Q: I recently started doing business in Boulder, and I’d like to have a list of places to take clients for both lunch and dinner. Since I’m female and they’re male, I’d like upscale spots that would impress them but that aren’t romantic. I’ve never spent any time up there,…
Let me just point out that on March 9, I was not the one having lunch in Bistro Adde Brewster (250 Steele Street) on Project Angel Heart’s Dining Out for Life day wearing a mink coat, a T-shirt and a pair of jeans with a little dime-sized hole cut carefully…
Sometimes a restaurant completely fails to find its niche; sometimes everything just falls into place. More often, though, adjustments are made here and there, a few things get changed along the way and, with any luck, an eatery eventually finds a modicum of success. Or much more, in the case…
Since the word ambrosia not only means “food for the gods” but also “anything that tastes or smells delicious,” it’s an appropriate name for Ambrosia Bistro. This four-month old eatery serves up many morsels for mortals that taste or smell delicious — often at the same time. But not often…
Although Big Eddie’s Bar-B-Q has closed its doors at 2260 South Quebec, the local barbecue scene is still looking good. Longtime favorites such as M&D’s Bar-B-Que and Fish Palace (2004 East 28th Avenue) and Sam Taylor’s Bar-B-Que (435 South Cherry Street in Glendale) are going strong, and newer kids, including…
On the sixth day, God made the beasts — some of them very tasty — and when He was done, He looked the beasts over and said, “Yes, this is good.” Then He paused for a moment and added, “But it might be better with sauce.” And so man created…
Q: Do you have any restaurant reviews concerning a great brunch here? I haven’t been able to find much information on brunches in the area. A: First things first: Our Web site, at www.westword.com, contains an archive of my reviews — brunch and otherwise — as well as four years’…
Across the street from Seven 30 South (see this week’s review), a longtime Denver favorite is about to get the extra space it’s needed for several decades. Fourteen tables simply aren’t enough for fans of the Saucy Noodle, which has been serving up a quintessential red sauce at 727 South…
Although five staffers are milling about Cucina Leone, no one seems interested in helping us — and we’re the only takeout customers in the place. A cook paces back and forth in front of the grill in case some item must be prepared to order — not that he’s about…
A good brunch is a mixed blessing. Once a restaurant becomes known for its brunches, customers tend to go there for that meal, and that meal alone. “How many times did you eat in Pour La France!, and how many of those times were for dinner?” asks Scott Holtzer, who…
Q: Do you know where I can find a white garlic pizza? I had one years ago in a construction work camp that was made by an East Coast chef, and I have been looking for something similar ever since. A: A lot of pizzerias offer some type of white…
Chain gang: The slow-growth approach of Red Robin CEO Mike Snyder (see review this week) is a rarity in the restaurant biz; most chain enterprises seem determined to conquer the world — and conquer it quickly. Exhibit A: Highlands Ranch, which just gained a new C.B. & Potts (its fourth…
No sooner had Sean Kelly opened his Aubergine Cafe, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this month (“The Eggplant and I,” July 5, 1995), than the pressure to expand began. Over the past five years, Kelly has considered adding on, moving to a bigger space, even opening a second Aubergine. But…
Imagine the last dinosaur, its heavy, lumbering body unable to find enough sustenance to meet its vast energy requirements, all of its kind gone, nothing to do but hang around until the environment ultimately becomes so unfriendly that it finally dies a slow, painful death that’s torture to watch for…
Q: I am a fifty-year-old hippie engineer with a hot date for Saturday night. Where can we go so that she can dress to the nines? So many places are way casual even when they are expensive. She seems to prefer the more basic foods — steak, good salads –…
Michael Degenhart left Tante Louise (4900 East Colfax Avenue) in capable hands — from the moment he told owner Corky Douglass that he was thinking about doing his own thing, Degenhart began training the sous chef, Duy Van Pham, to replace him. “We were in an unusual situation in that…
For a beginning chef, the scariest unknown isn’t whether you can get a job (particularly not in this market). No, when you’re starting a culinary career, your worst fear is who will be your first boss. Horror stories abound about head chefs — screaming chefs, hard-to-please chefs, pot-throwing chefs, fit-throwing…
Q: A few years ago in Port Arthur, Texas, in a working waterfront cafe/bar/dive, I had something called “rat toes.” These were breaded, deep-fried jalapeños, stuffed with your choice of boudin (blanc) sausage or a bread/seafood/ broth filling. Both were marvelous. Anyplace in the Mile High City where I can…
Until Piscos arrived on the scene, Cafe Brazil, at 3611 Navajo Street, was about the only South American game in town — and it doesn’t have nearly as choice a location or as snazzy an interior. But it certainly has excellent food, and that’s enough to ensure that this storefront…
Nicole and Rick Fierro fell in love at first bite. The two met one night while noshing at Chinook and immediately found they had food in common. Rick was managing the Washington Park Grille (for years before that, he’d been a front-of-the-house man at various Berardi ventures, including Juanita’s Uptown);…
Q: I come to Denver for about a week each month, and I’m looking for other restaurants with the quality of food you find at the Beehive and Café Brazil. Something romantic with excellent service and value, at $15 to $20 per entree, preferably not in the suburbs and not…
The way things are going in the restaurant biz — the Colorado Restaurant Association reports that sales will be up about 6.1 percent this year over 1999, which should translate to $6.4 billion shelled out to Colorado eateries, and restaurant jobs in this state will increase by 2 percent, which…
