Michael Asberry, RIP

Back in February 2007, after the murder of Darrent Williams had Denver on edge about gangs, Michael Asberry told Luke Turf how tough it was to get out of the gang life for this story. And Asberry knew all about gang life: He’d started the Crips here back when he…

The SAME, But Different

Last week, while writing about the resurrection of Pizzeria Mundo (right), I mentioned that new owner Patrick Pool was trying to be nice to the planet and his fellow man by using as much local, organic produce as he could. Since he was heavily involved in Denver Urban Gardens, he…

Can Do!

Here it is, just off the line and popping fresh. New Belgium Brewing started canning Fat Tire Amber Ale today. By mid-June, the cans should be available in limited markets, including Denver stores. “We are looking forward to introducing our old friend, Fat Tire, in a brand new package,” says…

The Lunch Bunch

The Cherry Creek neighborhood went into mourning when Greg Goldfogel closed Amore last year. (The space it once occupied across from Little Ollie’s s slated to become a Hudson’s steakhouse.) But Goldfogel gave Denver a real consolation prize with Alto Restaurant, the spot he opened in the former home of…

Give Them a Hand

My father used to smoke a pipe. For decades, the man was rarely without it, and he seemed to be forever packing and unpacking it, tamping it, lighting it, re-lighting it or just generally fussing with it. I came to know the sounds of his pipe-smoking as a kind of…

Last Call

Pass the lutefisk! Do those Minnesotans know how to party, or what? Last week, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that will let local municipalities push back closing time from 2 a.m. until 4 a.m. at bars across the seven-county Twin Cities area — but just from August 31…

Fuel for Love

The face of the River North neighborhood changes almost daily. Last week, the old Denargo Market — the warehouses where famers unloaded produce for decades, and where Jack Kerouac did some heavy lifting sixty years ago — came down, changing the view to the west from the Broadway/Brighton Boulevard viaduct…

Gone, Not Forgotten

It was almost two years ago that the parents of Jennifer Marcum posted a billboard by Shotgun Willie’s, offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who could tell them the whereabouts of their daughter, who’d been working as a stripper at Shotgun Willie’s before she disappeared. The last her parents knew,…

A Matter of Course

The concept behind the Colfax Marathon seemed like a can’t-miss proposition. After all, Colfax Avenue — America’s longest main street — runs exactly the length of a marathon, and passes through some very colorful parts of three towns. But what worked conceptually didn’t work in reality, according to race organizers,…

Last Call for Goodfriends

When Goodfriends closes at the end of service on Saturday, May 17 (or, more likely, early on the morning of May 18), it will close for good. With it will go a lot of memories — since the restaurant/watering hole at 3100 East Colfax Avenue has been open almost thirty…

Denver Daisy, Day One

It used to be that Mother’s Day was considered the safe day to plant in Denver. But after those May 13 snow showers, experts revised their estimate, emphasizing that the real first day to safely plant gardens in this town is May 15. So yesterday, I planted my Rudbeckia, the…

Sally Perisho Puts Together a Great Show

A few years ago, Sally Perisho was in the driver’s seat at the Center for Visual Art, and in that role was one of the city’s chief movers-and-shakers when it came to art. But since she was forced out of her choice gig by a bureaucrat in Metro State’s administration…

Good Taste

Gagging over an ill-advised (and expensive) Colorado tourism campaign that invited visitors to taste our misspelled and out-of-date cuisine, last month I invited readers to send their responses to this question: “What does Colorado Taste Like to You?” And although we’re still accepting entries (you can submit one simply by…

Room to Grow

The arts have firmly taken root in River North, the town’s old warehouse district along the Platte, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, you can see just how deep they go when you Plant Yourself at RiNo. The town’s hippest arts district (winner of a 2008 MasterMind award)…

Get a Cue

Table Steaks East, the club at 3523 South Parker Road in Aurora that recently changed its name to Mile Nine, is in the process of changing from a pool hall into a live entertainment venue with a sports lounge, stage and a 3,000 square-foot patio that sports a waterfall, Ping…

The Mormon Chronicles

Lee Steed, a senior aide to Mormon polygamist leader Warren S. Jeffs, has purchased $2 million worth of property in five spots in the Sangre De Cristo mountains for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to Hatewatch, the online publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center…

The Long Way Down: Clinton Trounces Obama

With hindsight being 20/20, the minute after Barack Obama finished his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Hillary Clinton should have been on the phone to party leaders in West Virginia, setting the wheels in motion to allow the state to move its primary up in…

A Stink and a Smile

Mark Schlereth isn’t a green chile expert. He doesn’t know how to make it, he doesn’t have any favorite places around Denver that make it, and he certainly wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Colorado-style chile and New Mexico-style. Until recently, he admits, “I’d never had green chile…

Almost Famous: Denver’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

I recently got an e-mail from Page Productions, a Minneapolis company that produces the show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: “We are researching the Denver area for our Food Network show which will be filming 6 or 7 different establishments in Colorado in a couple of months. I keep stumbling across…

The Last Gasp

This afternoon, the office of Congresswoman Diana DeGette, vice-chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent out a release noting that she was supporting legislation to suspend the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through the end of the year, which the House will vote on tonight: “Congress is…

A Really Raw Deal

Talk about a raw deal! According to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the former owners of Osaka Sushi have been charged with human trafficking — because they allegedly made two South Korean immigrants work there for no pay, threatening them with deportation if they complained. Here’s the press release from…

Cabin Fever

Beatrice & Woodsley, the new restaurant opening Wednesday, May 14, at 38 South Broadway, has quite a story behind it. That’s because it’s brought to us by the folks behind Two-Fisted Mario’s and Mario’s Double Daughters Salotto, which was named for a pair of conjoined twins. “We do a lot…