Ca-toff-strophe for Enstrom’s

Simons said that there had been a major malfunction with their production process — the toffee had been too smooth, so smooth the chocolate coating couldn’t adhere– but that Enstrom’s had no choice but to move forward with faulty product. The problem was a massive blow during the holiday rush,…

On bribing a maitre’d

So how much, exactly, is that perfect table worth to you?  I’m curious because I Just heard from one of my good office sources about a scene last night at Proto’s (2401 15th Street) that completely blew my mind.The way he told it, Proto’s was packed on Thursday. Wall-to-wall and…

Go to Cook for a Cause and eat for a cause

The Generous Servings Cooking Classes and Café is marking its one-year anniversary by giving back to the community with Sunday’s Cook for a Cause.”Generous Servings is all about generosity, so to celebrate our first anniversary, we wanted to find a way to give something to the needy while including our…

Apprentices get to sling the skillets

Tomorrow night the Rocky Mountain Chefs of Colorado (RMCC) will hold their fourth annual endowment dinner at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. For $75 a person, you get  an eight-course meal executed by third-year students in the RMCC apprenticeship program. They’ll be assisted by the sponsoring chefs and instructors of the…

Fry me to the moon

Reading Jason Sheehan’s description of the Fainting Goat, the watering hole that’s taken over 846 Broadway, made us hungry for another taste of their chicken wings. But when we dropped in yesterday afternoon, we found ourselves in fried-item heaven: the Goat was testing out some new appetizer possibilities, all courtesy…

Candy Girls: Strawberry Charleston Chew

  There are the candies that grab our attention because their bright packaging promises a new take on an old favorite, or the advertised ingredients signal a flavor combination we haven’t experienced before.  Then there are the familiar candies that we routinely pass over because our eyes are trained to…

Colorado’s fast-expanding, fast-improving, fast-casual world

A few days ago, I was a food nomad. Mindlessly searching for sustenance, I wandered along Colorado Boulevard looking for something cheap yet nourishing — with nourishing almost immediately eliminating most fast-food joints. But not all. The spots that really piqued my ‘buds were places like Qdoba, Noodles and Company, Smashburger, Spicy Pickle…

Glass is in session!

Looking to increase your brain size while killing a few brain cells? Dave Elger, founder and co-owner of Muchote Tequila, is holding classes offering “an interactive and education twist on tasting and mixing classic cocktails” on Mondays at Bar Luxe (231 Milwaukee Street). For the next eleven weeks, Dave will…

Our Weekly Bread: Masterpiece Deli’s Cubano

The sandwich: Cubano What’s on it: Slow-roasted mojo brined pork, Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, mustard, garlic aioli on a toasted brioche Where to get it: Masterpiece Delicatessen (1575 Central Street, 303-561-3354) How much: $9:50 The concept of a Cuban sandwich, or Cubano, is a strange one: pork…

In the neighborhood: The Fainting Goat

  The space at 846 Broadway has long been the go-to bar for all our needs around the office.  It’s been the Parlour, the Minturn Saloon and Moon Time in the years that I’ve been here –everything from a kinda weird, quasi-classy bolt-hole with a serious kitchen to a mountain…

I can only hope you get some ‘Yes Pecan’

Through January, Ben and Jerry’s is offering a promotional flavor at participating ‘Scoop Shops’ around the country. Yes Pecan is billed as “an Inspirational blend! Amber waves of buttery ice cream with roasted non-partisan pecans.” Not only a good play on words, Yes Pecan is also a do-gooder. Most of the proceeds from the…

Veggie Girl: Parsley

A few months ago, Adam Cayton-Holland wrote a blog about an organic sandwich and salad place called Parsley that had just opened at 303 West 11th Avenue. I was intrigued not only by a lineup that seemed very vegetarian-friendly (with four vegetarian sandwiches and four salads), but also by the promise…

Chef Bradford Heap to give it a go in Boulder

Chef Bradford Heap, owner of Colterra in Niwot, is venturing back to Boulder to try his luck in the heart of the city. He’s planning to open an American-style bistro in the former Tom’s Tavern at 11th and Pearl. Heap has earned acclaim for his use of organic and local ingredients…

Buffalo to go

Eating buffalo is not only good for you, but it’s good for the future of the animal, as Jonathan Shikes notes in this Save the Buffalo post. And thanks to Colorado Buffalo Grill, you can get it on the go. From 6 a.m.- 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday (weather permitting), the…

A wake for Auld Dubliner

This town has a real shortage of good Irish bars — as Jason Sheehan lamented in his review of Celtic Tavern — and we just lost another one.  Last night employees of the Auld Dubliner held a wake for the pub at 2796 South Broadway that we’d celebrated in a St…

Is a chicken wing without chicken even a wing?

When it comes to food, I am incredibly picky, demanding, a snob and a reverse snob, too — the kind of guy who will argue passionately for the bygone days of fine dining when all men wore hats and cravats and women all giggled when they drank champagne as though…

The name is confusing, but Peking Tokyo takes you straight to Asia

I love ethnic restaurants that open in the abandoned shells of chain restaurants or, better yet, fast-food restaurants, and I love them even more when they keep the impedimentia and knickknacks of those former operations and end up serving their bulgogi beside napkin dispensers still embossed with a big, humped…

Rosa Mia Inn is just the spot for a nice, quiet drink

I’m locking my scooter to a street sign outside Rosa Mia Inn (4395 Yates Street) when the tiny tavern’s only patron pops out for a smoke. “You don’t need to do that,” she informs me. “Everyone in this neighborhood knows each other; no one’s going to take it.” She proceeds…

Viva El Viva Villa

I was sad when Mee Yee Lin closed its first home, thrilled when it reopened in Aurora, then sad all over again when it closed a second time. And then a new operation moved into Mee Yee Lin’s former spot at 2295 South Chambers: El Viva Villa, a shoestring family…

Cafe Brazil builds a bar next door

Cafe Brazil, the fantastic Brazilian restaurant, has added a vital component: a river-rock bar. After a salon that was next door went out of business, the restaurant’s ownership jumped at the opportunity to purchase the space. Besides the bar, they added seven tables –almost doubling the capacity of this Cafe Brazil, itself an improvement over the…

Save a buffalo: Eat it at Tommyknockers

A few months ago, the Wildlife Conservation Society suggested that the only way to save the iconic American bison is to eat it. While that may sound strange, the organization pointed out that the only reason there are 500,000 buffalo now living in the United States — and perhaps the…

Alto pushing cuisine with new chef

Chef Greg Faircloth is now fully in command of the kitchen at Alto, having replaced his mentor and friend Michael Farrell last October. Since then, Faircloth says, he’s “been making incremental changes, keeping with the contemporary American style. I’m not doing anything drastic.”   But he is really repping the ‘”farm-to-table” thing — buying…