Photos: Top-secret Silver Spork Social pop-up dinner

After a decade away — eight in New York running the student travel company, Walking Tree Travel, that he’d founded with two fellow East High alums, then another two running the company from on the road — Paul Laurie returned to Denver last September. While he continues to serve as…

Parks and Rec pulls the plug on City Loop for City Park

Our December 19 cover story, “In Mayor Hancock’s World-Class City, Everyone Matters — Except Park Lovers” — focused on three hot issues at the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation: the CityWide program, that fields recreational sports leagues, some of which compete for both people and space with independent programs;…

Ari Kelman’s book on Sand Creek Massacre site wins Bancroft Prize

On Monday, Governor John Hickenlooper announced the creation of the Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration Commission, designed to further understanding of that dark chapter in Colorado history as the 50th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre approaches on November 29, 1964. And that process just got a big boost when Columbia…

Reader: We want to live in Denver, not US Homesville

Last winter, Peter Ryan, former executive chef/instructor at Cook Street School of Culinary Arts, inked a deal on an out-of-the-way space in North City Park that he felt was just right for the neighborhood eatery he dreamed of opening — in what happened to be his own neighborhood, just west…

Reader: A burger is a burger is a burger

Is it time for the “fancy burger trend to call it quits”? That’s what Eric Cimino, chef at Luca d’Italia, suggests in this week’s Chef and Tell interview. And nothing gets the meaty juices flowing like a big burger battle. “Not if it’s delicious!” says Phillip. “I’m over it,” says…

Reader: Bento boxes remind me of elementary-school cuisine

An “inspiration trip” to Japan last fall inspired Daniel Asher, the culinary director of Linger and Root Down, to bring back the bento box. “In Japan, the bento is a way of expressing a multi-course meal experience in a moment, and here, it’s our way of wrapping all of those…

Reader: Gretchen Kurtz’s stuffed-dough list needs to get stuffed

While the buffalo empanadellas at Bocadillo needed more pop in both the filling and the sauce, the special got Gretchen Kurtz thinking about other stuffed dough dishes she’s loved in Denver. On Wednesday, she served up five of her favorites, including the agnolotti at DiFranco’s. See also: Five favorite stuffed…