With a pizza from the Oven, certain bites will linger in the memory as among the best bites ever. Not every pizza, and not every bite. But once in a while, when the stars are aligned and the food gods are smiling, you take a bite from one of the…
It wasn’t the fastest closure on record (that would be Gavi, I think, which lasted less than a month in the space at 1110 Lincoln Street that’s now occupied by Andrew’s). But it sure seemed like it. Two weekends ago, the Lakewood location of Emogene Patisserie, the newest baby birthed…
Chefs and restaurant owners are competitive animals by nature and disposition. Not Iron Chef, cooking-contest competitive — not just lighted-stage, rule-book and panel-of-judges competitive — but seriously, almost compulsively, knock-down, drag-out Thunderdome bloodthirsty. In a successful restaurant, there’s no room for sentiment or surrender (except on the menu). And in…
It had been too long since I last dropped by Taqueria Patzcuaro. I go into north Denver a lot these days, chasing after some new Chinese-Brazilian fusion restaurant or an intriguing-sounding soup, then end up drinking sake at Swimclub32 or eating at Duo, forgetting why I came up in the…
For two weeks, my mind has turned inexorably toward the best part of the tastiest animal on God’s green earth — and now you can scratch one spot for getting a midnight bacon fix. When I reviewed Snooze, the “A.M. Eatery” at 2262 Larimer Street (“Pancake Apocalypse,” July 6), what…
I n a perfect world, everything would come wrapped in bacon. Wrapped in bacon or topped with bacon or with a side of bacon, because everything is better with bacon. What’s better than shrimp? Shrimp wrapped in bacon. What’s the only way to make vegetarian food palatable? Top it with…
There are restaurants that win me over quickly — love at first bite, or damn close to it. There are other restaurants I have to ease into slowly, coming around to their flavors or unique takes on cuisine by the end of the meal. And then there are places that…
Here’s some stuff I hate: Celery. People who can’t drive and talk on their cell phones at the same time. I’ve got no problem with those who can do both skillfully — but seriously, if talking with your mom, your psychic friend or the phone-sex operator is impairing your ability…
I ‘ve eaten tandoori while driving and samosa in bed. I’ve made entire meals of naan and puri and yogurt. During a brief stint as an unwilling vegetarian (I did it for a girl, mostly because the only thing on earth better than pork is pussy, and I had to…
When Larry Leith says his idea for Tokyo Joe’s — a fast-casual Japanese rice- and noodle-bowl joint– came out of nowhere (see review, page 50), he may be overlooking a Colorado mini-chain called Kokoro. Founded by Mareo Torito a full decade before Leith opened his first shop, Kokoro has specialized…
Last week I had lunch at McDonald’s. It doesn’t matter which McDonald’s, because most of them are interchangeable. In fact, they’re the greatest example of assembly-line restaurants in the history of the industry. McDonald’s has gotten so good at self-replication over the past fifty-odd years that today the company is…
The latest location for Tokyo Joe’s is a killer. It’s in the new Southlands Mall development, at the back of the so-called plaza that sits like a box canyon at the end of a natural retail bottleneck; buyers and window-shoppers, tourists and locals alike all funnel into this zone from…
I have seen many things at Pete’s Kitchen. I’ve witnessed fights and the first tentative, groping moments of new (and no doubt highly temporary) love affairs. I’ve eaten shoulder-to-shoulder with famous folk, sprung for dinner for bums and had a group of transvestites buy me pie. I’ve been there on…
While writing my review of Ya Hala (see page 47), I actually stopped halfway through and headed back to Colorado Boulevard to pick up a couple to-go orders of the unbelievably addictive baklava, because I only had a half-order at home and I knew that wasn’t going to be enough…
I’ve been a fan of Ya Hala since it opened more than a year ago. I liked it when it was still just an ugly, stained cement bunker with the (often inaccurate) hours painted on its back; when I would drive by and see bums sprawled in the little half-alley…
The original New York Pizzeria on Leetsdale Boulevard — huddled among the liquor stores, taquerías and liquor stores — was a classic hole-in-the-wall. Seating was scant and the tile floors powdered with flour; orders were taken, processed and served at the wall-to-wall counter; and always hanging in the air was…
My visits to Venice Ristorante (see review) reminded me that I needed to stop by the sleek-and-shiny Via, just across the way at 1801 Wynkoop Street. The Momo brothers opened Via in the old home of Brasserie Rouge in August 2005, the same month Alessandro Carollo opened his new Venice…
Sometimes these weekly missives are about time and the progression through it of a menu, a chef, an address. Sometimes they’re about history, which isn’t the same as time, because time is smooth and steady, and history is, well, bumpy. History is the story of peaks and jags in time,…
The guys behind the counter got my order wrong three times — but from past experience eating at the Taste of Philly on Colorado Boulevard in recent months, I knew that three attempts was about average for getting the correct order in the correct bag. The wait gave me plenty…
Talk about a blast from the past, eh?” I’ve got Mel Master on the phone, and he’s talking about his own October surprise: the sudden signing of a contract for the space at 1120 East Sixth Avenue, which currently houses Piscos and originally was the home of Dudley’s, the restaurant…
For a long time, restaurants have played a cruel game with diners, vacillating wildly between opposing schools of menu-writing theory. On one side are menus that seem compelled to describe in loving, verdant detail not only the basic ingredients in every dish, but the provenance of each ingredient — where…
Four years ago, I had one of the greatest, strangest, most affecting meals of my life at Ocean City. It was during the Chinese lunar festival, and the party went on for hours with more courses than I can remember. I ate cold pig’s-ear salad, whole abalone in oyster gravy,…
