The Sandwich Solution

At the bottom of this week’s Bite Me, I wrote about my troubles getting a decent hoagie out of Taste of Philly — specifically the one at 18121 East Hampden Avenue in Aurora, but I’ve had similar issues at other locations. Although every once in a while I’ll get a…

Veggie Girl: Il Vicino

Like Little Anita’s, Il Vicino is one of the few Albuquerque chains to survive the trip to Denver. But while Little Anita’s has never been a top-tier spot back home (though it has some of the best chile I’ve found here in Denver), Il Vicino has always been one of…

Our Weekly Bread: Mendelson’s Greenwich Village

The Sandwich: Greenwich Village What’s on it: Pastrami-seasoned turkey, Swiss cheese, coleslaw, lettuce, tomato and Russian dressing on rye Where to get it: Mendelson’s New York Delicatessen (600 17th Street, 303-996-5555) How much: $9.75 If sandwiches were movies, then Mendelson’s triple-deckers would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a…

Arugula’s big night in Boulder

Squeaking in just under the wire before one of the biggest dining nights of the year is Arugula, a very-very-Boulder restaurant that’s scheduled to throw wide the doors at 2785 Iris Avenue on February 13 — just 24 short hours before the big Valentine’s Day rush. That’s a helluva way…

The Stallings brothers handily revive the Berkeley Inn

For Jason and Devin Stallings, who opened DJ’s Berkeley Cafe in August 2006, one restaurant wasn’t enough. Maybe that’s because their first place was so ridiculously successful. Maybe it’s because of the brothers’ weird compulsion to work 24 hours a day (you can see what a job it was to…

Find what you’re looking for at DJ’s Berkeley Cafe

See more photos of DJ’s at westword.com/slideshow Laura and I are in bed, sheets pulled from the corners, blankets mussed and tangled. I can feel her, warm beside me, and from the sweet edge of exhausted sleep, I can hear her voice. “Dammit. Why didn’t we order a pizza first…”…

Step right up to M&M’s

M&M’s (2621½ Welton Street) ain’t the sort of place you just wander into for a drink. Not that it’s hidden from street view or entirely without signage — a small, circular Budweiser emblem juts out above the door. But these days, almost nobody wanders along Welton Street in Five Points…

Still tasty after all these years

DJ’s Berkeley Cafe (this week’s review) blows the current economic bell curve by being not just full, but overflowing at a time when most restaurant owners would strip naked and hang coupons from their ding-dongs just to get a few more people through the door. A five-page wait list for…

The birth of DJ’s Berkeley Cafe, documented!

Think you want to open a restaurant of your own? Well, before you get too excited, I suggest you check out djscafe.blogspot.com — a website that Jason Stallings put together to detail every phase of the construction at DJ’s Berkeley Cafe and all the nightmares that went along with it…

Developing: Ha Noi Pho no mo’

Bad news for you fans of serious Vietnamese food: Ha Noi Pho, my Best Taste of Hanoi, has been sold. This happened just yesterday, but already the joint is operating under another name: Can Tho Pho. At least according to the sign out front at 1036 South Federal. When I…

A picture’s worth 1,000 calories

This week’s Westword, on newsstands and at westword.com later today, is especially friendly to foodies. Along with the usual lineup of reviews and columns, this week’s cover story, by Sex, Death and Oysters author Robb Walsh, focuses on the world’s vanishing oyster supply. To tide you over until this afternoon,…

Taki’s leaves a legacy

Hisashi Takimoto, who owned Taki’s Healthy Japanese Food Restaurant, 341 East Colfax Avenue, died Monday at the age of 62 (read the Denver Post story here). Taki’s was an East Colfax landmark, and we have plenty of memories of the place, including one from just this week about Taki’s famous…

Oskar Blues opens new tasting room in Longmont

Oskar Blues will open its new tasting room, the Tasty Weasel, at 11 a.m. this Friday, February 13, inside its brewing and canning plant in Longmont. At 4 p.m., the Weasel will tap a firkin (roughly a quarter of a barrel) of something to celebrate the grand opening. In fact,…

Bars and breakfasts in the Berkeley neighborhood

We get a booth against the wall, where we drink tea and watch the neighborhood turn over on the floor; the clock rolling from breakfast rush into lunch. Almost everyone in the place seems to be a friend, a regular — making the Sunday morning or afternoon pilgrimage for eggs…

From rock to Riesling: Tool frontman on a different kind of tour

Maynard Keenan, famous for his loud lyrics with the legendary metal band Tool, is a man of varied tastes. And right now, he’s singing a different tune.Co-owner of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, Keenan and partner Eric Glomski are off on a wine-bottle signing tour. At Whole Foods. You can wipe the mascara out…

No beach, but at least Arvada has Restaurant Blu and C-Level

Since last May, Chef Bruce David Mcginty has been running an interesting operation out in Arvada. Restaurant Blu and C-Level are attached restaurants, located in a waterfront building overlooking Hidden Lake. Restaurant Blu is more of a fine-dining place, while C-Level bills itself as ‘Arvada’s only waterfront sports bar and grill.’…

Microbrewing history gets its own photo book

Way back – way, way back — before there was a microbrewery in every city, before the terms IPA and ESB entered the common lingo, before big, bold craft beers muscled their way onto liquor store shelves (before color photography, even), the pioneers of the microbrewery industry got their shaggy-looking…

Video: Drinking wine with Pete Marczyk of Marczyk Fine Foods

One of the best things about Marczyk Fine Foods, other than the fine foods, is that the shop, at 770 East 17th Avenue, has found a way around the out-dated Colorado blue law that keeps grocery stores from selling full-strength alcohol: the owners have simply opened a liquor store in an adjacent…

The List: Real Colorado Italian

This week’s review of Locanda del Borgo got me thinking about other spots in town where the view of Italy stops at the door — which exist wholly as Colorado restaurants that just happen to serve Italian food. What follows is a list of those places which most closely hew…

Plans for North Star’s replacement move ahead

While the abysmal economic climate has stalled many proposed restaurant plans, the new owners of 3200 Tejon Street are moving ahead with their project to put a steakhouse in the former home of North Star Brewery. Sean Kelly (pictured) has already signed on as the chef at the new venture,…