During a summer spent studying art history in Florence, I learned to enjoy the Italian lifestyle — long, languid evenings full of rich food, wonderful Chianti poured straight from huge glass jugs, lively conversation with new friends. If you’re seeking such an experience stateside, head straight for a lustful Passione…
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth it to go on vacation. I just got back from a storybook week at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun with my girlfriend. For a week we did nothing (much) more than sit on the beach or poolside, enjoying adult beverages and eating amazing…
At the diners I frequent on deadline day, the waitresses know what I do for a living and don’t hold it against me. They see me hunched up in the corner going longhand through these discursions on food and love and triumph and disappointment, dog-earing menus, smoking too much and…
Having Racines close by was the best sort of convenience. And I mean the old Racines, the one at Ninth Avenue and Bannock Street on whose grave a retail/condo complex is being built. It was a neighborhood bar that always seemed to be part of the neighborhood no matter where…
Sometimes, change is good. At Barry’s On Broadway, which just took over the former home of the Skylark Lounge, neighborhood regulars are already rubbing elbows with hipsters — and everyone’s drinking a Like Elisha ($4.75). Named for the Blake Street Tavern bartender who created the concoction, this smooth shot mixes…
Sometimes a new venue will throw old colleagues into the kind of mood where something different, wonderful and disturbing happens. I thoroughly blame Shannon, one of the girls at the office, for suggesting that we visit The Elm (5001 East Colfax Avenue, 303-336-5763). For me and the Head of Research…
If I lived in New Orleans, I’d be fat as a bastard. Old-Southern-colonel fat, in a Borsalino damp around the hatband from sweating in the Delta sun, a white linen jacket with the pockets full of boiled crawfish, and étouffée-stained pants with steel-belted suspenders to keep them up. Every time…
It’s been a rough year for the food business. The economy’s still in the tank, and yet more and more restaurants are opening, creating more and more seats for diners willing to spend less and less. If I were a pessimist, I’d call it an inescapable spiral. But at heart…
If Jess Graber has his way, someday he’ll be the Jack Daniel of Colorado. “These,” he says, pointing to two 52-gallon oak barrels at his feet, “are the first two legal barrels of whiskey ever made in the state of Colorado.” They’re also the first barrels of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey,…
I usually dislike a bar that limits my alcohol consumption. But even I have to admit that, for drinkers like myself who may suffer serious self-control issues after a few cocktails, the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant’s “Limit 3” margarita policy really does have our best interests at heart. The Cuervo…
After a long hiatus at the Larry Hagman and David Crosby Memorial Cabana for the Liver Impaired, Dr. Etiquette has returned to his top position at the Institute of Drinking Studies. His first area of research: Stampede (2430 South Havana Street in Aurora). Q: Why? Dr. Etiquette: Two reasons. First,…
Three months. For most critics, that’s the amount of time that must pass before a brand-new restaurant is considered fair game for a review. Ostensibly, three months should be long enough for a place to survive its opening jitters, find a true tone and voice, and get a good set…
Dean was the son of a wino, one of the most tottering bums on Larimer Street, and Dean had in fact been brought up generally on Larimer Street and thereabouts. He used to plead in court at the age of six to have his father set free. He used to…
While numerous nightclubs have sprung up in Denver over the past year, many have already dried up and blown away. But not Lotus: The Union Station discotheque is in full bloom. Brought to us by the owners of the swank Mynt True Lounge and Blue 67, this 10,000-square-foot club combines…
One recent Thursday at Hemingway’s Key West Grille (1052 South Gaylord Street), we found ourselves spinning back into the Vortex. I don’t know whether the patio out back was infused with a particularly virulent type of spring fever or we were simply inspired by the legendary drinking abilities of the…
This was one of those weekends when too much introspection and too many bad memories had turned me sour, when anything could trigger an avalanche of old junk down in my subconscious basement, raising dust and making my head hurt. Some ill-timed souvlaki, a lack of sleep and the smell…
A study released last week by the big brains at the Brookhaven National Laboratory has finally proven something I’ve known all along: Bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches are addictive. Like cigarettes, heroin and reruns of the original Star Trek, certain foods — cinnamon buns, for example, fried chicken, ribs and…
This Saturday is my favorite holiday: Kentucky Derby Day. In keeping with a tradition set forth long ago by my grandmother, I’m decorating a big hat with lots of ribbon and flowers, mixing up a batch of strong mint juleps and hosting a garden party. Then, once the winning Derby…
There are many time-honored traditions that guys hold dear. Super Bowl parties, spring break, annual hunting or fishing trips, golf outings, bachelor parties. Especially bachelor parties. We’re a sentimental bunch and feel very deeply that every guy deserves to be sent off into marriage after a night of such debauchery…
I have yet to become acclimated to the vastness of the American West. It’s been almost five years since I left New York (the state), longer since I spent any significant amount of time in New York (the city), and still, my internal cartography remains keyed to East Coast measures…
Welcome to the first round of what will soon be America’s all-time favorite question-and-answer game: Ask the Critic. The mailroom here at Bite Me HQ is always deluged with questions about the Denver dining scene and food in general. And while my faithful research staff does its level best to…
John Jewsbury’s list of America’s best corned-beef cities is short: New York, Chicago, Denver. What? “When I first started here,” Jewsbury says, “people always said, ‘Ah, you can’t get good corned beef in Denver.’ I’ve had to prove them wrong.” A Missouri native with a family background in beef and…
