Cooking tips from Mr. James Carville

First you get yourself a real big pork tenderloin… Want to read some unfortunate phrasing? Check out this teaser from the website of the Aurora Economic Development Council, which is hosting an event tonight called A-List 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Denver: A-List 2008 is the most highly anticipated event…

Bagali’s Italian Kitchen opens in Broomfield

Fans would apparently give the shirt off their backs to visit Bagali’s in Vail. The chain gang will be getting some competition in Broomfield. After a private event tonight, Bagali’s Italian Kitchen will open to the public tomorrow at 570 Zang Street. “We just saw this spot, it’s among a…

What’s shaking? The Finlandia Vodka Cup!

Calling all bar chefs! Finlandia is looking for Denver’s best bartenders to compete in the eleventh annual Finlandia Vodka Cup regionals at Martinia Ranch on October 20. This is a fabulous opportunity to show your creativity, as the contest emphasizes crafting delicious, original cocktails, not just bartending skills. I judged…

Save Jason Sheehan’s booth at Nine75

Nine75 is slated to reopen on Friday, October 10, under its new owner, the Jet Entertainment Group. There are lots of questions involved in this deal — for example, will suppliers who’d cut off former owner Jim Sullivan return to Nine75? Will those outstanding bills be paid? How many of…

Santa Fe Tequila Company takes a shot at Littleton

The original Santa Fe Tequila Company on Santa Fe Drive. Santa Fe Tequila Company has gotten mixed reviews (including mine) since it opened on Santa Fe Drive (technically at 901 West Tenth Avenue) last November, but that hasn’t prevented the concept from expanding to Littleton. A second Santa Fe Tequila…

Whole Foods “Secret Ingredient” is satisfying food porn

Hungry for some non-offensive food porn? Check out the Whole Foods Market Secret Ingredient videos blog . The varying hosts take ingredients — a different one is highlighted each week — from Whole Foods and then create healthy, simple meals, including Spicy-Coconut Braised Black Cod, Lakeside Turkey Burgers and Grilled…

Aqua is outta here

Jay Chadrom hasn’t been able to settle a dispute with his landlord at the Beauvallon — but he did managed to settle something else: He just closed Aqua, his raw bar and kitchen-free restaurant at 925 Lincoln, and reports that he’s “very busy removing everything.” But some of the things…

I drink, therefore I am…confused

With the Great American Beer Festival opening the taps tomorrow, the time is right to clear up some lexiconic confusion we’re having with Drunk of the Week columnist Drew Bixby. Says he: “Shitcanned is just one of many adjectives I use for drunk.” Says we: “Shitcanned” means cut off –…

More of the same at SAME

The idea sounded too good to be true. But after less than two years in business, SAME Café — the philanthropic restaurant based on the simple yet revolutionary idea that everyone deserves a healthy, fresh, organic meal at whatever price they can afford– is expanding. The name of the place…

What’s in a name? The chance to catch a killer

FOVAMP’s billboard for Jennifer. This past Saturday, at the annual meeting of the non-profit group Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons (FOHVAMP), I heard a true crime tale that involved one of Westword’s own. A serial killer was uncovered because of a phone call made by Luke Turf, back…

Obama mural a sign of the times — and the L.A. Times

Art or nuisance? You be the judge. The Obama mural on an alley fence behind a house at 303 Galapago Street has a new fan: the Los Angeles Times. Taking off from my column of last week, Times reporter Nicholas Riccardi describes how sixteen-year-old Paul Trujillo and two friends were…

A dinner to relish at Relish

Matt Fackler took his inspiration for Relish from Colorado. Lemon braised artichoke with roasted garlic herb butter. Venison carpaccio with Humboldt Fog blue cheese, organic olive oil and black pepper. Chicken fingers (for lack of a better term), smoked and fried and served with summer sweet corn and blue crab…

New life at Nine75

It’s quickly becoming the story that never ends. After the surprise announcement on September 29 that Jim Sullivan was closing both Nine75 (975 Lincoln Street) and Ocean (201 Columbine Street) — the last two properties remaining in the Sullivan Restaurant Group—and all the fallout that came from staff suddenly left…

A landmark day for Landmark when Comedy Works South opens

There have been lots of problems at the Landmark project in Greenwood Village — prices up, tenants out. (At one point, Sparrow was going to not only open a second restaurant in the development, but a market — but then the restaurant on Seventh Avenue closed, and Sparrow Market Cafe…

The Chili Cook Off is one hot competition

Photos by Nancy Levine. See more after the jump. I am a creature of habit, and there are a few events I look forward to every fall. I’ve attended Oktoberfest since I was old enough to drive, although I’m still confused as to why it’s in September. And no sooner…

We’re ready to fall for the Fainting Goat

We’ve learned a lot about fainting goats — also known as stiff-legged goats and nervous goats, goats whose propensity for falling down have earned them their own international society — since we heard that an outfit called The Fainting Goat has applied for a liquor license at 846 Broadway, just…

Last suspect apprehended in 2004 rape of twelve-year-old girl

Domingo Lopez-Avaloy. In August of 2004, a twelve-year-old girl was assaulted by four men in the Heatherwood Apartments in Aurora. She told police that hands came from all directions, tearing her clothes off, touching her breasts, putting fingers inside her, raping her. The officers found the girl’s Superman underpants in…

Fit to be fried! An interview with Steve Lerach

Steve Lerach wrote Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants as his thesis as he prepared to become a culinary instructor in Minnesota. Because of its academic orientation, the book includes historical accounts of cooking intertwined with Lerach’s own experiences in the kitchen over the decades – and even a few…

Sorry, really wrong number

Ringy-dingy. Several times a day, I’ll answer my direct line at the office, only to be told that the nonexistent warrantee on my vehicle is about to expire and I should press “1” if I want to extend it. At least once a day, I’ll answer my direct line at…

Sparrow Market flies the coop

The Landmark project in Greenwood Village will get a big boost this week, when Comedy Works South finally opens. But what was supposed to be one of the development’s big tenants was grounded long ago: Sparrow was once going to open not just a second restaurant that played off the…

Lucero’s: All in the familia

October is National Chili Month! But here in Denver, the only chili that matters is spelled with an “e,” and features those hot, hot peppers now being roasted up and down Federal Boulevard. So all this month, chile fans will be weighing in on their favorites around town. Green chile…

Red Robin keeps bobbing along

While other chains are pulling back, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers just keeps growing. This morning, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers — which got its start outside the University of Washington in the ’40s, but moved its national headquarters to Greenwood Village in 1996 — is opening its 22nd Colorado restaurant at…