Guess where I’m eating?

Whereas a weekly hamburger fix is the norm for some of you, at my house, it’s the street taco or the hot dog — the latter because my kid is extremely picky about where he’ll eat a burger (Old School Burgers is about the only place that doesn’t make him…

Cheba Hut gets ready to smoke

Cheba Hut, the pot-themed sub-shop chain, could open its first Denver location as early as Monday, August 10, says franchisee and store co-owner Matt Clark-Johnson, who’s at the store at 1531 Champa Street making some final preparations this morning. Although Clark-Johnson, who also owns a Cheba Hut in Boulder, had…

Geek in the Galley: The toaster of tomorrow

See that picture above? Yeah, that’s exactly what you think it is: a toaster with a pre-determined Pop Tart setting. And that is just about the coolest thing in the world. Or in the world of toasters, at least. The toaster pictured is the one that came with my room…

Candy Girls: Fluffy Peanut Brittle

In our families, grandma usually does all the holiday candy-making to create our yearly dose of buttery toffee, peanut clusters and peanut brittle. But grandma never made peanut brittle like this. The Fluffy Gourmet Peanut Brittle made locally by “Grampa” Michael Apodaca at Grampas Candy is “injected with air to…

Grapes and grilling tonight at Strings

If you didn’t snag a ticket to tonight’s shochu-tasting dinner at Elway’s, don’t weep in your Wheaties. You have other other culinary options this evening, including a grape-stomping and -grilling dinner at Strings (1700 Humboldt Street) that sounds like a perfect prelude to the weekend. The Strings dinner, prepared by…

Martini Ranch and Hiccups III dry up

The Arizona-based Martini Ranch USA, which owns Martini Ranch clubs in Scottsdale and San Diego, abruptly closed its Denver space at 1317 14th Street at the end of July. “Right now it’s in negotiations with the chain ownership and a remodel,” Jason Witkes, the venue’s marketing coordinator, told Jon Solomon,…

And the new, New York Times restaurant critic is…

For weeks, ever since Frank Bruni announced that he was going to be packing it in and leaving his gig as restaurant critic for the New York Times, speculation has been running high as to who Dining section editor Pete Wells and the NYT brain trust would name to succeed…

Karma tempts fate with its fusion menu but triumphs.

I have no use for fusion cuisine, for the deliberate fuckery that comes of trying to jam two or three or five culinary traditions together on one plate, for the dumb manhandling of food — torturing it and forcing it into unnatural configurations of time or flavor or place. Of…

Before there was Karma, there was Wokano

Restaurants carry a lot of history. Some of it is the centuries-old history of the culinary traditions that inspired that restaurant. And some of the history is much more recent. This week I review Karma, Peter Hsing’s Asian fusion restaurant built on a solid foundation of well-prepared and interestingly executed…

Interview with Matt Selby

Every week in Chef and Tell, Lori Midson features a Denver chef. During the Taste of the Nation, the July 19 charity event that Matt Selby chef-chaired, he turned to me and uttered one word: “Wow.” He was awestruck by the size of the crowd, but also by something else:…

The new Snooze is no snoozer

Today is National Waffle Day, so I did what any self-respecting waffler would do: I ate pancakes. Not just any pancakes, mind you, but a trifecta of flapjacks at the new Snooze, which opened its second location last Friday at 700 Colorado Boulevard. The new space, just like the original,…

Our Weekly Bread: Duffeyroll Cafe

The sandwich: Hummus Florentine What’s on it: Scrambled eggs, spinach, homemade hummus, cheddar cheese, tomato on rosemary ciabatta Where to get it: Duffeyroll Café (1290 South Pearl Street, 303-753-9177) How much: $5.95 I dare you to tell me not to eat a breakfast sandwich at 2 p.m. Seriously. I dare…

Guess what — and where — I’m eating?

I suspect most of you could plaster the above photo to your bathroom mirror and stare at it while you shave, brush your teeth, straighten your hair, pluck your eyebrows, and blow your nose — and even after all that, not have a clue as to what I’m eating or…

Chef and Tell: Matt Selby

During the Taste of the Nation, the July 19 charity event that Matt Selby chef-chaired, he turned to me and uttered one word: “Wow.” He was awestruck by the size of the crowd, but also by something else: himself. Selby, a Denver native who turned 35 on July 30, wasn’t…

Mulberries Cake Shop makes a sweet move

Count me in as one of the neighborhood’s bitterest complainers when Mulberries, the whimsical cake and cupcake shop in Platt Park, upped and vacated its longtime home at 1570 South Pearl Street and relocated to 2027 East Colfax Avenue. That’s a swath of sidewalk close by Lovely Confections, 1489 Steele…

Charlie Master is moving on

Charlie Master — well-known floorman-about-town and scion of the former Mel’s restaurant empire — is packing it in at Sketch, leaving his gig with Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz to become the new FOH guy for Goose Sorensen at Solera. “I’m excited about going to work for Goose,” Charlie told…

Where am I eating?

This, ladies and gentleman, is why Denver is awesome. One burger (with a little bacon), one order of fries, from a place that no one even thinks of when they’re listing the best restaurants in Denver — and yet this has quickly become one of my favorite fallbacks. Name it…

Good karma at Karma

I have no use for fusion cuisine, for the deliberate fuckery that comes of trying to jam two or three or five culinary traditions together on one plate, for the dumb manhandling of food- — torturing it and forcing it into unnatural configurations of time or flavor or place. Of…

Save the date: LoDo Bites!

These days, it seems like every city has a Taste of Whatever-Ville. Taste of Dayton, Taste of Barstow, Taste of Weehawken, and so forth. What’s more, it seems that, in the larger cities, every neighborhood wants to get in on the action with its own mini-festival celebrating whatever it was…

Guess where I’m eating?

What I love most about Middle Eastern food is the way that you can shove a dozen different dishes onto the same plate, mix them all together, stack a big bite of everything on a fork and end up with the Gaza Strip, a flavor explosion of parsley, onions, roasted…