Like the reptile it was named for, the Rattlesnake Grill began making noise long before it struck. The hum started about a year ago when rumors ran rampant that, yes, the Jimmy Schmidt would be opening a new version of his Rattlesnake Club, the tony, very expensive (and therefore much-maligned)…
Up the creek: It was the first time I’d been served a piece of cake decorated with green rings of mold–and I’m hoping it will be the last. What surprised me wasn’t that it finally happened, but where it happened–La Piazza, at 2710 East Third Avenue in Cherry Creek North…
Dad was “in Vietnam”–the polite way my family referred to that whole mess of a war–for three years, so it was only natural that some of the country rubbed off on him. I didn’t realize how much, though, until years later, when I began to recognize that Vietnam had flavored…
It’s Chiffon: Dozens of victims have come forward with more tales to tell about Westword cover girl Ruth Chiffon von Seeburg-Schausten Prager, better known in these parts as Chiffon (“Would You Buy a Used Restaurant From This Woman?,” February 15). There seem to be quite a few people who loaned…
In the virtual reality of the future, we won’t need to leave our La-Z-Boys to travel (much less venture out to Denver International Airport)–we’ll just insert tapes in our video monitors and play tourist without suffering through the hassles of sore feet, lost luggage and stolen wallets. In the meantime,…
Beer today, gone tomorrow: The upscaling of LoDo continues, with a facelift of the venerable–and appropriately named–Terminal Bar now under way. The last time this watering hole at 17th Avenue and Wazee tried something new, owner Nancy Archer–herself an Aussie–succumbed to lower-downtown duenna Dana Crawford’s suggestion that Archer cash in…
For years Village Inn has encouraged people to drop on in at Cherry Creek–and no one complains. But let some of the newer, hipper chain restaurants move into the area and all hell breaks loose. Chains rattle other restaurants for two reasons. The first, and most galling, is that the…
Bust of Denver: It has been brought to my attention that an impostor lurks in some of the town’s better neighborhoods. A glossy publication called Entree bills itself as “The Best of Denver Menus,” but it has nothing to do with Westword’s annual Best of Denver issue, for which I…
It usually starts with the word “ribs.” Maybe someone tickles me there, or a television commercial talks about something sticking to them, or I’m at church and the preacher mentions Adam. No matter how the word gets there, though, once it’s in my brain, it begins turning over like a…
Brew send me: Colorado is becoming the “Napa Valley of the beer world.” Or so says the Association of Brewers, a national organization that just happens to be located in Boulder, in close proximity to some of the finest beers being produced in the United States. There are 44 breweries…
The bleached blonde wet her lips, leaned forward and pressed her hand dramatically against the mammoth mammary glands that were on the verge of busting out of her black evening dress like two fat kids escaping an overheated car. “The problem with DIA,” she said, “is that a minority mayor…
part 1 of 2 The Maine lobsters were delicious. No, they were better than delicious. Fresh, sweet and juicy, at $17.95 per person for all Rick Gottdenker and Marilyn Richter could sink their teeth into, they were wonderfully, absurdly priced. But that’s what the ad had promised, and that’s what…
part 2 of 2 Chiffon began studying classical piano at age twelve, “kind of old to do a career in music,” she says. But she loved it–and she excelled. “I did seven years’ worth of lessons in two years,” she says. “I can go to any city any time and…
At your service: One of the questions I’m asked most frequently (though not always this bluntly) is, “Who the hell do you think you are to review restaurants?” The easy answer is that Westword told me I was the restaurant reviewer. But my background was one of the reasons I…
Either they’re uptight about wearing pajamas in public, or that salmon was the last friend they had, because the guys behind sushi bars rarely smile. They solemnly wield their knives like sculpting tools, quietly creating works of art and then handing them over like so much dead fish. But then…
In the suds: What Coors Brewing Company and Anheuser-Busch each want you to learn on a tour of their breweries is that their product is the tastiest beer made from the finest ingredients by a corporation dedicated to honesty, integrity and whatever other really honorable characteristic they can get the…
Good things come in small packages. And truly exceptional things are coming out of a tiny, nine-table restaurant in northwest Denver. Reservations have been a must almost from the moment the clumsily titled Today’s Gourmet Highland’s Garden Cafe opened seven months ago. Its modest size was only part of the…
Chew on this: The Colorado Restaurant Association predicts that $4.2 billion will be spent at Colorado restaurants in 1995. If the number of establishments that have recently opened is any indication, half of that money will flood Cherry Creek. Ready for the dollars to start rolling in is Tazu, at…
My husband was born in the United States, but trust me–that doesn’t make him qualified to open an American restaurant in another country. Yet many restaurateurs who move here would have you believe that the only credential they need to establish a credible kitchen is a birth certificate from a…
Movers and bakers: In an attempt to save the noble art of pie-making from extinction, Scott Meyerson opened Granny Scott’s Pie Shop at 3333 South Wadsworth a few weeks ago. Although there’s no actual Granny here–just Scott, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and former pastry chef for Blue Point…
The north Boulder neighborhood has always seemed slightly out of step, a modest Fifties enclave in a town that’s otherwise consciously–and constantly–at the cutting edge. But the area took a great leap forward with the update of the North Broadway Shops and the adjacent Community Plaza. The design company on…
Wheels of misfortune: In November, the U.S. government fined Barolo Grill for violating Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act. That’s a short summary of a convoluted case that’s left a bitter taste around town. Much of the restaurant community is now disgusted with the ADA, Denver citizens with…
