Opinion & Commentary

Every April Fool’s Day, Brad Evans, founder of the Denver Cruiser Ride, rolls out an elaborate prank. In 2013, he listed fictitious themes for that season’s rides, including “Skid Marks & Seaman Stains.” And on the morning of April 1, 2014, the B-rad 4 Denver Mayor campaign popped up on…

When Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican, was researching his 2012 book Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, he discovered that in 1886 Buffalo Bill had opened what might have been the first Mexican restaurant in the country, a pop-up place outside of Madison Square Garden in New…

Even before Paris on the Platte, a Denver institution for almost three decades, poured its last cup of coffee on Saturday, the memories were pouring out. This is where artists would hang after last call at My Brother’s Bar in the late ’80, where teens from the suburbs would smoke…

Happy Martin Luther King Day! After the Marade, which kicks off this morning in City Park, you should have plenty of time to enjoy the good weather, maybe sit on a patio in the January sunshine and have a brew or two. Some of those patios will even encourage you…

UPDATE: Paris on the Platte closed out its run by selling off memorabilia in what the owners dubbed a “nostalgia sale”, unloading everything from fixtures to furniture. Denver will lose another institution today, when Paris on the Platte closes this afternoon. The wine bar poured its last glass of vino…

On Wednesday we made our annual pilgrimage to the National Western Stock Show, which always includes a visit to the Cowboy Bar, the temporary watering hole that sets up in the basement of the Hall of Education, right by the stalls where the steers are getting all spiffed up for…

Last week Gretchen Kurtz reviewed Amass, the bistro that took over the Corner House space in Jefferson Park. For this week’s review, she went across town to northeast Denver, home of The Bistro at Stapleton. The two neighborhoods are very different, but the two restaurants have one thing in common:…

“The dog park has always been my favorite place to hang,” says Christine Peters. “It’s that zen feeling, all your problems go away and you’re just hanging out watching dogs play. They have no ego, no issues, no agendas.” Unlike people. Since Peters opened the Bark Bar in West Highland,…

What kind of pizza is your favorite? New York-style? Chicago-style? New Haven-style? Denver has them all, along with many commendable versions of the traditional Neapolitan. Yesterday Mark Antonation ticked off ten different kinds of pizza you can find in metro Denver, including those that defy categorization, like the pies at…

Mark Antonation recently took an unplanned tour of LoHi, on a search for fois gras. He found it at Old Major, Z Cuisine and Williams & Graham — but some readers don’t think it has a place on any menu. See also: A Walking Tour of Three LoHi Eateries Serving…

After forty years, Burger King has resurrected the Yumbo — just one of the fast-food items that Jenn Wohletz had hoped would come back. The chain’s announcement that it was bringing back the breakfast sandwich drew both praise and complaints. But one reader thinks the fast-food bashers are too quick…

At the end of 2014, Jenn Wohletz served up five food trends that need to die in 2014 — including snoozy mac-and-cheese rehashes. Mac fans were quick to respond to that suggestion, while other readers trashed more trends. See also: Snoozy Mac-and-Cheese Rehashes and Other Food Trends That Need to…

Jefferson Park is an up-and-coming part of Denver — but has it arrived as a dining destination? Gretchen Kurtz just reviewed Amass, a new French bistro that moved into the spot Corner House vacated after eighteen months. And right now, she says, the kitchen lacks the critical mass needed to…

What will be the big food trends in Denver in 2015? Paleo and pickling are both going strong, and hemp seeds are popping up on menus across town. And then there’s moringa, an import from Africa that’s been compared to spirulina and wheat grass. Yum! See also: Five Five Trends…

Back in the early ’80s, before the bust, the crane was considered Denver’s official bird. And now the cranes are back — in a big way. From my LoHi kitchen window overlooking downtown (and yes, I-25), the sunrise glints off the windows of all the new buildings that have been…

A flood of craft-beer businesses came into Colorado last year, and they’ll keep coming in 2015. At least ten new breweries plan to open within Denver city limits this year alone, as Jonathan Shikes reported on Friday. But is that too much of a good thing? See also: Ten Breweries…

For years, nosy neighborhood groups, restaurant-industry insiders and food-and-beverage reporters have relied on the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses website, which features a page devoted to Liquor License Public Hearings. But for most of December, that page was blank. We contacted Stacie Loucks, head of the Excise and Licenses…

Colorado’s minimum wage went up 23 cents on January 1, to $8.23. Twenty-three pennies for your thoughts? While some activists are pushing for $15 — or $10 at the bare minimum — others say minimum wage has gone high enough. The reader who says that Westword is “part of the…

Close to 300 restaurants opened in metro Denver in 2014, and while some of them introduced new concepts to the areas, many relied on new versions of tried-and-true favorites: Chicken and waffles. Burgers. Mac and cheese. See also: Restaurant Roll Call for 2014 — Nearly 300 Restaurant Openings…