If starting a weekend morning fighting hordes of hipsters while you wait for a breakfast table sounds like your idea of hell, you’ll want to avoid Jelly, a Capitol Hill spot with a fun menu that I review this week. But there are many other breakfast and brunch places in…
When Oak at Fourteenth shuttered last spring due to remodel after a fire, the staff and management seized a unique opportunity: While they scurried to get the restaurant rebuilt, they also spent the down months studying and creating so that when the place reopened, they’d be at the top of…
Justin Timberlake has his hands in a lot of culinary pots these days. While his barbecue restaurant, Southern Hospitality BBQ, expands across the country — including in Denver, with the help of One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder — he’s also trying to grow a spirits brand, 901 Tequila. And his…
Jelly packs in crowds on the weekend, when it seems that everyone living in a reasonable radius jams the front of the restaurant, sipping peppermint schnapps-laced cocoa and red beer while they wait for a table. It’s proof that owners Christina Smith and Josh Epps knew what they were doing…
Ocean Forest Cafe, a self-described “wild and artictic [sic]” — and certainly eclectic — restaurant, opened in Lakewood in 2007, but just last year, it rolled out a menu full of Sichuan specialties as well as Thai and Chinese-American dishes. But when we recently passed by the strip mall where…
Business at Boulder’s six-month-old Oak at Fourteenth was on fire when the restaurant actually caught fire last spring, forcing owners Bryan Dayton and Steve Redzikowski to shutter their spot so that they could gut it and rebuild it from the ground up. It was a long road back, but after…
When Christina Smith and Josh Epps prepared to open Jelly in Capitol Hill earlier this year, they were banking on the fact that Denverites were craving a more vibrant breakfast culture, and that those people would be drawn to restaurants offering the prospect of more than just the greasy spoon…
When Forbes recently released its list of 100 rising star companies in 22 industries, “privately held up-and-comers with compelling business models, strong management teams, notable customers, strategic partners and precious investment capital,” exactly one restaurant company made the cut. And Colorado’s very own Smashburger didn’t just make the list; it…
Clutching a Mason jar full of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps and trying hard not to spill, I stared pleadingly into the eyes of a snarling man in flannel who was attempting to push past me. “Excuse me!” he repeated, without a trace of sympathy. I was trying to get…
Novo Coffee does the vast majority of its business wholesale, selling its beans — some of our favorite beans in Denver — to restaurants and cafes. But for the past five years, the company has also kept one retail location by the Denver Art Museum, where patrons can score a…
Over the last few months, I went from the worst shape of my life to the best while continuing to eat like a food critic. Don’t punch me in the face; instead, read how I did it in part seven of this series: There have been a few defiant (mostly…
Brian Smith, the barman at Pinche Taqueria who will also be behind the stick at the resurrected Squeaky Bean when that restaurant opens next year, began his love affair with the bar before he was even legal. “I’ve been bartending at home since I graduated from high school,” he admits…
If you work downtown and are often in need of a quick lunchtime pho fix, help will soon be at hand. Pho 79, one of our favorite pho restaurants in the city, has signed a lease on the 16th Street Mall and will soon be slinging up big bowls of…
The area around Union Station has recently gained several high-profile restaurants, including Coohills and Charlie Palmer’s pair of spots, District Meats and Wazee Wood-Fired Pizza (opening next week), with The Kitchen and the Squeaky Bean coming next year. Now Union Station itself could gain some flashy new tenants. On Tuesday,…
Brothers Jeff and Danny Chayer are originally from Minnesota, but they’ve spent the past four years working in the Texas wine industry. “He was a winemaker,” Danny says of Jeff. “I was a manager of one of the wineries.” There, they learned the ropes of the craft, and, Danny says,…
Jonesing for breakfast on 17th Avenue on a recent weekday, we stopped by WaterCourse Foods, hoping to score some breakfast tacos, a plate of French toast, even a vegan pastry. But sadly, our plans were foiled: The restaurant was dark, and new hours posted indicated that WaterCourse now opens at…
After six months in business, Oak at Fourteenth was really building momentum this past spring, nabbing accolades from around the country that culminated in its listing in the March Food & Wine as one of the country’s best new bars. That honor arrived the same week that a fire erupted…
Jimmy Sannino was one of the three sons who inspired 3 Sons, the restaurant that his family ran for forty years. After they finally sold 3 Sons in 2004, his two brothers got out of the business — but red sauce was in Jimmy’s blood. Today he owns and operates…
A handwritten sign in the front alcove at Mama Sanninos asks diners to wait to be seated, and since just two servers were tending to a large, lingering lunch crowd, wait I did. While I waited, I studied my surroundings — and there was a lot to look at. Family…
Kitsch covers the walls at Mama Sanninos, with family portraits co-mingling with vintage alcohol posters, festive seasonal hangings and shots of Italy. Hand-written signs list specials, and the scent of garlic hangs in the air as the chef prepares those specials, as well as platters of spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna…
After it got rolling in the summer of 2010, the mobile food movement really picked up speed, with new trucks hitting the pavement just about every week. Last spring Comida, a big, pink, Boulder-based taco truck (wo)manned by Rayme Rossello, a longtime member of the Boulder restaurant scene and one…
‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year, Denver. During the stretch of days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, it’s totally socially appropriate to stay out too late on a school night, drink too much and show up to work griping about your subsequent hangover. Okay, maybe not totally socially…
