Consumer Concept Group, which founded Smashburger in Denver in 2007, got a big win last week when a Denver City Council committee approved the proposal that CCG and partners Tivoli Brewing and Midfield Concession Enterprises had submitted to open a restaurant/brewery at the Westin at Denver International Airport, as well…
Southern food has been in the national culinary spotlight in recent years and Denver restaurants are responding with more and more examples of heartland cooking. Grind Kitchen + Watering Hole, which opens tonight in Cherry Creek North, isn’t what you’d call a Southern eatery, but chef/owner Preston Phillips draws inspiration…
Canadians, for reasons unknown, love Clamato, especially in the version of the Bloody Mary known as the Caesar. My Canadian uncle used to mix beer and Clamato juice and call it a Red Eye. At first I couldn’t understood why anyone would want to drink a seafood-flavored beverage, but as…
The Best of Denver 2016 will land on March 31, and now’s your chance to bring out your personal best, in the second round of our Best of Denver 2016 Readers’ Poll. We’ve tallied the votes cast in the first round, and now we’d like you to vote for your…
This past Saturday marked the birthday of Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen, and the debut of Slurp, a pop-up ramen event hosted by Ramen Mafia. The event was a collaboration of a few noodle lovers paying tribute to papa noodle. Distiller Jake Norris of Laws Whiskey House, artist Andrew…
Chefs around town are gearing up for spring by rolling out seasonal menu items, adding dishes inspired by travels or are taking a cue from an Oscar-winning movie. Here are three restaurants making menu changes this month. Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace 950 Pearl Street, Boulder 303-442-7771 For the…
A little more than eight years ago, two chefs who met while working at an upscale Italian eatery took a chance on a sandwich business. Justin Brunson and Steve Allee were working at Luca d’Italia (now just Luca) when they concocted a scheme to sell deli sandwiches out of a…
Zoës Kitchen is the newest out-of-state chain to make its way to Colorado, with a goal of bringing the freshest and healthiest food possible in a fast-casual setting to what Zoës CEO Kevin Miles calls the “birthplace of fast-casual.” The inaugural metro Denver location, at Southwest Plaza in Littleton, is set…
A new Lucile’s recently opened at 999 East Evans Avenue — which is good news for anyone who’s ever waited, and waited, in line for brunch at the Lucile’s that opened at 275 South Logan in 2005, or any of the other outposts, including the original in Boulder. Says Ben:…
After a proposal to establish spots where people could consume marijuana was pulled out of consideration last year, activists went back to the drawing board. And now Denver NORML has submitted a draft of the Responsible Use Initiative that would “legalize venues known as ‘Private Marijuana Social Clubs’ and establish a…
A new restaurant from a familiar name opened at the end of 2015 in Park Hill. Desmond is the creation of chef Sean Kelly, who Gretchen Kurtz talked to this week about the last thirty years of the Denver dining scene and running a restaurant in his own neighborhood. Mark…
No. 90: Green Chorizo at Los Compadres South Broadway from Alameda Avenue all the way down to Evans Avenue has become a stop-and-go traffic nightmare over the last year or so, with the population density along the street adding to the number of cars coming and going at all times…
On Tuesday, a Denver City Council committee approved a contract for a joint venture between Denver’s Consumer Concept Group, owners of the Smashburger chain and Tom’s Urban Diner; Tivoli Brewing and Michigan’s Midfield Concession Enterprises, which runs 45 outlets in nine airports across the country (but none in Denver); the…
A few years ago, I asked the then-mayor of Lakewood to suggest the worst dive in his city. His answer came back quickly: Hart’s Corner Bar & Restaurant, where one customer had bitten another customer’s ear the weekend before. Sold! I visited Hart’s, right on the corner of Morrison Road…
Zoës Kitchen is the newest out-of-state chain to make its way to Colorado, with a goal of bringing the freshest and healthiest food possible in a fast-casual setting to our lovely state, or as Zoës CEO Kevin Miles calls it, the “birthplace of fast-casual.” (We’ll take it.) But Zoës feels…
Remember the uproar when Gabor’s closed four years ago? The beloved watering hole at 1233 East 13th Avenue had been purchased by the owner of the Providence Tavern in Edgewater, who was going to turn the space into a Capitol Hill companion of his Edgewater bar. Regulars loudly lamented the…
Late last year, chef/restaurateur Lon Symensma, the mastermind behind Cholon Modern Asian Bistro and Cho77, announced plans to open a new restaurant in the Eastbridge Stapleton development that’s currently under construction. He has already tapped a chef, Luke Bergman, who he met while the two were students at Culinary Institute of…
February was a tumultuous month for established Denver restaurants, with name changes, rebrandings, moves and closures both temporary and permanent. We lost longtime favorites in Jus Cookin’s Restaurant, DaLat Vietnamese Cuisine and the Trinity Grille downtown. Meanwhile, quaint Cherry Creek cafe So Perfect Eats went on an extended hiatus while…
Yesterday Mark Antonation offered a tale of two tacos, comparing a pair of taco joints in the 1000 block of Broadway: the modest Quijote’s and Torchy’s, an Austin-based import that has many fans and was a hot-hot spot when it opened earlier this year. But some Denver diners feel burned…
As one long-standing Capitol Hill spot goes out of business, a new place right across the street is just getting started. Across East 13th Avenue from the Gypsy House Cafe (which closes on March 14), the Marion Street Tavern has quietly opened its doors in the former Gabor’s location. Four…
Not long ago, it was considered risky to open a restaurant past a certain block on Larimer Street. With all the construction dust in that area, though, these days the risk lies in other neighborhoods, such as Park Hill, where noted chef/restaurateur Sean Kelly recently opened Desmond Bar & Grill…
Southern food is becoming a growing trend in the Denver restaurant scene, with Bread-N-Butter opening last week in Uptown and fried chicken, biscuits, barbecue and Low Country cuisine hitting menus across town. A couple of weeks ago, a Facebook page simply named Julep appeared in my feed, so I fired off…
