Reader: Yes, We Are Learning as We Go at Kobe An Shabu Shabu

The conversation about Gretchen Kurtz’s recent review of Kobe An Shabu Shabu, a long-anticipated restaurant that opened this year in LoHi, got hot — hot enough to disintegrate the shabu shabu meat and veggies that diners are supposed to drop in hot broth and swish into a DIY dinner. See…

Helga’s Serves Schnitzel With a Side of Kitsch

Helga’s German Restaurant and Deli hides midway between a Holiday Inn Express and a JCPenney (both high on the list of depressing businesses), in a warren of seemingly permanent road construction and suburban mall sprawl. There’s also a U.S. Army recruiting office and a Chuck E. Cheese’s nearby, just to…

100 Favorite Dishes: Czech Potato Pancakes at Sobo 151

Czech Potato Pancakes from Sobo 151 Bar & Grill 151 South Broadway 303-778-1560 Sobo 151 isn’t known as a culinary destination, but those with a hankering for hockey and hearty Czech fare will always head here. When you’re watching the Avs — or playing billiards or trivia, or even listening…

Shangri-La Is Now Maci Cafe

Since Massimo Ruffinazzi, who was born and raised in Italy and then was a chef/partner at Il Fornaio, took over the Shangri-La coffee house in LoHi three years ago, he’s given neighbors plenty of reasons to hang out there. Great coffee, for starters, as well as homemade breads, salumi plates…

Boost Burger Closes Up Shop on Federal Boulevard

Boost Burger, the automotive-themed burger joint on South Federal Boulevard, opened last spring in a building that had previously housed a branch of Bubba Chinos. Things were looking good over the summer as a new, permanent sign went up to replace the original banner. But now the windows are boarded…

Another Denver Chef Tastes Victory on Cutthroat Kitchen

Caulden Jackson, a Johnson & Wales student and sous chef at the Early Bird in Westminster, braved a barrage of Halloween-themed challenges to take the top spot on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen. The Texas-born father of two did everything from bob for eggs to cook cricket stew on a shovel,…

Hopdoddy Brings Austin-Style Burgers to Denver on Monday

The first Hopdoddy Burger Bar opened in Austin, Texas in 2010. There will be seven locations on Monday, when the newest Hopdoddy opens next to Union Station. Hopdoddy President Dan Mesches says the company chose the location because of its combination of historic and modern surroundings. “We love the urban…

Frittatas and Friends for Brunch at Fooducopia

Fooducopia Corner Store & Cafe in Washington Park was named Best Brunch in Westword’s 2014 Best of Denver edition, so I thought it deserved a taste, especially on my birthday weekend. And while the nice, if flustered, service and long wait times indicated a tiny kitchen a little overwhelmed by…

100 Favorite Dishes: Shoo-fly Pie from Long i Pie

Shoo-fly Pie from the Long i Pie Shop thelongipie.com The Long i Pie Shop isn’t really a shop, it’s a mobile vendor based out of a 1966 Airstream trailer named Stella. You can order pie on the bakery’s website and pick it up at any number of locations; delivery is…

Fall Has Arrived at Local Kitchens — Including Mine

This year, just as I’ve done for as long as my kids can remember, I joined a local farm share. Flush with produce for nearly five months, I made zucchini bread, seared green beans, melon aguas frescas, panzanella, turnip puree and fennel-and-orange salads, cooking my way from early summer to…

First Look: Work Options for Women Now Pouring at Cafe United

Coffee’s on at Cafe United, in the new Mile High United Way Morgridge Center for Community Change. This is the latest open-to-the-public spot run by Work Options for Women, a local nonprofit that trains at-risk women (and men) for careers in the food-service industry. WOW already runs the cafeteria at…

Brew ‘n Q Homebrew and Barbecue Supply Shop Opens in RiNo

Craig Singleton is a do-it-yourself guy. “I like self-sustenance, DIY,” he says. “Mom and Dad are that way.” So Singleton brews beer, hunts, fishes, barbecues and cures his own meats. He’s both passionate and enthusiastic, traits that sometimes earn people the label “nerd” or “geek” — but in a professional…

The Bear & the Rat Makes Frozen Yogurt for Dogs

Like many Coloradans, I’m a little obsessed with my dog. He sleeps on my bed. He’s attended concerts with me and even come on a vacation or two. And of course I’m obsessed with what he eats (or, rather, what I feed him). I won’t bore you with the details,…

New Owners for an Old Favorite, Closings and Re-openings in West Highland

The West Highland neighborhood and Highland Square complex have experienced ups and downs as gentrification continues and tastes change. Frasca duo Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson recently opened Pizzeria Locale on West 32nd Avenue not far from Frank Bonanno’s Salt & Grinder, bringing new energy to the street. But there’s…

Lorena Cantarovici Plays With Tradition at Maria Empanada

The sunlit interior of Maria Empanada, Lorena Cantarovici’s rendition of an Argentinean bakery and cafe, invites guests to linger, with three distinct spaces that capture various aspects of the South American country’s social culture. The front section adjacent to the bakery cases and coffee bar is “a little bit of…

Reader: Overpriced, Overvalued — Denver Restaurant Week Is Dead

Denver Restaurant Week hasn’t actually been a week-long for years. Soon after the event started more than a decade ago, some participating restaurants decided to extend the DRW deals on their own. And a half-dozen years ago, Visit Denver, the organizer, made it official — extending DRW to two weeks…