Joe Schneider had already graduated from culinary school and spent time in professional kitchens when the Caribbean cookbooks started calling to him. They told of a complex and infinitely variable cuisine that incorporated the native fruits and vegetables of the Caribbean islands (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad, Puerto Rico,…
Q:I just came back from a tour of South America, and I wonder if Denver has places that serve things like feijoada, from Brazil, or Peruvian dishes? A:That fare has been slow to catch on here, and the town’s oldest South American restaurant is still your best bet. Café Brazil…
Since the word “pho” can mean “your own bowl” in Vietnamese, you’d think that a restaurant named Pho 79 was prepared to bowl you over with 79 different soup possibilities. In fact, Pho 79 misses by about fifty — but what it does offer is more than enough for me…
It may seem as though having a burrito shop on every corner means that Denver has finally arrived as a culinary mecca, but the truth is — and I know this is going to scare some of you, so brace yourselves — there are other foods out there. Enough fruits…
The early bird gets the Sunday brunch at The Tuscany. The all-you-can-eat gourmet smorgasbord at the Loews-Giorgio Hotel is so popular that you sometimes must book a late meal in order to get in. That means 1 p.m. or so, and by that time, hungry diners have been at the…
Q:Where can I get good chicken and dumplings? A:Good question! After contacting fifteen likely candidates, the closest I could come to finding chicken and dumplings was the Rocky Mountain Diner (800 18th Street, 303-293-8383), where an employee told me: “I’ve been here for two years, and in that time, we…
I think I’m gonna hurl,” the teen announced to anyone within earshot. His girlfriend, the one with the blank stare and bare midriff who’d been holding his hand so tightly it looked like she might be hurled into space if she let go, didn’t even blink. “Ohhhh,” he moaned, holding…
The diner sitting on my left has stomach cancer and isn’t sure what treatment he’s going to try. The diner sitting on my right has a seventeen-year-old daughter who’s pregnant. Fifteen minutes into a beef curry bowl at Kokoro, and already I know more about these two than I do…
Let the games begin: While Holoworld (see review) caters to families with its volcano and retro-future thing, Dave & Buster’s (1940 South Colorado and 10667 Westminster Boulevard in Broomfield) has more of a gentleman’s-club-wannabe feel, with wood-and-chrome-lined rooms filled with pool tables, video games and virtual-reality simulators. And while people…
Q:My girlfriend wants to eat crab legs on her birthday. If you have a restaurant recommendation, I would certainly appreciate it. A:Hands down, the best crab legs I’ve found in town are at Hemingway’s Key West Grille (1052 South Gaylord Street, 303-722-7456), a nautically themed eatery with a good-natured, noisy…
You can’t judge a cook by its cover — particularly not when you’re dealing with Mexican restaurants. Some of the best I’ve eaten in looked the worst: dark and dirty, with busted windows or no windows, hand-painted signs or signs about to fall off, cigarette butts scattered all over the…
Extra! Extra! Read All About It: One order, three plates. As the server set each one down on the table, she kept eyeballing me for a reaction. And she got it. “Okay, that’s a heck of a lot of food,” I said, and she chuckled. “I was wondering if you…
Q: I am very disappointed that Canino’s Trattoria closed its doors, because I really enjoyed the wild-mushroom ravioli in a tomato-cream sherry sauce. I am an Italian-American who grew up on good homemade Northern Italian food and am weary of the “Italian” restaurants around here. Can you suggest a restaurant…
Eating at the new Rose’s Cafe is a little like sitting in your grandmother’s rocking chair after she’s passed away: It’s still shaped like her, it still smells like her and feels like her, and you can’t quite avoid the uncomfortable sense that it still very much belongs to her…
The server didn’t bat an eye when a member of our party asked for a Bud Light. The sommelier did. “Hey, maybe you have some in your car,” he joked, poking our server in the ribs. The server thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I think we do…
Pierre Wolfe, who opened The Normandy in its original location in 1958 with his cousin, Heinz Gerstle, and shuttered its last home earlier this year (the spot is now occupied by Rose’s Cafe, reviewed above), isn’t exactly sitting around playing bridge now that he’s retired. Anyone who’s ever spent ten…
Q:Do you know of any places in Denver that serve dim sum? A:Loosely translated, the Cantonese term “dim sum” means “dot hearts” or “little heart warmers.” These heartwarming tidbits were created around 960 A.D., when tea houses became all the rage during the Sung Dynasty. Today, the tasty snacks are…
A hungry visitor from another city — hell, a hungry visitor from another planet — dropping into Denver would recognize in a heartbeat that we’re a little short on exciting cuisine right now. The few interesting restaurants we have are often doing exactly what the other interesting restaurants are doing…
‘Tis the season for change, and sure enough, last week came the sad news that we’ll soon lose The Biscuit (719 East 17th Street), my pick for Best New Restaurant of 2000 (a choice that drew a lot of flak because the eatery didn’t have a full kitchen) and certainly…
In Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the characters played by Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard stop by the venerable jewelry store to ask if a ring from a Cracker Jack box can be engraved as a gift from him to her. The stately, stuffy gentleman behind the counter looks the ring over…
“I hope you and your family die of food poisoning this Christmas,” the caller said. “Then you’ll know what it’s like to die slowly and painfully like a lobster.” It’s a little hard to take seriously the rantings and ravings I’ve received via voice mail and e-mail regarding my recent…
Robin Haig and I are sitting in Boulder’s Dushanbe Teahouse, eyeing a large triangular slab of pastry. It’s been identified by our waitress as a scone. We break off pieces and nibble. They’re very sweet. We try the scone with a bit of the teahouse’s lemon curd — not bad…
