So, have you been to China?” I was sitting at the small bar in Chef Liu’s Authentic Chinese Cuisine on a slow Sunday evening, waiting for the feast that Vincent — my inquisitor, and also Chef Liu’s waiter, bartender and host — had ordered for me from the Chinese dinner…
Six years ago, Japanese restaurateur Nao-san took the sliver of space next to his raucous Boulder sushi joint, Sushi Zanmai, and built the tea-garden-like Amu Sake Bar and Restaurant, an authentic izakaya that serves an array of Japanese dishes — but no sushi — to the few patrons able to…
Kelly Whitaker, chef-owner of Boulder’s Pizzeria Basta, spent every summer of his childhood on a farm — and he hated it. “My grandfather was a farmer, and I spent every single summer on his farm, but I hated vegetables, and my family was the kind that said, ‘You’re going to…
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 two of this new series: I am not a dieter. Or,…
Ah, fall. The leaves are changing, the days are getting shorter, pie and soup are back on the menu, and coats and boots are back in the stores. And across the pond in France and Italy, it’s also the height of truffle season…
Just over two months ago, Interstate Kitchen & Bar owners Andre and Aaron Lobato and Joey Newman quietly took over the Mona’s space on South Broadway to build Crimson Canary, their second restaurant in the Baker neighborhood…
In this week’s review of Caminito Tango, I found myself nostalgic for the culinary canon I ate for months in Buenos Aires, where I feasted frequently on platters of grilled meat, empanadas, plates of Argentine-Italian pastas, pizza, gelato-like ice cream and, possibly best of all, dulce de leche…
Unless you count pork fat for sausages, Hank Shaw — author of the blog Hunter Angler Gardener Cook and recently published book Hunt, Gather, Cook — hasn’t bought a single scrap of meat since 2005. To gather food, he forages, angles for his fish, hunts game for his meat and…
One month ago, Zydeco’s opened quietly in the old Trios Enoteca spot in LoDo, bringing Cajun specialties to the neighborhood. Turns out, though, that was just a limited version of the restaurant. “It was more of a soft opening,” says Justin Archuletta, who does marketing for the new place. “They…
When Keith Arnold and Stephanie Bonin first leased the space that would eventually house Olivéa, they realized that the property abutted a piece of land leased by a rather unusual tenant: Elaine Granata was using the lot for the very urban Granata Farms. The farmer and the restaurateurs forged an…
This week’s review sent me down a spiral of nostalgia, as I ate my way through Argentine staples at Caminito Tango, a Denver restaurant that you could find in any neighborhood in Buenos Aires. And everything from the pace to the pastries made me think of long meals enjoyed in…
It may have a hard-to-locate front entrance, but that hasn’t prevented Colt & Gray from becoming a big player on the Denver restaurant scene since it opened in August 2009, offering upscale gastropub fare paired to a stellar list of cocktails, beer and wine. And when a bank exited from…
When Vincente Domingo closed Viejo Domingo, an Argentine spot on West 38th Avenue, his cooks weren’t ready to quit making the food of their native country. So they convinced Tirso Abarca, who owns the building, to go into business with them in the same space, offering a menu of specialties…
More than 175 years ago, Jean-Baptiste Combier, a French confectioner, and his wife were making liqueurs to inject into chocolates when they began getting requests from local residents to sell the liqueurs straight. So they began bottling an orange liqueur that was, really, the world’s first triple sec. “The distillery…
The Argentines may be known for their meat, but when the first waves of reverse culture shock hit after I returned to Denver from Buenos Aires, I didn’t track down an asado — which is what the natives call a big barbecue gathering. Instead, I went looking for other dishes…
My first taste of offal was awful. I was sitting in a tiny restaurant next door to my friend’s Buenos Aires apartment, choking on smoke of both the grill and Marlboro Red varieties and drinking Quilmes, the crappy Argentine beer of choice, when a sizzling platter of meats — a…
A couple of months ago, we noticed that Mariscos Las Islitas, the little Mexican seafood joint that occupied an address on Evans near Federal, had closed its doors. It didn’t take long for it to resurface: The restaurant merely closed down its original location to relocate from one strip mall…
When Dan Landes and his family converted their Lakewood backyard into a small farm four years ago, they started planting vegetables to use at WaterCourse Foods and City O’ City, the two vegetarian eateries Landes owns in Denver. The decision to do so, he says, was at least a bit…
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 this new series. It’s my job to eat out four times a…
Toshi and Yasu Kizaki have built a Japanese empire on South Pearl Street, expanding the success of Sushi Den into Izakaya Den and, last year, Ototo Food and Wine Bar. Because of the nature of sushi, they import a lot of their fish from Japan. But because they wanted to…
Emily’s Coffee, which just opened at 1261 Glenarm Street, is pouring coffee and espresso drinks made with beans from local roaster Kaladi Brothers and a case of freshly baked pastries. And that’s not all: It’s also providing a training environment for hundreds of refugees who have found themselves in Denver…
Two months ago, Herb Brodsky, co-founder of Novo Coffee, was introduced to Meagan Morris, research assistant of the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, through a mutual friend. “I got an e-mail from Heather Larabee at Whole Foods, and she thought the vibes of our company, like our work with the…
