Ask the Mexican: Did Denver invent the Mexican hamburger?

Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican and a former food critic in Orange County, California, is in town this week for a visiting professorship at Metro and his debate tonight with Tom Tancredo. But really, he’s here to eat — a mission that has so far taken him to…

Mercury Cafe among the winners of the Mayor’s Design Awards

At 6 p.m. tonight at the Mercury Cafe, still-Mayor John Hickenlooper will hand out Denver’s 2010 Mayor’s Design Awards, honoring eleven neighborhood projects that combine form and function in remarkable ways. Several of the winners are restaurants, including the Mercury, the eatery/community center that Marilyn Megenity opened at 2199 California…

Today: Art Meets Beast stampedes into MCA Denver

When Adam Lerner moved to the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, he brought with him the fabulous Mixed Taste program he’d started at Belmar, which pairs lectures on two very different topics in a delicious culture clash. Tonight’s double dip, which starts with drinks at 6 p.m. and the event…

Lakeview Lounge hosts unofficial sunrise service

Lakeview Lounge, a classic dive at 2375 Sheridan Boulevard in Edgewater, is a great place to drink any time of the day or night, as Drew Bixby reported in this recent Drunk of the Week. But the best time of all might have been this past Saturday morning, the last…

Open Tap turns off the tap

Open Tap Bar & Grill has turned off the tap. The space at 1446 South Broadway that once held Cafe Cero has gone dark, again; several restaurant groups are eying the spot, which has a great outdoor patio and a challenging, if charming, interior. Once a high-end Italian restaurant, Cafe…

Den Deli will turn into Ototo Food & Wine Bar

Look for Den Deli, the sibling of Sushi Den and Izakaya Den that opened last fall at 1501 South Pearl Street, then closed last month for a remodel, to unveil its new look within the next few weeks. “Remodeling has been going well, and we expect to reopen by mid-November,”…

Claim Jumper hits a dry hole, sold to Landry’s

No sooner had we published our restaurant roll call for October, a roster of the places that had opened and closed that month, than updates started rolling in. For example, Colorado lost its only Claim Jumper, a link in a chain that got its start back in 1977, when the…

The McRib is back, and Denver’s got it

The McRib is back, available at the 200 McDonald’s restaurants across the state until November 22. The elusive sandwich, billed as “a boneless pork patty dressed with fresh-slivered onions, dill pickle slices, tangy barbeque sauce and served on a toasted, golden-brown home-style bun,” was first introduced almost three decades ago,…

Today: El Diablo celebrates Day of the Dead

El Diablo is already full of incredible art, but the cantina at 101 Broadway got all decked out for Halloween, with giant spider webs reminiscent of what Jesse Morreale found when he took over the old First Avenue Hotel, spooky lights and hanging skulls. The partying went on all weekend…