Wild Bangkok Bar & Grill opened downtown at 1630 Welton Street , the former Chopsticks & Sushi space that was the site of a murder back in October, when Chopsticks & Sushi owner Yan de Yang allegedly shot and killed Lloyd Running Bear II; Little India took over the Belmar address at 425 Teller Street that had been occupied by Mark & Isabella's; Snooze, which already has two stores in Denver, announced that it was unleashing a third Snoozery in Fort Collins before the end of April; Full Belly in Boulder morphed into Radex Bistro; the Tea Box in Cherry Creek snapped its lid closed; and Novo Coffee, whose lease has run out, is planning to shutter its Arvada location at the end of the month.
Matt Selby, exec of Steuben's and Vesta Dipping Grill, and Brandon Beidermann, chef of Steuben's, were the first two willing restaurant industry participants to show off their food ink as part of our tattoo contest.
Westword staffer Joel Warner delved into Operation Fortune Cookie, the colorfully named drug investigation that led to the largest weed bust in Colorado, and eventually to the arrest of Dan Tang, owner of Heaven Dragon, the Thornton Chinese restaurant that's hosted, among other bigwigs, former President George W. Bush.
Venue executive chef James Rugile won't be going into solitary any time soon, but come September, he will be on his way to Manhattan, where he'll cook a five- or six-course dinner for a persnickety posse of food elitists at the James Beard House.
There was good news, too, for Mark Stoddard, chief mixologist at Happy in Boulder and its lounge counterpart, Bitter Bar, who was part of the USA team that brought home the gold in the intensely competitive 42Below Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand.
Last, but certainly not least, Donna Simpson, who has made it her goal to pack on enough weight to demolish tip the scale at 1,000 pounds, was offered the chance to go on the COOKIE DIET, courtesy of Florida physician Dr. Sanford Seigal, who promised to hand over $50,000 to Ms. Piggy Simpson if she ends her battle to become the biggest bulge.
Fat chance.
