Pulling up steaks: The covered wagon in the parking lot at Emil-Lene’s Sirloin House (16000 Smith Road in Aurora) stood in an oval of gravel and browning grass like a beacon from the Old West–or at least the Old West of the 1950s, when this steakhouse opened its doors under…
If the beef in Kansas City always tastes like the beef at the Prime Rib Restaurant and Steak House, well, then, Kansas City, here I come. It would be cheaper, though, to revisit the Prime Rib. This smartly decorated eatery–done in the wine-tone colors and dark wood typical of many…
Homegrown advantage: No one ever talks about “Denver-style pizza,” but after eating a few not-so-humble pies from local pizzerias recently, I’m convinced we have a few originals. Of course, everyone knows about Beau Jo’s (I ate at the original Beau Jo’s, the cavernous space at 1517 Miner Street in Idaho…
Loopy. That’s the word New York Times food writer Bryan Miller used to describe the service he encountered at the handful of Denver restaurants he visited during a recent trip. Having visited hundreds of Denver restaurants over the past several years myself, I not only agree with that assessment, I…
Where are they now?: Denver’s frenetic dining scene makes it hard to keep track of chefs and restaurateurs, but some are worth tracking down. I’d heard that Christian Schmidt had been lured away from Baci (25958 Genesee Trail Road in Genesee), where he’d been quietly cooking up beautiful Italian food…
In his exhaustive reference book The Food of Italy, Waverley Root marvels at how “curious” it is that the Tuscan province of Siena “has so little to offer of its own…its gastronomic prowess seems to be limited to desserts.” Otherwise, he notes, Siena borrows the food it eats “from Florence…
I’d thought that I would never find authentic–much less great–Mexican food in this town. I’d worried that manana would never come. Now, finally, it’s here–by way of California. Sergio and Alicia Hernandez were running two successful restaurants in predominantly Hispanic areas of that state when their tortilla purveyor told them…
LoDo lowdown: Coors Field has brought a large new clientele to LoDo restaurants, and while there are the usual arguments about whether that’s good or bad, there’s no denying that it’s different. In response, places such as McCormick’s Fish House & Bar, at 1659 Wazee Street, have found it necessary…
I’ve just returned from a trip to Park Meadows and, funny, I don’t feel that it was at all “like a three-hour family vacation,” as the radio advertisement I heard on the way there touted a visit to the mall. Oops, I mean “retail resort,” the preferred term for this,…
Ethnic restaurants can have a tough time in Denver because there aren’t enough ethnic neighborhoods to support them–no Chinatown, Little Italy or Little Havana here. As a result, local eateries specializing in foreign foods find themselves straining against the chains of suburbia, trying to convince burger-and-fries types that there’s something…
Get a life: A storm cut the power the night of the big party, but weather wasn’t the only thing that tried to put a damper on the celebrations at Tosh’s Hacienda two weeks ago. To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary–that’s a lot of burritos smothered with great New Mexico green…
Barry Fey has a bone to pick with local steak joints. The professional concert promoter and full-time amateur restaurant critic is disgusted by what he considers the low quality of beef being purveyed in this here cowtown’s growing number of steakhouses. “We’re supposed to be known for our steaks, for…
Food to go: Transalpin has not only shut its doors, it’s been locked down by the taxman. A decade ago, Robert Tournier–the man also responsible for bringing us Le Central–introduced tapas to Denver at Transalpin, his once chi-chi spot on Seventh Avenue. (Arguably, Transalpin was also the first spot in…
One day a friend handed me a takeout container she’d brought back from a business lunch in Boulder. “Here, eat this,” she said. Since this sort of thing happens frequently in my line of work, I asked no questions and dutifully dug a spoon into what looked to be a…
It’s hard enough starting a restaurant from scratch, but taking over an established, much-loved place can be even more difficult. Some customers are so loyal to the old regime that they refuse to give the new one a try. Others pretend to keep an open mind, but any changes clearly…
Best of the West: First the New York Times comes to town and manages to review half a dozen Denver restaurants without ever biting into a buffalo burger or snarfing down salsa. Then the August Travel & Leisure weighs in with its opinion on where to dine in Denver–but author…
Raise your hand if your mama told you never to make promises you can’t keep. The owners of the eltinMg Pot should be hearing from their mothers any day now. Despite its grandiose claims, the Melting Pot’s Littleton outpost delivers nothing more than a lick and a promise. Although I…
Happy new beer: Foodwise, at least, Thornton doesn’t have much going for it–chains already choke 120th Avenue, and more are planned. But Thornton residents can at least drown their sorrows at their first microbrewery, the six-month-old Colorado Brewing Company, at 12160 Pennsylvania Street. This is undoubtedly the strangest location for…
That’s Mr. D to you: Little did I know that a chance visit to Mr. D’s, at 2121 South Sheridan Boulevard, would turn into a history lesson on Denver dining. But then, I didn’t know Mr. D’s was owned by Todd Goldman, a trained pilot with a master’s in marketing…
Where I grew up, you had your fancy, expensive French restaurant that everyone’s parents went to for anniversaries, one good red-sauce Italian spot that neighbors whispered had some kind of “family” connections, a decent seafood place reserved for special-occasion lobster and coquilles St. Jacques, a pizza parlor, a couple of…
Getting the Runza-round: While loosemeat is what matters in Iowa, Runzas run the show in Nebraska. A Runza is like a pasty, only in addition to meat–and sometimes instead of it–it’s stuffed with potatoes, cabbage and cheese. Like Iowa’s Maid-Rite, the franchise that made loosemeat its own, a fast-food chain…
Loosemeat sandwich. Throw those words out at a party and you’re guaranteed to elicit some sort of snickering response, if not an out-and-out vulgarity. Unless you happen to be talking to a Midwesterner. Because as anyone from Iowa, Nebraska or South Dakota can tell you, a loosemeat sandwich is not…
