Q: I would like to know of any good Polish restaurants around Denver. A: If you’re willing to take a drive, Villa Tatra in Pinewood Springs (between Lyons and Estes Park on Highway 36, 303-823-6819) is the most authentic Polish restaurant in the state. A Polish architect designed the building,…
Dressed in a too-tight denim mini-skirt with nothing on her legs but little white bobby socks, the waitress bounded over to a nearby booth to make her announcement. “The nice lady who was sitting over there says Grandma bought your breakfast,” she proclaimed with a big grin on her face,…
The more downtown changes, the more the Rocky Mountain Diner remains the same. The Diner marks its tenth anniversary this month, so it can rightfully claim that it hit downtown long before the boom did. Office workers whose employers fled their 17th Street digs years ago, because of high rents…
If McCoys Restaurant stood alongside Route 66, its French toast would no doubt have been included in The Route 66 Cookbook: Comfort Food From the Mother Road Deluxe 75th Anniversary Edition, by Marian Clark (Council Oak, $24.95). This ode to the legendary 2,400-mile highway is packed with photos, recipes (mac…
James Mazzio is racing toward chef stardom with dizzying speed. He had presided for less than a year over his first kitchen — Boulder’s Fifteen Degrees — when Food and Wine magazine named him one of the ten best young chefs of 1999. His subsequent appearance on the Food Network…
Q:You said Morton’s of Chicago has great steaks, but not the greatest steaks you’ve tasted. What do you consider Denver’s best steakhouse? A:Denver’s first Morton’s, which moved from the Tivoli to 1710 Wynkoop Street in 1995, was my favorite steakhouse for many years. Although the staff was often snooty, especially…
A forty-something woman was staring at a case full of frozen seafood, muttering aloud to herself. “Oh, my God, those are gyoza!” she finally exclaimed and then turned around, wildly searching for her shopping companion. “Did you see these?” she asked, dragging him over to the display and nearly shoving…
Between nine straight hours of slogging through the outlet stores and several more writing Christmas cards, the holidays always cry out for us to find time to get away from it all and pamper ourselves. For that, I turn to the Old Stone Church in Castle Rock. Still looking like…
Instead of shelling out the big bucks for scones at Whole Foods Market (see review), check out the ones at Full Measures Bakery, 1730 East 17th Avenue. Owner John Stamper — with a little help from friends Michael Clark and Karen Leufvenius — makes ’em fresh every morning, right there…
Q:I’m planning a wedding reception for next year, and I’m looking for a good but not overly expensive caterer. I have heard that Bistro Boys and Lifestyles catering are both good, but I would like to know your professional opinion. A:It’s much harder to review caterers than restaurants because I…
Ever since Molly Brown returned to Denver after her dunk in the Atlantic, diners here have complained about this city’s lack of decent seafood restaurants. For a long time, the blame lay with Denver’s landlocked location — but that obstacle was removed a generation ago, with the advent of improved…
A few doors down from Del Mar Crab House (see review this issue), folks at The Market (1145 Larimer Street) are mourning the sudden loss of Gary Greenberg, who ran the LoDo institution with his brother, Mark Greenberg, and died two weeks ago from brain cancer at age 52. Mark…
The last Boulder County Farmers’ Market of the year takes place on a bright fall Saturday that has somehow slipped its way into a damp, murky week. At this late date, the market, recently named one of the best in the West by a national magazine, is a shadow of…
Q:I went to Caldonia’s recently just for their fried chicken, and they’ve quit serving it. Any other suggestions? A:This past June, Caldonia’s (2252 South Parker Road in Aurora, 303-752-3829) won our Best Fried Chicken award; unfortunately, the popular sports bar didn’t sell enough of the town’s best fried chicken, so…
It’s not as American as apple pie, but barbecue is firmly entrenched in this country’s culinary heritage. Although some food historians suggest that “barbecue” was derived from the French barbe à queue, which means “beard to tail,” the majority of reference works agree that it really came from the Haitian…
There are those barbecue fans who claim you can get the same flavor with an electric smoker that you can by burning charcoal (and most of the fans who claim this are purveyors of electric smokers). I disagree, as do many barbecue purists, including the owners of Smacks Cafe (see…
The Rockybilt hamburger, a humble object of desire that sent three generations of Denverites into swoons of praise, has long since gone the way of cocktails at the Shirley-Savoy, the Broncos’ vertically striped socks and convenient Stapleton Airport. The last Rockybilt System shack closed its doors circa 1980, having fallen…
Q:I have a friend who just moved to Denver from San Francisco and is looking for a Cambodian restaurant. Can you point her in the right direction? A:Sorry, Denver has yet to land its first Cambodian spot. Too bad, because the coastal country knows what to do with fish, and…
Start small and keep it simple — that’s the advice I’d offer anyone wondering how to open a successful restaurant. A restaurant doesn’t need to feature a hip gimmick, or offer an enormous menu of enormously portioned dishes, or have a thousand wine bottles in its collection, or bear a…
WaterCourse Foods serves great vegetarian food. But it serves that food very, very slowly. Chef/owner Dan Landes opened his flesh-free restaurant almost three years ago, and it was a fast hit with vegans, carnivores, macro heads and lackadaisical chicken-and-fish-eating vegetarians alike (“Go With the Flow,” May 21, 1998). To please…
Have a restaurant for sale? You just might get a call from Ruth Chiffon von Seeburg-Schausten Prager, better known in these parts as Chiffon. Now fresh out of the joint, Chiffon made a name for herself in Denver — make that many names, since she had quite a few aliases…
Q:I used to go to Johnnie’s Market to buy chile powder. Some recipes call for several different types, and he had the greatest selection. With Johnnie’s gone, where can I get my chile powder? A:When Ed Maestas died in 1998, the city lost not only its unofficial mayor of the…
