First came an appearance on Oprah. Now Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle, is a panelist on America’s Next Great Restaurant, joining chefs Bobby Flay, Curtis Stone (The Biggest Loser) and Lorena Garcia. They’ll be the judges as potential restaurateurs vie for what’s being billed by Magic Elves, the production team,…
“I’ve been doing raw food for six years and was shocked when I moved from meat-and-potatoes Chicago to healthy Boulder and saw that there was such a big gap in raw food restaurants,” says Daniel Asher, chef of Root Down and the former chef of Organic Orbit, a vegetable-focused Boulder…
As swiftly and suddenly as Carmen’s Cafe opened in April, the coffee shop at 1115 Grant Street in the Grant Street Mansion has now morphed into the Front Porch Cafe. The shop’s former namesake, Carmen Sanchez, dropped out (or was dropped, depending on who you talk to) as a result…
Grand Junction isn’t what you’d call a culinary food capital, but the mountain town does have at least one claim to fame: Enstrom’s Almond Toffee, the Colorado toffee company that will celebrate 50 years of sugar rushes later this fall with a confection of fanfare. In the meantime, Colorado’s own…
Centennial’s Farro Italian Restaurant has not only tweaked its menu of rustic Italian dishes, but it’s also launched a happy hour, started serving cheap carafes of wine and introduced a three-course “recession menu.” The restaurant’s happy hour, featuring half off all appetizers and small plates, plus $3 well drinks, imports…
Andrew Lubatty The Avenue Grill 630 East 17th Avenue 303-861-2820 www.avenuegrill.com This is part two of Andrew Lubatty’s Chef and Tell interview. To read part one of that interview, click here. Culinary inspirations: When I was fourteen, I worked at this place called J.G. Melons in Bridgehampton, Long Island, that…
When you teach a writing class focused on food — as I did at the University of Colorado for almost a decade — you run into a lot of young food fanatics. And I noticed an interesting phenomenon among them. At first, students enrolled because the class sounded easy (easier,…
Film director Adam Green, who released Frozen earlier this year and just completed Hatchet II, which you can see later this fall, has hooked up with 1492 Pictures, the production firm that produced the Harry Potter films, The Goonies and Gremlins, to bring Killer Pizza to the cinematic screen. The…
Get your sleeping bags out, early birds. Sunflower Farmers Market is opening its tenth Colorado location two weeks from today, and if the past is any indication, things could get a little crazy. A Sunflower representative says lines started forming at 3 a.m. for the Albuquerque store’s June 2 opening…
Yes, we’re bringing it back…my name is Amber (but friends call me Ambs), and I’ll be your new Veggie Girl. Some background: I’ve been vegetarian — not vegan; that’s just plain crazy — on and off for eight of my 29 years. I love food, despite the fact that I’ve…
Viva la fresh mozzarella. “Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.” Helen Hayes “Cheese – milk’s leap toward immortality.” Clifton Paul Fadiman “If I had to give up cheese or chocolate, I’d give up chocolate in a heartbeat.” Amanda Peet “Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and…
Regulars at the Pearl Street Grill, an institution at 1477 South Pearl Street for close to thirty years, were shocked – shocked! – when they sat down and looked at their menus a couple of weeks ago. Because not only had the menu design gotten an overhaul, but so had…
Andrew Lubatty The Avenue Grill 630 East 17th Avenue 303-861-2820 www.avenuegrill.com Andrew Lubatty can’t contain his excitement. The Avenue Grill executive chef is just hours away from boarding a plane and jetting off to Washington, D.C. — specifically, the White House — where he’s joining eight more Colorado chefs, all…
Just one month after celebrating its two-year anniversary, one of Denver’s best-named — and indeed, longest-named — cafes is closing its doors for good this weekend. Baked Stuffed Bunz on the Run Eatery, located at 1432 East 22nd Avenue, had earned a following for its German meat and veggie-filled pockets,…
Puppets and caffeine? Now that’s a combination we can get behind. A cafe called Zook’s is slated to open in the Denver Puppet Theater, the bright yellow landmark at 3156 West 38th Avenue, by the end of July. “We wanted to use the space more,” says theater owner Annie Zook…
At last night’s Plates the Peak, a fundraiser/silent auction to benefit Urban Peak, fifteen of Denver’s star chefs convened in the hellishly hot kitchen of Vesta Dipping Grill to feed the sweaty gastronauts who grubbed on everything from chicken-fried steak biscuit sliders and lamb shoulder mini “Phillys” to blue crab…
“In a perfect world, we’d open on June 18, but realistically, it looks like we’ll open to the public on Monday, June 21,” predicts Jeremy Marshall, operations manager of Mad Greens, the Denver-based gourmet salad chain that will unveil its tenth Colorado location later this month at 2073 South Colorado…
Aviano Coffee is making a move to open a new shop in a former Peaberry Coffee location. Aviano’s, previously located at 955 Lincoln Street in the embattled Beauvallon, closed in April, but a sign on the front door promises that it’ll reopen “in the next couple/few weeks” at Second and…
As part of an upcoming photo essay project spotlighting Denver restaurant pros whose tatts are as prevalent as their dissections, burns, blisters, knife slashes and stabs, we promised that we’d post some of the best ink on the Cafe Society blog…
The Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers first brought stone-baked Southern-style pizza to the Colorado via the suburbs, opening a restaurant at the Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial last August. And soon, on Monday, July 12, the franchise will open a second location downtown at the Tabor Center on 16th and Lawrence…
Pablo Mastroeni’s yearning to cook was inspired by the Food Network, so when he got a chance to appear on Emeril Live a few years back, he jumped at the opportunity. The two-time World Cup player and formidable midfielder and team captain for the Colorado Rapids calls the experience –…
By now, you’ve no doubt heard that PETA wants to install a bloodied-and-bandaged 250-pound, five-and-a-half-foot chicken statue on the 16th Street Mall to protest the inhumane ways that McDonald’s turns chicken-shaped chickens into Shrek-shaped Chicken McNuggets. PETA has gotten tangled in some red tape, though; click here to see PDFs…
