Everything I ate at dinner last night was astonishingly perfect, but the high-rise of pork belly and watermelon threatening to tumble into a pool of fragrant, sambal-spiked broth stole the show. I hadn’t even finished the first bite before I propped the plate on my lap, shuffled my chair off…
What do you get when you cross a framed Farrah Fawcett photo with Jesus candles and bottles of Jack, Knob Creek and Colorado’s own Stranahan’s? If you’re anything like those of us sitting at the bar where the above pic was snapped, there’s only one answer to that question: Drunk…
Harvest Week ends today. But should you feel inspired to try to recreate some of the dishes that Denver’s independent restaurants have been creating out of local ingredients, Strings, Noel Cunningham’s New American restaurant at 1700 Humboldt Street, has offered up chef Lance Barto’s recipe for Red Beet-Potato Gratin Ingredients:…
Our former Cafe Society intern just decided to chuck college in favor of a real education: as a sous chef. In Under Fire, he chronicles his daily trials and tribulations in the kitchen. What is a sous chef, anyway? The job can look like it’s one short step from the…
I blame pineapple. That’s really where it started to go wrong. Once you decide that fruit is a reasonable pizza topping (and no, Mr. Fun-Facts, tomatoes don’t count), it’s a short trip to a slice of tuna salad, brownie and lemongrass. So yes, America has adopted the pizza, and that…
Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, a Centennial fast-casual concept restaurant chain, opens its fifth store today in Park Meadows, at 8225 South Chester in Englewood. Created in 2007 by Alon Mor, Garbanzo’s serves pitas, shwarma, falafel hummus and other mixed Mediterranean specialties with a healthy (no trans fat, no preservatives) bent. Its…
“These are my peeps,” proclaimed Mayor John Hickenlooper, the geologist-turned-brewpub-owner-turned-politician. He gestured to the crowd of brewers and other beery folks who’d gathered at the Wynkoop Brewing Co., the brewpub that Hick and a hearty crew of entrepreneurs started in LoDo more than twenty years ago. The Mayor is no…
The Great American Beer Festival begins a week from today. If you want to be ready (and believe me, we are soooo ready), you’ll need to check in here every afternoon for some lowdown, some insight and some tips on how to do it right. Last year, I dissed on…
Denver is really reaping the benefits of Harvest Week. Chefs aren’t the only ones doing wonders with local produce; bartenders have gotten into the act, too. Last night I had the most glorious smoked Colorado bass with heirloom tomatoes, green chile goat cheese, pepitas and peach dressing at one of…
Normally gum wouldn’t be the first thing we’d grab for a review, but the fact that this one starts off as cotton candy certainly captured our attention. Droobles Best Blowing Gum is one of the Harry Potter products that began its life as a literary invention of J.K. Rowling and…
This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Paul Reilly, executive chef of Encore. You can read the first part of Midson’s interview with Reilly here. Culinary inspirations: My mom and my Aunt Sharon, both of whom were amazing cooks and really sparked my interest in cooking. As for…
The residents of Writer Square were ready last night with their petitions complaining about a proposed liquor-license change for the former Zaidy’s Deli Downtown, which morphed into Zaidy’s Fusion Grill this spring and was planning to transform itself again into Fusion Cantina, offering salsa dancing and live entertainment. But the…
While close to forty members of the Denver Independent Network of restaurants are rolling out menus offering locally sourced products through Friday, September 18 — the last day of Harvest Week — a few restaurants are also celebrating the state’s allegiance to the locavore movement with special dinners. At 6:30…
Vince Martinez of Maloney’s Tavern nabbed first place at the Hpnotiq bartender competition Tuesday night at Suite Two Hundred, beating out eight other local bartenders. Each had to create a drink that featured Hpnotiq, a liqueur made from a blend of vodka, cognac and tropical fruit juices. Martinez got top…
Bacaro Venetian Taverna already boasts a winning DeKuyper Mix Master bartender in Ken Kody. And now it has a new chef: Fabio Flagiello. Flagiello trained in Italy and France, and worked in restaurants in Los Angeles and San Francisco. During his time in L.A., he consulted with the film industry…
The Summit, a longtime steakhouse that knows how to sell the sizzle as well as the steak (it puts a pat of butter on the steak sizzling on a hot, hot platter) has redecorated and renamed the bar portion of its space at 2700 South Havana Street in Aurora. The…
The Colorado Mountain Winefest kicks off today and continues through Sunday, September 20, in Palisade. Head to the hills for workshops, competitions, grape stomps, tours, jazz concerts, artisan booths, a bicycle tour of the vineyards and much more. For more for information on the festival, and to see just how…
I smell fall. I know the temperature is still in and out of the ’80s, but it’s Harvest Week in Denver and the scent of roasting green chiles fills the air, so fall must be just around the corner. I can’t wait for the cool nights and those marvelous mornings…
I love the fact that my day goes by so fast,” says Craig Dixon, chef/manager at Cafe Options. That day starts plenty early: Dixon is at the fast-casual restaurant at 1650 Curtis Street by 6 a.m. every weekday, to unlock the doors and greet the customers who start coming in…
We weren’t really looking to do a second restaurant, but everything just kind of fell into place,” explains Bill Blake. Along with business partner Jason Parfenoff, he’s just signed a lease on the long-vacated Village Inn space at 222 Columbine Street, where he’ll open a second outpost of Toast, the…
Ever since I saw Grover waiting tables on Sesame Street, I knew I wanted to work in restaurants,” says Paul Reilly. And he didn’t waste much time following in Grover’s footsteps, considering that he got his first taste of restaurant life while washing dishes in a German joint at the…
In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been missing from both these virtual pages and the actual dead-tree pages of Westword for the past couple of weeks. And while I’m sure that some of you out there in Hotcakesland have rejoiced in thinking that finally someone over here came to his…
