Restaurants

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, which is owned and operated by Denver based Alon Mor, has signed a deal with Doherty Enterprises to expand its dining concept to the East Coast…

Pete Ryan Cook Street School of Culinary Arts 1937 Market Street 303-308-9300 www.cookstreet.com After a fifteen-month pan-pounding stint at Z Cuisine, in March Pete Ryan became the executive chef/instructor at Cook Street School of Culinary Arts, a move that brought him back to the institution where he’d been a student…

The blots of yellow that you see on the pizza in the above pic are not yellow cheese, but canals of yolk from a just-cracked egg that wind through the valley of mushrooms, bacon and tender pea shoots. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the…

Be careful when you search for Sugar House. If you want the restaurant at 1395 West Alameda Avenue, which touts its big burgers — and calls itself the “sweet spot” for lunch and happy hour — you want the Sugar House Grill.. If you want the nightclub in the same…

David Pellegrin and his wife, Rebekah Donovan Pellegrin, concede that Denver has nearly as many burger barns as Colorado has cattle, but Eco-Burger, their new Cherry Creek North burger joint taking up residence in the former Soleil Mediterranean Grill space (which the couple owned and closed in March) at 2817…

No tater tots or fruit cocktail were harmed in the upbringing of Congressman Jared Polis. No Cheetos or Little Debbie snack cakes either for that matter. In fact, Colorado’s second district congressman says he brought his lunch to school every day when he was growing up. What was packed? Usually…

At last night’s Denver FIVE dinner at Lola, 1575 Boulder Street, Jamey Fader, culinary director of Big Red F Restaurant Group, the empire that oversees Lola, had this to say about his partners in cooking: “There are great things going on in Denver right now because of the incredibly talented…

Big plates of fries and big burgers crowned with just about every conceivable topping — in this case, arugula, caramelized onions and roasted poblano peppers bolstered with a side of “secret” sauce jolted with cayenne. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer…

Brothers Bar & Grill — a link in a Wisconsin-based chain — is slated to open May 27 in the former home of The Real World: Denver at 1920 Market Street. And there’s enough drama around this project to rate a reality show. When Theorie, the building’s most recent occupant,…

The clown at the center of the controversy had nothing on the clowns outside the annual McDonald’s investor meeting in Chicago last week. Ronald McDonald has been under fire recently as a provider of both bad meals and bad lessons to the nation’s chunky, un-educated toddlers, and with Michelle Obama…

Unfortunately, the website for “Jerk and Go” was already taken (har), so Brian Levin settled on naming his company “Perky Jerky.” While the name is a step down on the Crude-O-Meter, it’s a step up in the accuracy department. Perky Jerky is caffeinated meat. Levin, a Colorado native, and friend…

Memorial Day is all about barbecues: in the backyard, at the park and in the woods, near the pee tree, if you’re so inclined. But if you don’t feel like throwing wood chips on the grill this year, there are plenty of barbecue barns in and around Denver that can…

Gimme a Y! Gimme an O! Broncos cheerleaders will be on hand tonight for the opening of a new self-serve fro-yo shop in Cherry Creek. Yogurt Guru, 2636 East Third Avenue, also has other treats in store for tonight’s opening, including 50 percent off all yogurt between 5 and 8…

The cast of the Denver FIVE — chefs Matt Selby (Steuben’s and Vesta Dipping Grill), Troy Guard (TAG) and Tyler Wiard (Elway’s Cherry Creek) — is joining forces with Big Red F culinary director Jamey Fader tonight at Lola, 1575 Boulder Street, for a six-course dinner, beginning at 6 p.m…

As part of an upcoming photo essay project spotlighting Denver restaurant pros whose tats 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…

This spud’s for you. Potato skins — they’re not just for happy hour anymore. Can you guess where we were presented with this platter of breakfast potato skins?Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into a pool — and…

Cafe Society served up seven Guess Where I’m Eating/Drinking contests last week, featuring everything from the new patio sign at the Star Bar to a Frito pie at the Fort to this plate of hummus. For correctly identifying its origins as Mecca Grill, Konk wins a DINR deck. Konk, send…

Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill, the quick-casual chapel to falafel, hummus and shawarma, is turning Saturday, May 22, into family funday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Highlands Ranch location, 1100 Sergeant Jon Stiles Drive. The store is hosting an afternoon of games, music, face painting and most important, free…

After my fourth trip to Oaxaca, arguably Mexico’s most vibrant food city, I’m still convinced that it’s one of the most magical places on earth. The open-air markets, which seem infinite in scope and scale, are extraordinary, the people of colonial Oaxaca are some of the most intensely welcoming in…

A new cafe run by Panera Bread in St. Louis has caught the nation’s attention. Why? Hint: It’s not because of the bread. The cafe, operating under the name St. Louis Bread Co., is a non-profit — a pay-what-you can afford non-profit. Ring a bell? Cafe Society readers know that…

Since launching a contest earlier this week seeking a new name for its 16th Street Mall food cart, Pinche Tacos has been receiving an influx of suggestions via its Facebook page (as well as our post). The name Pinche Tacos, while earlier passing muster with the Downtown Denver Business Improvement…

Three years ago, in 2007, Jeffrey and Zach Chodorow, the father and son partners behind Big Game, which opened three weeks ago at 1631 Wazee Street in the long-vacant Il Fornaio space, toured the country in search of markets where they could expand their restaurant empire. “Denver was on our…