Denny Kang thinks that size matters. “I don’t know why people in this area are so stingy with their fish,” says Kang, the owner of Fujiyama Grill & Sushi. “The pieces are much smaller here than you would get at a sushi bar in Japan, and they cost much more…
And the answer is: “As a food writer, you have that semi-precarious position of exposing your Absolute Favorite of All Time eatery to a wide audience, thereby making it ‘discovered,’ to the point at which it will be crammed, and you’ll have a tough time getting a table after dying…
It’s lunchtime at Fourmile, one of the state prisons in the Cañon City complex. We’re in a small room, at a table set with plastic cutlery and paper napkins. On one wall hangs a row of white chefs’ hats and jackets; against another there’s a table holding a watermelon carved…
Q: My girlfriend is Slovakian, and she wants to turn me on to Eastern European foods. Are there any local markets that have a good selection? A:I recently rediscovered the European Mart (5225 Leetsdale Drive, 303-321-7144), a small but packed-to-overflowing market offering such specialties as ajvar, a bittersweet spread made…
What color is green chile supposed to be? In the average Mexican restaurant in Denver, the answer would seem to be reddish or orange, maybe even an orange-greenish hue tending toward gray. Some bowls of green chile contain enough jalapeños to speckle them a vivid emerald, no matter the base…
Dining at Mile High Stadium was no picnic — if the hot dogs didn’t getcha, the bad sauerkraut would. But with its brand-spanking-new facilities, Invesco Field at Mile High, which opens this weekend, would seem to be in a perfect position to score with food fans by contracting with thirteen…
Q: A group of us from the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation will be coming through Denver in August en route to the jazz festival in Vail. We’re looking for some ‘real’ places to eat (not yuppie stuff). Where should we go for barbecue, burgers, steak? A:It’s always a good idea…
The sandwich board standing beside Brighton Boulevard, in one of the more, um, interesting parts of town, carried an irresistible message: The hand-lettered words “Billy Bob’s Big Ass Burgers” and an arrow pointing to the right. We turned, of course, swerving the minivan behind a Conoco station and pulling into…
In addition to Big Ass Burgers, Billy Bob’s Riverside Saloon offers a big-ass happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. on Fridays, when domestic beers are $1.50 each and, as one employee puts it, “anything goes.” Owner John O’Brien tries to surprise his bar’s clientele with an outrageous spread of…
Japanese rice-bowl joints are supposed to be fast, cheap and nutritious. If they were just fast and cheap, they’d be McDonald’s. If they were just fast and nutritious, they’d be Juice Stops. And if they were just cheap and nutritious, they’d be U-Pick berry farms. You get the picture: Remove…
I’ll drink to that: Surely it was just coincidence that the Pepsi Center and Los Troncos (730 East Sixth Avenue) both found themselves in danger of losing their liquor licenses — but it certainly was convenient for the budget-priced Los Troncos that the high-priced Pepsi Center’s liquor vendor, Levy Premium…
Q: I’m tired of not being able to get into the more popular sushi places like Sushi Den and Sushi Tazu. What else has an upscale atmosphere and great sushi? A:It’s true that Sushi Den (1487 South Pearl Street, 303-777-0826) and Sushi Tazu (300 Fillmore Street, 303-320-1672) are packed tighter…
When the woman in the little black dress spit a mouthful of Champagne at her date, everyone in Citrus Champagne and Vodka Lounge tensed up. Was she now going to slap him across the face? Throw her glass across the room? Shoot him and drop the gun on her way…
When Bella Ristorante opened at 1920 Market Street back in 1995, the Italian eatery was one of the most ambitious locally owned restaurants to venture into the Ballpark Neighborhood. The concept took off — in fact, Bella opened a southeast outpost (now located at 8770 East Arapahoe Road in Englewood)…
Q: I’m getting married in the fall. Who do you think makes the best wedding cakes? A:I haven’t been invited to enough weddings to have tested every wedding-cake bakery in town, but I did get to swoon over two incredible cakes recently. One was from Le Delice (250 Steele Street,…
A cowboy walked into the bar and ordered a Bud. “Sorry, we don’t have Bud,” the bartender said. “Well, what do you have?” the cowboy asked, adjusting his hat and hitching one Wrangler-clad leg up on the stool. The bartender threw out a few microbrew names, none of which seemed…
After 41 years as a Japanese restaurant, Akebono (1255 19th Street) is turning Chinese, I really think so. Fred Aoki, who was born in California, was one of the first people to lease space in Sakura Square when it was built in 1960. Back before WWII, Aoki’s parents sent him…
Q: What’s a locally owned Mexican restaurant not far from the center of town with a nice atmosphere and terrific food? A: One of my favorite Mexican eateries is La Loma (2527 West 26th Avenue, 303-433-8300), a nearly thirty-year-old institution that serves some of the town’s best green chile and…
While waiting for our food to arrive at Tom’s Diner, we gaze out the window and watch two drug deals, one hooker pickup and a drunk depositing the contents of his stomach on the sidewalk. And our food arrives fast. “Oooh, sorry about that,” the server says as she spots…
The Tom-Tom club: Tom’s Diner isn’t the only place in town named after a true Tom cat. For almost three years now, Tom Unterwagner has been cooking up a storm at Tom’s Home Cookin’, a Southern-inspired takeout joint at 3403 Holly Street. But that location is now closed, and on…
Q: Where can you get a decent hot dog in this town, preferably one that isn’t some fancy upscale thing that costs five bucks? A: No yuppie pups at Chicago (8590 West Colfax Avenue, Lakewood, 303-233-0500), where two bucks buys a big, fat Vienna beef with the works, including tomatoes,…
Diners who see their plates as half empty rarely venture into a hole-in-the-wall eatery to discover what it might offer. Those of us with a more optimistic bent, however, regard every tiny, off-the-beaten-track spot as a potential pearl. One such lucky find: Moongate Asian Grill, a very small (six tables)…
