Bittersweet celebrates its birthday with sweet deals this month

Bittersweet, 500 East Alameda Avenue, opened at the very end of 2010. And now owners Olav Peterson and Melissa Severson are celebrating two years in business by offering patrons a 20 percent discount on select menu items until January 10. Sweet! See also: -Reader: Bitter over Bittersweet’s exclusion from best…

Kachina: A taste of this week’s review

To the Hopi, kachinas are spirit-beings associated with rain, corn, animals and other elements critical to life in the desert. Dolls of the same name are crafted for children — not as toys, but as study tools, a three-dimensional catechism for the spirits they represent. Not that you’d grasp this…

Ten biggest Colorado craft beer stories in 2012

Colorado craft breweries and their many fans enjoyed a spectacular year in 2012, as the options for consuming locally made beer continued to grow and fill our tastebuds with joy. If the state’s 160-plus breweries weren’t expanding, then they were adding new beers or welcoming friendly competitors. And there were…

Four top wine trends for 2013

Welcome to 2013 and the next year of your wine-drinking life. Over the past twelve months we saw a slew of clever new wine concepts worth trying, and a whole lotta wine-related WTFs to studiously avoid. All the while we watched and waited, eyes peeled for signs of the wine-related…

At Granny Annie, the Southern cuisine is pretty peachy

In A Federal Case, I’ll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard – south to north – within Denver city limits. I’ll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I’ll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here’s the…

Guess where I’m drinking this Tequila Sunrise?

A great drink is a joy to behold. And as I watched the bartender make a wonderful Tequila Sunrise in this small, lounge-y spot, I felt like a new day was dawning. Made with El Zarco Blanco Tequila, Leopold Bros. Michigan Tart Cherry Liqueur and muddled orange and lime, it…

Veggie Girl: The five best things I ate last year

This past year was a good one for vegan food in Denver, what with the opening of Nooch and the continued success of such events as VegFest and other regular gatherings of herbivores. And I reaped the rewards eating out for Veggie Girl, because local restaurants have really stepped up…

Restaurant roll call for 2012 — over 240 openings last year

Hundreds of new restaurants opened in metro Denver in 2012, ranging from enormous to intimate, exotic to old-fashioned. And at the same time, Denver also said so long to some longtime institutions, as well as a few spots that opened and shut in the same year. Keep reading for our…

Trends without end, round four: Bread, breed and Twitter fatigue

What will be the big culinary trends in 2013? As we prepare for a new year in gastronomy, we posed that question to dozens of people in the local food business, everyone from chefs and pastry magicians to restaurant brokers and PR consultants, from brewers and grape gurus to realtors…

Year in review: Tables and Ace change up their menus

Since my first review appeared in Westword in September — it was of the then-six-month-old Kitchen Denver — I’ve reviewed sixteen spots. And already, some of those spots are changing — menus, if not more. See also: – Attention to detail would safeguard the Kitchen’s brand in Denver – The…

Guess where I’m drinking this Old Fashioned?

An Old Fashioned was one of my dad’s favorite drinks when I was a child; I remember sipping one and wondering how in the world adults could like the way it tasted. But a few decades later, it didn’t take me long to learn to love a great Old Fashioned…

Stoney’s Full Steam Tavern now picking up steam in LoDo

After a soft opening this past weekend, it’s full steam ahead for Stoney’s Full Steam Tavern, which is hosting a big New Year’s Eve bash tonight. The original Full Steam Tavern lasted just a few months before it ran out of steam this fall; Stoney Jesseph and Will Trautman, the…

Larkburger two, Tossa zero: Our restaurant roll call for December

In-the-works restaurants have been scurrying to get open before the end of 2012 — and capture that all-important holiday business. Although many of the more ambitious projects have already postponed their openings until January, more than a dozen restaurants and eateries did get their doors open in December…and just a…

Photos: Local musicians take over Sidewinder Tavern

For decades, the Sidewinder was a down-and-dirty Globeville dive. But a month ago a group of local musicians, including Fez Garcia (with some help from his folks), took over the spot just around the corner from Crash 45 and gave the bar a bit more hipster cred. Garcia says they’re…