxedo jacket, black shorts and spotless white sneakers (no socks) carrying a bottle of Heinz 57, you’ll know why. It’s the legendary Barry Fey, former concert promoter, current racehorse owner and always…
It’s just before 5 p.m., but already cars have been sitting out front for nearly half an hour. In the storefront window, the chefs are clearly visible, rolling and kneading, peeling and chopping, stirring and frying. But those who’ve been watching the cooking show while they’ve waited have also been…
Trying new restaurants is a lot like dating: Appearances can be very deceiving, you waste way too many nights on losers, and no matter how bad the experience, somebody still has to pick up the tab. But then you stumble upon Osaka Sushi, and suddenly all those bad dinner dates…
Gag me with a spoon. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers — yes, there is such a thing — 190 million adults, or about 94 percent of the eighteen-and-over population, visit shopping malls every month. Since 1967, the number of shopping centers — including hundreds of “super-regional centers,”…
On the surface, Micole has the makings of one pretentious piffle of a restaurant. To wit, a prix fixe menu in a town that expects its Bud and bowl of green to come with free chips and salsa; dishes that involve such precious ingredients as “fennel pollen,” 25-year-old balsamic and…
When the U.S. Department of Agriculture gives in and recognizes cheese, bread, chocolate and wine as the four major food-pyramid groups, I’ll start breathing a little easier about my diet. And Swiss restaurateurs in this country might breathe a sigh of relief, too, because those four foods are intrinsic to…
It’s a good thing that it’s the nose and not the ears that are connected to your sense of taste — otherwise, you’d be unable to discern a single flavor at Campo de Fiori. The buzz started even before the restaurant opened three months ago. Elizabeth and Luigi Giordani founded…
Like most addicts, I always know where I’m likely to get my next fix. At any given moment, I can tell you exactly where the nearest dealer is, and I often plan my day around taking time out for a quick high. Of course, I could quit any time –…
Following chef James Mazzio through various restaurants over the past six years has been like flipping through the portfolio of a photographer who’s captured a rose from bud to blossom. Each exquisite frame echoes what’s gone before and hints at what beauty is yet to come. Right now, Mazzio is…
The Soviet bloc crumbled almost a decade ago, but Boulder’s Little Russian Cafe held on until last fall, when its owners finally decided that the stuffed cabbage and borscht had to go. “We knew we had to do something, because the business just wasn’t there anymore,” says Sasha Ionikh, who…
Someone may be in the kitchen with Dinah on weekend mornings, but whoever it is needs to brush up on food preparation. Brunch is a relatively new offering at the Denver ChopHouse & Brewery, the train-themed eatery that sits in the old Union Pacific Railroad headhouse between Union Station and…
Starting the day off sunny side up can be tough in a town where the morning options lean heavily toward quasi-cheery chains and dreary mom-and-pop dives. And the familiar standbys that don’t fall into those categories — Racines and Dixons, Dozen’s, the Delectable Egg — are always packed by the…
New York has the Carnegie Deli. San Francisco has the Fog City Diner, Chicago has Geno’s, New Orleans has Commander’s Palace, and Philadelphia has Pat’s. Every city has a restaurant that reflects the people, the culture, the reality of the place — not the town you see in a tourism…
