There’s a cornucopia of culinary events in Denver tonight, with everything from the Westword Dish/A Menu Affair at the Fillmore to Penny Parker’s Sense of Security benefit dinner at Lola. And for an appetizer, First Lady Jeannie Ritter is hosting “Pints & Bites,” a benefit for the Governor’s Residence Preservation…
We’ve long lamented the lack of dives in downtown — and now comes this request from KLJ in California, which was posted at the end of an old item about Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I’m heading to Denver next week for business. I’ll be staying downtown on California Street. Anything…
Political journalist Helen Thorpe had a problem when she moved to Denver: She came here to marry John Hickenlooper, an entrepreneur who soon decided to plunge into politics and was elected mayor of Denver. What does a top reporter married to the town’s top politician write about? The underdogs, the…
The 22nd Annual Uptown Sampler runs tonight from 5-8:30 p.m., and there’s no better way to get a taste of how this neighborhood has finally grown into a real restaurant row. It was 25 years ago that Cliff Young opened his eponymous restaurant at 700 East 17th Avenue, in a…
The back of the Beauvallon, Craig Nassi’s monumental mess, is now wrapped in scaffolding and fabric, like a Christo construction looming over the Golden Triangle. But the art of this deal isn’t pretty. The building is in receivership, and the last three retail tenants — who dared to complain about…
When Cliff Young’s opened back in 1984, it was the hottest restaurant in town — a beautiful space on East 17th Avenue that was full of beautiful people eating beautiful food. After that run ended in ’93, Young wound up moving to France, where he bought an old manor house…
Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, a Centennial fast-casual concept restaurant chain, opens its fifth store today in Park Meadows, at 8225 South Chester in Englewood. Created in 2007 by Alon Mor, Garbanzo’s serves pitas, shwarma, falafel hummus and other mixed Mediterranean specialties with a healthy (no trans fat, no preservatives) bent. Its…
It was “old home week,” Mayor John Hickenlooper proclaimed yesterday at the kick-off for a new event, Denver Beer Fest, which has the town overflowing with more than150 beery happenings between now and September 27. Hickenlooper was referring not just to the setting of the announcement — the Wynkoop Brewing…
“These are my peeps,” proclaimed Mayor John Hickenlooper, the geologist-turned-brewpub-owner-turned-politician. He gestured to the crowd of brewers and other beery folks who’d gathered at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., the brewpub that Hick and a hearty crew of entrepreneurs started in LoDo more than twenty years ago. The Mayor is no…
The residents of Writer Square were ready last night with their petitions complaining about a proposed liquor-license change for the former Zaidy’s Deli Downtown, which morphed into Zaidy’s Fusion Grill this spring and was planning to transform itself again into Fusion Cantina, offering salsa dancing and live entertainment. But the…
Bacaro Venetian Taverna already boasts a winning DeKuyper Mix Master bartender in Ken Kody. And now it has a new chef: Fabio Flagiello. Flagiello trained in Italy and France, and worked in restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco. During his time in L.A., he consulted with the film industry…
City officials and other Denver dignitaries will be on hand this morning when the Four Seasons project tops off with the placement of “The Mast,” a 75-foot capper to the 45-story hotel-and-residential development on 14th Street. There was a little less hoopla last Friday, when city officials cut a ribbon…
Steve Horner is not happy, and his unhappiness fills my voice mail, spilling over in message after message. The source of this bitter spew? A recent ruling from the Division of Civil Rights, an “amended determination” in response to charge No. P20090009X, a complaint that Horner had originally filed against…
I love the fact that my day goes by so fast,” says Craig Dixon, chef/manager at Cafe Options. That day starts plenty early: Dixon is at the fast-casual restaurant at 1650 Curtis Street by 6 a.m. every weekday, to unlock the doors and greet the customers who start coming in…
The lights were off on Monday, and the listing suddenly disappeared from the upcoming hearings schedule at the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses — but by all accounts, the liquor-license hearing at which the city will consider whether to expand Zaidy’s license to allow live entertainment at the Writer…
As she kicked off her campaign as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate yesterday, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton promised to stand up to the “big spenders in both parties.” But big spenders in the Republican Party have certainly stood up for Jane Norton before. In fact, they helped…
The Best and Worst of National News for July according to GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is out, and Kenny Be — yes, Kenny Be,Westword’s sensitive and insightful staff cartoonist — is on the hit list. Here’s the story from GLAAD’s website: THE WORST The Denver Westword…
Zaidy’s Deli, a mainstay at 121 Adams Street in Cherry Creek for decades, opened a downtown outpost several years ago in Writer Square. It did a decent breakfast and lunch business there, but the crowds flocking to LoDo and Larimer Square in the evening — and walking right past Zaidy’s…
Independent restaurants across town are offering specials right now to celebrate Harvest Week. This order of albondigas is one of those specials; guess where we found it?…
The 2010 election is still more than thirteen months away, but the race for the U.S. Senate season occupied (for the past eight months) by Michael Bennet really starts this week. On Tuesday, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton will formally announce her bid for the Republican nomination — taking on…
Juicy Lucy’s has given up the ghost at 250 Josephine Street — a ghost that’s claimed so many other restaurants, including Papillon, Indigo, Go Fish Grille and Tula. Although the restaurant closed suddenly last Thursday, the owners — who also own the popular Juicy Lucy’s in Glenwood Springs — have…
Apparently all the behind-the-scenes arm-twisting hasn’t convinced Andrew Romanoff to abandon the idea of running for Michael Bennet’s Senate seat. The former Speaker of the House hasn’t been speaking to the press since word of his possible Senate race leaked out two weeks ago, but yesterday, he issued one of…
