Read between the lines: The rationale behind the city’s vote for the next One Book, One Denver selection became clear yesterday, when the Department of Cultural Affairs revealed that the city had received a $20,000 Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. That NEA program is designed…
Dick Kreck is sitting beside the shrine to Frank Sinatra in Gaetano’s, the restaurant at 3760 Tejon Street that the Smaldone family ran for almost sixty years, from 1947 until the Wynkoop Family of Restaurants bought the joint in 2005. The restaurant wasn’t the Smaldones’ only business venture, of course…
Hollie Burr has rolled back into Cherry Creek, this time with two food carts. Yes, she has Colorado Gourmet Hot Dogs, which was a hit last year with its grilled chicken breasts and gourmet dogs: the Italian stallion (sausage with pizza sauce and melted cheese), the Chicago (with all the…
I’m about to head to Denver International Airport, which is suddenly in the shadows. Not because of the storm cloud that dumped a record amount of rain on DIA last evening — but because Republic Airways’ $109 million bid to buy Frontier out of bankruptcy could mean that Denver will…
Phil’s Place, a watering hole at 3463 Larimer Street, was the unlikely setting Sunday for a book-signing event by Dick Kreck, the former Denver Post scribe who’s the author of Smaldone: The Untold Story of an American Crime Family. After all, for close to sixty years the Smaldones ran Gaetano’s,…
Get in line, suckers. Clear, the private program that let pre-registered (and pre-paid, at $199 a year) customers use special fast lanes to get through airport security once their iris scans were on file, has closed down, its parent company “unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to…
After twelve years, Dixons Downtown Grill, at 1610 16th Street, is finally introducing a happy hour. And it’s really making up for lost time. The happy hour, which starts today, will run from 3 to 6 p.m. seven days a week, and feature cocktail specials ($3 Ketel One John Daly…
For the past five years, the Third Way Center benefited from a major wine-tasting/fundraiser wine-tasting fundraiser in LoDo. But the event, scheduled for tonight, “was cancelled rather abruptly a week ago by the host/venue, leaving Third Way Center high and dry,” according to Tami Lack, Third Way’s director of administration…
Independence Institute chief John Caldara lost the battle of the sexes shoot-off at the organization’s annual ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms — but not in that order) event at the Kiowa Shooting Club on Saturday, but he’s still a master at shooting from the lip. “I always aim for the…
The Denver Zoo hosted its twentieth annual Do at the Zoo last night, and Denver’s party animals were out in force, sampling tidbits from dozens of restaurants and getting wild! See for yourself on our slideshow…
Could be a fight to the finish to see which storefront pizza joint opens first: Denver Pizza Company — whose owner, Mark Huebner, can focus on finishing his Golden Triangle spot now that he’s been booted off The Bachelorette — or Mary Jane’s Pizza. Mary Jane’s is located at 2013…
Show your appreciation for your dad on Father’s Day — without spending a cent. Take him to a LaMar’s Donuts outlet on Sunday, June 21, when any father will be given a free glazed or cake donut…
We’ve spent a lot more time looking at the home of the new Denver Pizza Company — a few blocks away from the Westword office at 309 West 11th Avenue — than we have watching The Bachelorette, even though one of the swains vying for Jillian Harris was from Denver:…
Governor Bill Ritter took a break from his budget-busting business last week to pop by the Paramount Theater, where he presented Loretta Lynn with a plaque commemorating her induction into the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame. The Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame? Yeah, I hadn’t heard of it,…
For decades, Denver could boast the largest Juneteenth festival in the country, an annual commemoration of the day that slaves in Texas finally learned they’d been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation — celebrated in Five Points, the heart of the city’s African-American community. But over the years, Juneteenth in Denver…
Gallagher’s held down the corner of 15th and Arapahoe for a decade. But one day last fall, the steakhouse pulled the franchise, and building owner Bruce Rahmani replaced Gallagher’s with the locally operated (by J.G. “Lupe” Gonzales) 5280 Steak House, which quickly changed its name to Hickory Prime Steak House…
At last night’s “Celebrate Alaska” seafood dinner at Oceanaire, winner of the Best Seafood Restaurant in the Best of Denver 2009, we were stumped by the statement that Alaska ranks second-highest of all fifty states for production of seafood. What state could possibly rank higher? We googled as we swilled…
Back East for a conference, Mayor John Hickenlooper popped up to Canada, where his cousin, George Hickenlooper, is filming Casino Jack, a movie based on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff that stars Kevin Spacey. John Hickenlooper was the inevitable star of another George Hickenlooper project, Hick Town, a sweet and savvy…
Get a taste of history when the Original Snoball Shack parks outside the Black American West Museum at 3091 California Street from11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The New Orleans-based franchise will be serving up a hundred flavors from its Snoball tent, and all for the…
The recent rains have greened up — and cleaned up — Civic Center Park, which was looking good for today’s first installment of Civic Center Eats, the weekly market and cafe that’s moved to mid-day Tuesday this year. The lineup of booths should increase through the summer, but already includes…
Here’s one for the books: 3 Sons is back in business, and even beat the June 20 opening date promised last week on its web site. In fact, it’s serving as of today in its new location at 14805 West 64th Avenue in Arvada…
Barack Obama loves Five Guys, the 400-outlet burger chain that got its start in D.C.; Jason Sheehan wasn’t such a big fan when he did a taste test of Aurora’s Five Guys and the Counter down in Park Meadows. Sheehan was such a not-big fan that he returned to Five…
