Hearing nothing but praise for Four Friends Kitchen since it opened in Stapleton last March, I’d had it on my radar for a while, but quite frankly the restaurant’s reservation policy had turned me off from visiting. Rather than taking reservations on Open Table or simply not taking reservations at…
New year, new bar. Pon Pon opened at the very end of 2015 at 2528 Walnut Street; Lindsey Barlett offered a first look at the combo bar/gallery late last week. The spot in RiNo (or is that Five Points, as one reader points out on Facebook) is already attracting fans…and…
Heading out for brunch this morning? Lauren Monitz just served up her experience at Harman’s Eat & Drink, a brunch that she says not only staved off the hangover hangries, but also offered a “hipper” option in Cherry Creek. In fact, she says, This spot qualifies as one of the…
Dave Query’s Big Red F restaurant group just spun off the Post Brewing Co. in Lafayette with a new fast-casual version called GoodBird Kitchen, which opened Tuesday in Longmont. Guests will find the same great fried chicken — which made restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz’s list of her top ten dishes…
Restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz said goodbye this week, but only as the weekly restaurant reviewer. She’ll still be keeping an (anonymous) eye on the restaurant scene, but will be easing back on the nightly dinners out. Mark Antonation vows to eat more in 2016 — or at least more good…
Strange Grounds, the funky coffeehouse known for its open-mike night, is now closed on South Broadway. But there’s a sign on the door promising the arrival of Samiches in 2016. The sign also notes that the new eatery will serve gourmet sandwiches, pastas, salads, soups and homemade desserts. More pressing…
There’s certainly no shortage of traditional elements at the new Sushi Ronin, which opened on January 2 in Lower Highland — the first new restaurant of 2016. Japanese koi swim along a band of blue on one wall and touches of bamboo, rough-hewn timbers and brushstokes of Japanese script add…
No. 99: Bacon Shrimp and Grits at Bacon Social HouseWhen you find yourself at a restaurant called Bacon, bacon had better end up on your plate in some form. Fortunately, at Bacon there’s no shortage of cured pork belly in just about every dish — and even in a few…
At the end of the year, we tallied all the action on the Denver dining scene and issued our Restaurant Roll Call for 2015, cataloging the 250 openings and 100-plus restaurant closings in the metro area. Although some of the restaurants that closed — including Le Central — had been…
The historic El Rancho restaurant is back open off of Interstate 70 and Highway 40 after being vacant for more than two years. Like the Buffalo Restaurant & Bar in Idaho Springs, El Rancho reopened in conjunction with a new craft brewery. El Rancho originally opened in 1947 but has…
Sunnyside Burger Bar opened at 3759 Lipan Street (in the old home of the Subway Tavern, right at the corner of West 38th Avenue) in the fall of 2014 as another neighborhood eatery in the Larimer Associates portfolio. At the time, chef/restaurateur Troy Guard signed on as the consulting chef…
Chef/restaurateur Justin Brunson has been a busy man of late; in addition to running the nationally acclaimed Old Major, he’s also piloting two Masterpiece Delicatessens, the culinary program at Honor Society and the soon-to-open Masterpiece Kitchen. He’s also doing quite a bit of traveling as a de-facto embassador for the…
As word got out that I would be ending my work as Westword restaurant critic at the end of December 2015, all anyone could ask was “Why?” Friends who know me best put it another way: “Are you crazy? You’re being PAID to eat out, and you’re choosing to leave?”…
The Buffalo Restaurant & Bar closed in October 2014 for what was intended to be a five-month renovation project. But more than a year went by before the historic Idaho Springs watering hole reopened in December 2015. While the original bar, which was built in Chicago in the 1880s, still…
How do we sense sweetness? What affects how we perceive sugars? Why does that cookie taste so much sweeter to me than it does to my friend? Can you change how sweet is sweet? These are just a handful of questions that may be answered with the nine-month sweet study…
Ever since Colorado’s own quick-service burger chain Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard took control of newcomer Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar (in a move that began in 2013 and was completed last year), Bad Daddy’s has been expanding its presence in Colorado and in other states. The full-service burger company,…
Denver’s dining scene got off to a fast start in 2016, with Sushi Ronin winning honors as the first restaurant to open — and Brook’s Steakhouse the first restaurant to close, on January 1. Twenty years ago, when Brook’s opened in the former home of Chateau Pyrenees, it was one…
After twenty years in the Denver Tech Center, Brook’s Steak House quietly closed on January 1, and its location at 6538 South Yosemite Circle could become a hotel. “When we first opened, we were the only fine-dining steakhouse south of Cherry Creek. And we were extremely successful,” Brook’s owner Robert Melton…
Tacos Jalisco closed on December 21 for remodeling, promising to reopen on January 2. Well, the time-honored (and slightly timeworn) Mexican joint in Berkeley honored its word, and is now back serving those familiar burritos, carnitas and combo plates in an updated dining room. The two seating areas are a…
The weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day are a slow period, as many of us take off from work to travel or spend time with friends and family. The same is generally true in the restaurant industry: New projects grind to a halt because finding staff is tough, scheduling…
While nearly 250 restaurants and bars opened in 2015 and some 100 or so closed, only four places were unlucky enough to do both in the same year. Here are four restaurants and coffeehouses that opened and closed within the year. For a complete list of openings and closings, see…
Last week we served up another helping of The Ten Best Burgers in Denver — 2015 Edition, a list that ends with our Best of Denver 2015 pick for Best Hamburger: the Ditka at Jimmy’s Urban Bar & Grill. Some readers found the list hard to swallow, including Ken, who…
