The comments posted on the Cafe Society blog always provide plenty of food for thought, even when they’re not particularly warm or fuzzy or supportive. And sometimes a reader will leave a real gem — a work of literary genius or a head-scratcher or something that just makes us burst…
Korean barbecues have been a hot topic this week. I reviewed Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, and also wrote about my meal at Sik Gaek in Queens. Although both restaurants feature Korean cuisine, the two dinners could not have been more different. Except for this: both places…
Tickets go on sale today for the Denver Celebrity Chef Tour, a star-studded squad of kitchen sorcerers, including Matt Selby (Vesta Dipping Grill and Steuben’s); Alex Seidel (Fruition and Fruition Farms); Eric Skokan (Black Cat, Boulder); and Michael Ginor, the co-founder and chef of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, all of…
Allyson Fredeen isn’t a big fan of fish — her aversion dates back to some squeamish incident in her childhood — so it was ironic that when Elway’s Downtown first opened in the Ritz-Carlton, it installed a raw bar at the front of the bar, at the entrance to the…
The greaseless egg rolls, accompanied by leafy lettuce, cilantro and nuoc cham sauce, are just one of many stellar dishes at this Vietnamese restaurant that’s quickly becoming one of my favorite lunch stops in the city. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct…
Jay Spickelmier Japoix 975 Lincoln Street 303-861-2345 www.japoix.com This is part two of this week’s Chef and Tell. Read the rest of Lori Midson’s interview with Jay Spickelmier, executive chef of Japoix, here. Favorite restaurant in America: Osaki’s Sushi & Japanese Cuisine in Vail. I just feel at home when…
Many Americans fondly remember food from their childhood — a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on Wonder Bread for lunch, macaroni and cheese for dinner. But those aren’t the comfort foods of my youth. Spending seven of my first nine years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, gave me a very…
The lobster was staring up through beady black eyes, flicking its tiny feelers while lashing out menacingly with a clicking claw. Our main course — a recently decapitated crustacean plunged into a massive clay bowl of boiling broth set above a flame on the table — was so fresh, it…
Those who are still missing Neighborhood Flix can take heart: Tavern Hospitality Group, which was going to turn the space in the Lowenstein project at 2510 East Colfax Avenue into the Tavern Congress Park, just signed an agreement with the Denver Film Society to lease the Neighborhood Flix space to…
Over the past six years, The Kitchen, 1039 Pearl Street in Boulder, has amassed a following of diners who come to the chic, airy space for dishes that pay homage to the farms the ingredients come from, with a menu of simple American offerings. A year after the restaurant opened…
Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. It all started,…
Teenager Mellissa Peacock has had a medical issue on her mind for years: migraines. She has a condition that causes her body to make too much spinal fluid; since the age of nine, she’s suffered from periodic episodes so painful that she sometimes couldn’t get out of bed. Finally, specialists…
On Monday, we asked Cafe Society readers to guess the name of Olav Peterson’s new restaurant, which is called Bittersweet. Reader Evan didn’t waste much time coming up with the correct answer, and his prize is two seats to the Bittersweet soft opening dinner in December. Evan will be joined…
Veteran restaurant owners James and Lily Kwon opened their first Colorado place, Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, three years ago. That spot is a Korean barbecue joint that serves up a traditional feast, complete with complimentary banchan side dishes, grilled meats and hot pots, and sikhye, a…
The name of the above cocktail is the same as a former longstanding Italian restaurant in Denver that served its last meal two years ago. Made with whiskey, honey and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and garnished with a basil leaf and rope of red pepper, it’s not an Italian cocktail, but…
Jay Spickelmier Japoix 975 Lincoln Street 303-861-2345 www.japoix.com This is part one of Lori Midson’s interview with Jay Spickelmier, executive chef of Japoix. To read part two of that interview, check back here tomorrow. Jay Spickelmier is wrist-deep in a large, deep, flat-bottomed wooden bowl swelled with vinegared rice. It’s…
Between meals at Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street in Aurora, I went to New York City, and some friends and I made the trek out to Queens to experience Sik Gaek, a Korean barbecue joint that’s gained nationwide notoriety for its gimmickry — including booming Korean pop, yelling servers,…
After years on the back burner, Dick’s Hickory Dock — aka “Mountain Barbeque and Brew” — is back in business in Kittredge. The lineup includes live music on the weekends and smokin’ barbecue Thursday through Sunday, which you slather to your own specifications with a variety of homemade sauces…
Yesterday, we invited Cafe Society readers to enter to win two seats to the soft opening of Olav Peterson’s new restaurant, which opens in December. We asked you to guess the name of that restaurant based on clues that were hidden in the story we wrote back in July announcing…
When I first walked into Seoul BBQ, 2080 South Havana Street, an Aurora spot owned by veteran Korean restaurateurs James and Lily Kwon, I was expecting to dine in a restaurant that, like so many traditional spots from that country, put as much emphasis on the novelty of the culture’s…
We puzzled over the My Pizza Peel name when the pizza joint opened in March 2009 at 1645 Stout Street. And although we were soon informed that the “pizza peel” was the long-handled shovel used to pull a pie out of the oven, that didn’t sell us on the name…
Four years ago, in 2006, Tom Coohill, the former Western regional chef and director of culinary standards for Levy Restaurants at the Pepsi Center, left the armpit that some people call Pittsburgh and moved to Denver. “My wife and I had a vision of moving out west — we’re both…
