Trader Joe’s gets its retail liquor license in Denver

We can almost taste the Two Buck Chuck. The Trader Joe’s store that will be located at 790 Colorado Boulevard had a date with the city last Friday for a hearing on its liquor-license application — and the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses just approved its retail liquor store…

Reader: True Food menu may look good — but those chairs do not

True Food Kitchen opened yesterday in Cherry Creek. It’s the most successful concept out of Fox Restaurant Concepts, the company that also owns the nearby NoRTH, with locations in Arizona and California, and plans for several other cities after this Denver spot. The original True Food Kitchen opened in Scottsdale…

Reader: Rockbar will be remembered — vaguely

Rockbar will close this weekend, after more than six years as a hipster hangout on East Colfax. While owner Jesse Morreale and the city continue to trade barbs, a few customers are spilling their memories of nights at Rockbar: See also: – Rockbar will close this weekend after a goodbye…

Hot Times

In the late ’70s, Molly Ivins became the Rocky Mountain Bureau chief for The New York Times, but the writer was Texas through and through, and she returned to that state in 1982 to become a columnist. And she remained a columnist — an incredibly wry, insightful, hilarious columnist —…

Looking good! Mayor’s Design Awards honor six eating/drinking spots

Restaurants aren’t just changing the way Denver eats; they’re changing the way this city looks. Last night Mayor Michael Hancock announced the winners of the annual Mayor’s Design Awards — twelve projects cited for excellence in architecture, design and place-creating. “Every great city has exciting, pioneering places like these that…

Reader: The Denver cops have gay bars in their sights

Last Friday night, the Denver Police Department did an undercover operation, sending underage police cadets to liquor establishments across Denver where they tried to buy booze. And succeeded in the case of four bars (and numerous liquor stores), all of which were cited for selling to a minor. The bars…

Rockbar will close this weekend after a goodbye bash

Jesse Morreale has decided he can’t fight city hall on two fronts. And so after last call on Saturday, October 27, he’ll close Rockbar, the hipster hangout he opened in the All-Inn, the motel at 3015 East Colfax Avenue that he bought almost seven years ago. Earlier this month, Tom…

Denver police sting nabs four bars for selling liquor to minors

The Denver Police Department’s Vice 50 team, working with the District 4 SCAT unit, conducted an underage-compliance operation last Friday, October 19. Out of 53 establishments visited by underage, undercover cadets, nine locations sold them alcohol — resulting in nine arrests for the sale of alcohol to a minor, and…