Chef/restaurateur Kevin Taylor has been helping shape Denver’s dining scene for decades, opening Zenith American Grill downtown in 1987 at the age of 25. He continued with a string of culinary hits from the still-running Palettes in the Denver Art Museum and Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House to the…
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been an invasion of Texas taco slingers in the metro area. Torchy’s hit big when it landed at 1085 Broadway earlier this year, and new outposts will open soon in Englewood and Northfield. Before that, Forth Worth transplant Fuzzy’s Tacos was already packing the house…
Denver has grown a lot in the twenty years since Great Divide Brewing began making a pale ale named for the city, and next month the beer will change with the times as well. Originally an English-style pale ale, it will be a completely American ale, with a slightly lower…
Restaurateur Robert Thompson has been expanding his Punch Bowl Social family of gastro-tainment spots nationwide over the past few years, garnering attention as an astute businessman in the process. Earlier this month he was named by Ernst & Young as a mountain-desert regional finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year for…
A year ago, I celebrated my friend’s 30th birthday with tequila shots, enchiladas and a few Ghostbusters from a nearby cosplay convention in an overstuffed booth at Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant in the Denver Tech Center. Waiters carried trays past various Guardians of the Galaxy, stopping to pose for photos and…
Four Friends Kitchen in Stapleton recently brought on chef Scott Parker to head the kitchen at the lively breakfast and lunch eatery. When the restaurant opened just over a year ago, the kitchen at Four Friends was under the guidance of executive chef Larry Shore, who’s moved on to a…
Giles Flanagin and Jeff Smokevitch opened Blue Pan Pizza at 3930 West 32nd Avenue last summer to nearly instant acclaim, thanks to a roster of regional pizzas highlighted by a thick, crusty, Detroit-style pie that has won over West Highland hearts and bellies. This was Smokevitch’s second pizza joint, after…
Littleton Taco House has been at 1390 West Littleton Boulevard for over fifty years — but we’re guessing that the last year was the longest, because the restaurant was closed for thirteen months of repairs and remodeling after storm damage last spring. On Monday, Don and Dora D’Andrea finally welcomed…
The Preservery, which opened in RiNo’s Backyard on Blake development this spring, is a product of its time: part market, part live-music venue, part restaurant and more. The relaxed, community-minded operation is a far cry from the intense, Michelin two-star restaurant in London where chef de cuisine Brendan Russell spent…
Caribbean cuisine is a rarity in Denver, probably with good reason. After all, moving to a city where frostbite is even a remote possibility couldn’t have much appeal for anyone who grew up on a tropical island. Still, a few folks from the Caribbean have found their way to our…
Illegal Pete’s finally opened last Friday in the former home of Mama’s Cafe (and an International House of Pancakes before that) at 2001 East Colfax Avenue — and it was definitely worth the wait. The original A-frame has been stripped to its bones and filled with a sleek kitchen and…
If you haven’t headed to Jefferson Park for your last supper at La Loma, you have another reprieve. Since 1981, the massive Mexican restaurant has been perched at 2527 West 26th Avenue — just down the hill from the little bungalow where Savina Mendoza opened her original spot in 1973…
The day is finally here; after thirteen months of remodeling and repairs after storm damage last spring, Don and Dora D’Andrea are welcoming guests back to their Littleton Taco House at 1390 West Littleton Boulevard. The doors opened at 11 a.m. for lunch and will be open from 11 a.m…
One of Colorado’s favorite roadside attractions, the giant hot dog-shaped eatery known as Coney Island in Bailey, went up for sale last fall — and it now has a new owner who plans to restore it to its former glory. A Kickstarter campaign was started by John D. Wallace last…
Cool River Cafe, a longtime gathering place on East Belleview Avenue in Englewood, is coming downtown, slated to open by the end of May in the space at 1480 Arapahoe Street that’s currently occupied by Reunion Gastro Pub & Wine Bar (and Prime Steakhouse and Hickory Prime Steakhouse and 5280 Steakhouse and…
After nearly nine months of effort, Jake Soffes is nearly at the top of the hill — Capitol Hill, that is. His airy new bar, Hudson Hill, at 619 East 13th Avenue, is lacking only a final liquor license sign-off before the doors can open to the public. That should come today,…
Rosenberg’s Bagels and Deli is still closed after a fire in the second-floor apartment last Sunday damaged the deli (a body was found in an apartment closet, and the fire is being investigated as an arson/murder). But while you won’t be able to grab a bagel at Rosenberg’s this weekend, you…
This week Brad Weismann served up memories of ten more long-gone Denver institutions, including such restaurants as the Yum Yum Tree —a forerunner of the food court — and the Denver Drumstick, which once had five locations around Denver. Says Chris: Thanks for this, Westword! It brings back so many fond…
Chefs were in the news this week as Mary Nguyen announced the imminent closing of her longtime Uptown neighborhood gem P17, to be balanced by the opening of a second Olive & Finch in Cherry Creek North. And Elise Wiggins ended her decade-plus run at Panzano, one of our favorite Italian restaurants…
Chef Elise Wiggins has been behind the burners at Panzano in the Hotel Monaco for the past twelve years, but now she’s ready to embark on a new chapter. The chef’s last day at Panzano was yesterday (May 12) and she’s now in the final stages of launching something new…
The Irish eyes of Katie Mullen are no longer smiling down on the 16th Street Mall; Katie Mullen’s Irish Restaurant & Pub shuttered for good on Wednesday night. The closure comes after Northwest Bars Inc., the owner of Katie Mullen’s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. A message on the…
What’s in a name? There — or “there…” — opened this week on the ground floor of the Lumina apartment building at West 33rd Avenue and Navajo Street; it’s the second outpost for a concept that got its start in Telluride, and is designed to let diners choose their own eating…
