The questions started coming up as soon as we sat down in Transalpin. First, there were the peculiar classifications on the menu–items were labeled both by style, such as “classics,” and by geography. And then there were the incredibly low prices listed beside those items. When a restaurant has really…
This is a fish tale with a happy ending–for Denver, if not for the fish. It begins in the cool Pacific waters off the northwest coast, where Mr. Swordfish finds himself the victim of a nasty sting operation–he’s wanted in fifty states for possession of cholesterol-lowering omega-3 fatty acids, and…
Judging from the way his hamburgers always look, Jughead’s criteria for the ultimate burger is a half-moon top bun, a meat pattie as thick as both bun halves put together and exactly the same width, two layers of frilly lettuce, a square of cheese hanging over the sides like a…
The party of eight at the next table barely noticed their food. “If we close”…”net profits”…”by next Tuesday”…”budget crunch”…The phrases floated over us like corporate Muzak. I watched as plate after plate was set down before the three women (all of whom were wearing red) and five men (all of…
Italian restaurants are popping up like wild oregano, making them a serious contender in the oversaturation competition now led by Mexican and Chinese. Most of these are red-sauce joints doing the old spaghetti/Chianti routine; few feature the kind of cooking that makes Italy a true gastronomic destination. Or, as Joe…
In Wall Street, the characters played by Charlie Sheen and Darryl Hannah spend at least four minutes of screen time making an elaborate meal of sushi and pasta and a bunch of other things requiring expensive kitchen appliances that I’m sure they didn’t have to clean. (In real time, the…
When a man sets off to build an empire, he usually travels through uncharted territory, conquering exotic foreign lands. But Johnny Hsu stuck with the tried and true, never straying from familiar fare when he opened a mammoth near-copy of his Imperial restaurant ten miles to the southeast. “I wanted…
Denver’s spring weather has me on a dietary seesaw: One day I’m outside firing up the grill, and the next I’m craving whatever requires enough oven time to heat up the house. It was during the recent cold wave that we got a hankering for the quintessential belly comforter: a…
A restaurant claiming to serve Mediterranean food is in a good position–the menu possibilities are endless when you stake out a territory including such culinary strongholds as France, Italy, North Africa, Spain, Greece and Turkey. Then again, sometimes it’s better to stick with what you know best, which could explain…
During the Vietnam War, one of the best-known roads in Saigon was Pasteur Street, a bustling avenue of commerce that housed a restaurant fairly famous in its own right–Pho Pasteur, a place frequented by locals who were not averse to visits from American soldiers, my father included, who’d fill up…
In one of the most ramshackle dining rooms in one of the most rundown buildings in one of the worst neighborhoods in town, you’ll find the heart and soul of Denver’s restaurant scene. But Ethel Allen–Miss Ethel to those who’ve already discovered Ethel’s House of Soul–doesn’t mind the Five Points…
When the test kitchen’s been fired up since 1000 B.C., it’s hard to improve on old family recipes. Although some of the ingredients–lemons, honey, eggplant, phyllo–popularly associated with Greek food didn’t come along until many years and several foreign rulers later, the ancient Greeks were tending olive trees and grapevines…
The name varies–sub, submarine, hoagie, grinder, poor boy, hero, torpedo, cosmo–but one rule remains constant: This is a sandwich that should equal more than the sum of its parts. Too often, though, the sub (apparently the preferred title in Denver) is much less–a sad pile of limp deli meats, wilted…
Given the miserable survival rate of new restaurants, Willie Nelson could have sung a different tune: “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Restaurateurs.” Better the babies should grow up to be businessmen who buy a key piece of real estate and fill it with kitschy, pricey eateries…
The first Thai restaurant in the United States opened in 1961–in Denver, of all places. La-Iad “Lily” Chittivej fell in love with the area when her husband was serving in a Thai military unit stationed at Fitzsimons during the Korean War; she returned years later to open the Chada Room…
Ethiopian food makes me think of sex. Really sloppy, messy, no-holds-barred sex, the kind people in the movies have with things like clay and old Righteous Brothers tunes as marital aids. Sure, almost any food can be sexy (especially with the right dining companion), but few cuisines invite such total…
Pizza is not the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about the food of New Orleans. Oysters, sure. Crawfish, you bet. But pizza? Like most cities, of course, New Orleans has some decent pizza places (my favorite is Mama Rosa’s on Rampart Street), but few people…
Food can be an icebreaker, an educational opportunity, even a great social equalizer. Never was this more apparent than on my first day of college, when my new roommate Kelli and I came face to face and realized that she is black and I am white. Up until that point,…
Opening a new restaurant is always a crash course in diplomacy, but there can’t be a much more trying ordeal than telling a diner the valet just smashed his car. Nonetheless, China Cowboy manager Rebecca Sparks (a veteran of the Aspen Ritz-Carlton) made all the right moves, up until the…
By A waitress’s first day on the job is never easy. It’s worse when the food she’s serving is hit or miss. And it’s sheer hell when her first customer is an anonymous restaurant critic. Still, the poor woman we encountered at Vella’s Italian Restaurant was a sweetheart who did…
We were craving great Mexican food–great cheap, greasy, hot Mexican food–and there seemed just one place to go: Larimer Street, where the shadow of Coors Field falls on a strip of pawnshops, vacant lots, shelters, bars and a few fabulous, if modest, Mexican restaurants. With an eye to the baseball…
It was the best of foods, it was the worst of foods. At Mr. Steak’s Firegrill, the Omnivest Corporation’s first attempt at an upscale, hipper version of its Mr. Steak chain, the difference between the good dishes and the bad is as obvious as the night-and-day light show played out…
