New York, Houston’s has a problem

With more than thirty restaurants across the country (including one that opened at 303 Josephine Street in Denver in April), the Houston’s chain falls under the fourteen-month-old New York City rule that requires it to put calorie information its menus. But as Crain’s New York reports, Houston’s is refusing to…

Chipotle gets a special delivery today

No good deed goes unpunished. This summer, Chipotle sponsored 32 free screenings across the country of Food, Inc., the documentary that’s more frightening than any Friday the 13th movie. As thanks, this morning activists will deliver petitions with 16,000 signatures to Chipotle’s headquarters in LoDo, calling on the homegrown chain…

Wake-Up Call: Good riddance to First Data

First Data has flown the coop. The financial firm that moved its corporate offices to Greenwood Village in 2001 is now moving those offices back to Atlanta. First Data certainly made its mark while it was headquartered here. With its then-subsidiary Western Union doing a booming business in sending money…

A taste of restaurant history before LoDo Bites

We just heard that tonight’s LoDo Bites is sold out — bad news for procrastinators, great news for the LoDo District, which is putting on the event. It also says a lot about how far this part of town has come from the days when the Wazee Supper Club was…

Colt & Gray to open today

Colt & Gray, the city’s latest gastropub with an emphasis on ‘farm-to-plate” fare, promises to finally open today at 1553 Platte Street. The project met with several months of delays, but judging from the menu posted on the Colt & Gray website, this restaurant should be worth the wait…

Wake-Up Call: A very civil insurrection

At a round of town-hall meetings on health care that kick off today, first-term congresswoman Betsy Markey will hand out copies (abridged) of a George Washington favorite, “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation,” originally a 110-item list of Jesuit guidelines for civil behavior. Great idea, but…

Brandon’s is still dark, dark, dark

Despite the sign posted in front of Brandon’s Pub last week, promising that “Bradon’s” would reopen last Friday “for real”, neither Bradon’s nor Brandon’s made an appearance. The doors were still locked up tight at 5 p.m. tonight, the room is dark, and the phone number just rings to voicemail…

Wake-Up Call: Civic Center’s past, present, future

Past, present and future all meet in Civic Center, the park at the heart of the city. To get a real feel for the park now, head to Civic Center Eats, the weekly marketplace that runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday in the summer. But stick around,…

Wake-Up Call: The joys of journalism

I’m at Northwestern for a writing conference that the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies hosts at the Medill J-school, which is also home to the Academy for Alternative Journalism, a summer program for budding journalists that AAN sponsors. Jared Jacang Maher, a Westword staff writer, is a veteran of this program,…

Coffee break at the Beauvallon

Life is lonely in the Beauvallon, where every restaurant and eatery has closed up shop — except for Aviano Coffee at 955 Lincoln Street. Nine75 is gone, Mr. Coco’s is gone, Aqua is gone. (Brandon’s, which closed at the end of June, has a sign up advertising its reopening on…

Wake-Up Call: Chamber plot

On Friday, Kelly Brough, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, was named the next head of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce — the winner in a horse race with Tom Clark, the chamber’s eco-devo head. On Saturday, I ran into Brough at a concert in Civic Center and asked…

A bucket of fun at Oceanaire Friday

The Denver Post has a story today about how to have a clambake in your back yard. Even easier: head to Oceanaire, in downtown’s back yard at 1400 Arapahoe Street, on Friday, August 14, when the restaurant will host “A Taste of Nantucket — in a Bucket!” The traditional New…

Emilio’s loses the Super Chef sign

Someone has been stealing letters from the marquee at Bastien’s — but Emilio’s, the Mexican joint at 338 East Colfax Avenue, lost an entire sign. Yes, the classic Super Chef sign (right) that belonged to the original diner on this corner, and was lovingly restored when Emilio’s took the space…

3014 opens in the former Senger’s

Senger’s on the Fax closed very quietly — and quickly — last month, with a sign on the door at 3014 East Colfax Avenue noting that it had been seized for nonpayment of taxes. But now the space is open again as 3014, under the ownership of Nick O’Sullivan, one…

231 Milwaukee back on the market…again

The space at 231 Milwaukee Street that most recently held Bar Luxe and Euro is empty again — except for all the ghosts. Over the last thirty years, this address has been home to everything from the Kiva (great green chile recipe) to the Bay Wolf to Vartan’s Jazz to…

Wake-Up Call: Republican candidates on parade

Politicians were out in force at the Arapahoe County Republicans fundraising roast of former congressman Tom Tancredo on Saturday. John Suthers, the only GOP member currently elected to a statewide office. Mike Coffman, who moved from a statewide office to fill Tancredo’s seat in the Sixth Congressional district. U.S. Senate…

Is it time for a real restaurant in Civic Center Park?

Do you think the old Carnegie Library, now known as the McNichols Building (144 West Colfax Avenue), would make a great restaurant? If so; you’re not alone; that’s one of the concepts that’s come up frequently for the circa 1909 building, which now houses city offices, as assorted committees and…

Lola gets back to the barrio tonight

Lola, at 1575 Boulder Street, rolled out its new brunch menu yesterday. The chicken and waffles plate is gone, but the award-winning chicken-fried steak is back, alongside peaches and cream pancakes, buffalo chimichanga, a lamb torta and sweet corn grits. And the weekend brunch menu isn’t the only change. Tonight…

Wake-Up Call: Tanks for the memories, Tancredo

You don’t need to work too hard to roast Tom Tancredo: The man roasts himself. Google the name of the former Sixth District congressman and your computer starts smoking, then spits out story after story, quote after quote, that prove truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A few of Tancredo’s…

Colfax, South Pearl host street festivals today

At 11 a.m. today, the first Local Flavor Fest kicks off on Colfax Avenue, right by the Lowenstein Complex that houses the Tattered Cover, Twist & Shout and Encore restaurant. The festival, which will run until 4 p.m., celebrates local businesses, and features a raffle, food booths, vendors, book-signings and…