Hanson’s has always been one of the easy ones — a restaurant I can’t help but like. It’s the sort of place you find one night when every other table in the neighborhood is booked, then return to whenever you have an open Friday night and no reservations. For families,…
I’d finished my last meal at Rioja — my last official meal, that is — and I couldn’t leave. My party and I were done, had been done for maybe twenty minutes already. We had to-go boxes sitting on our table, our jackets in our laps, credit cards and fistfuls…
Let me tell you something about chefs that doesn’t get a lot of play on the Food Network: They’re survivors. In their climb up the ladder from wherever they began to wherever they top out, they’ve probably stepped on a lot of necks, taken on a certain mercenary mindset and,…
I scream, you scream. Gelato and alcohol are two of my top-five foods, so I was thrilled when Gelazzi, a bar and gelato shop, opened in Larimer Square last November. The bright space, filled with modern Italian decor in vibrant colors, is delightful — almost as delightful as the Gelazzi…
From the thirteenth through the sixteenth century, the monarchs of England and Scotland held sway over their respective lands — but in the hill country between, the Border Reivers ruled. These tribal landlords shifted allegiances among a whirlwind of blackmail, robbery, kidnapping and murder. Perhaps cooler heads would have prevailed…
I’ve never quite known what it is about Mel’s that makes me feel so at home. More than any other spot in the city, Mel’s just feels like a restaurant — the kind of place where you know you’re going to be well cared for and well fed, then leave…
Indo-Hawaiian fusion. A French restaurant-slash-sushi bar that opens at nine o’clock at night and cooks through to the morning. I’ve heard a lot of bad ideas in my time, have seen a lot of suicidal business plans and even been involved in a couple (an Irish farmhouse restaurant in central…
Like Thomas Roberts of Frisco’s Deli and Market (see review), another fine-dining veteran is about to retreat into bistro cuisine. Manhattan Grill (231 Milwaukee Street), a venerable meat palace and Creeker watering hole, has been tottering lately — not helped at all by Elway’s opening and the overwhelming profusion of…
I’m not a pot smoker, but as I entered Dulcinea’s, I suddenly had an overwhelming urge to light up a fatty, tie-dye my clothing and start doing the Woodstock flower-child dance. As I deeply inhaled the hippie atmosphere, the guy next to me said, “I’ll be 25 in May, and…
Renewal is sweeping Cherry Creek, and I highly recommend that you check it out. Of course, you may not be able to do so, because the wait for valet parking clogs up traffic for a mile around. If you do actually make it to the corner of Second Avenue and…
For two decades, Racines was the meeting spot of first and last resort in Denver. Neighbors and power brokers, college kids and yuppies — it didn’t matter who you were or where you were coming from (or even what time you wanted to meet), there was always room for you…
When Jeremiah Tower (Mr. California Cuisine, chef at Stars and Chez Panisse, and author of the foodie confessional California Dish) was a young man, he ate everywhere. He traveled around the world — usually in style — and consumed. James Villas, food editor at Town and Country for something like…
After my secondhand trip to Lebanon (see review), I headed south of the border. Jack Martinez, owner of Jack-n-Grill (2524 Federal Boulevard) has some new menu items he’s very excited about, and when Martinez gets excited, I get excited. I love Jack-n-Grill; there’s no other place in town that does…
Fanta? Don’t you wanta? As a kid, I loved Fanta Orange soda. As an adult, though, I hadn’t found a compelling reason to seek it out — until the 9th Door, a new tapas bar and lounge, gave me fresh reason to Fanta-size. When the exceedingly knowledgeable and vivacious waitress…
Families are odd things. You grow up together, then once you develop judgment, you realize that you hate these people because they tortured you by running away while you were stuck on crutches and couldn’t catch them — when they were the parties responsible for putting you on crutches in…
“Nothing could be finer than dinner at the diner.” So goes the jingle at the Rocky Mountain Diner where, for the last fifteen years, the staff and crew have been working hard to take customers back to the golden age of diners. And you know what? For the most part,…
It’s one o’clock in the morning and I’m still eating crab. I’ve been eating crab since my wife went to bed more than an hour ago, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV, watching cartoons with the drifty stare of an acid casualty, surrounded by the wreckage…
t Kim Ba (see review), owner Ba Forde has served a very traditional version of her family’s native cuisine for almost two decades. For a time, her sister was doing much the same thing as one of the original partners at T-Wa Inn (555 South Federal Boulevard). But T-Wa has…
New Zealand is on a roll: Lord of the Rings, sauvignon blanc, kiwi fruit, Russell Crowe and Xena (not in that order), as well as the cleanest air and water in the world. And now those clever Kiwis have used that water to create a new, super-premium vodka: 42 Below…
Nobody likes to admit defeat — especially not a member of the Institute of Drinking Studies. We pride ourselves on being able to enjoy any bar, no matter if it suffers from watered-down drinks, pea-soup-thick smoke, snobby patrons or slow service. Our antics are usually enough to guarantee our happiness,…
Make no mistake: Devil’s Food Bakery is a dangerous place, a place firmly dedicated to helping those with a weakness for the venal wrongs of gluttony to pave their way to hell with pastry. With real lemon curd, with Devonshire cream, fondant, butter cream and mousse. With profiteroles with handmade…
Two, please. For dinner. If it’s okay, we’ll just sit at the bar.” Twice before, I’ve eaten at Frasca, drunk at Frasca, allowed myself to be folded into the perfect ballet of service at Frasca, dining once alone, once with my wife. Neither time have I made it to a…
