Despite our usual aversion to stupid kitchen gadgets, cheeseburger-inspired jewelry and food that’s been lacquered and strung on a rope, we still love fun food-themed gifts, especially when we’re not likely to find them at every mall store on the planet. There are dozens of must-have food-related finds all over…

Smashburger, the homegrown burger barn that’s multiplying like calculators, will open its eleventh Colorado location in June at 1203 16th Street in the lower level of the Tabor Center. The burger chain, which began building its beef empire back in 2007, isn’t skedded to build any more outlets in Colorado…

Breakfast! It’s what’s for dinner! That’s the siren song of this year’s Breakfast for Boobs, a benefit to battle breast cancer. The fundraiser, which takes place on Sunday, April 18 from to 5 to 8 p.m. at Hot Cakes Diner, 1400 E. 18th Ave., is hosted by the Denver chapter…

Now that they’ve seen what a bloody steak can do for your libido, ELWAY’s Downtown, 1881 Curtis Street, is adding a sushi bar to bait and hook raw fish aficionados. It’s still fishy as to when, exactly, the sushi bar will open, but Elway’s Downtown spokesperson, Allison Fredeen, says they’re…

First things first: You’ll need to traipse to a restaurant in Boulder Country to swim with the fish in the above pic, a fennel-stuffed branzino that was the finale to an excellent multi-course dinner in an underrated restaurant, whose kitchen is churning out some really sensational dishes. Can you guess…

This is part two of Lori Midson’s interview with Matt Mine, executive chef of Oceanaire. You can read part one of that interview here. Culinary inspirations: Many things, but the weather and the seasons usually play a big part in how I cook, in everything from the ingredients to the…

Lance Barto, executive chef of Strings, 1700 Humboldt Street, is always playing with his menu, as are most chefs this time of year when the freshness of springtime calls for new ingredients and new dishes. He’s just added kesra, a traditional Moroccan flat bread, to his spring menu, the recipe…

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. We’ve already exposed the tatts of Matt Selby, executive…

Matt Mine Oceanaire Seafood Room 1400 Arapahoe Street 303-991-2277 www.theoceanaire.com This is part one of Lori Midson’s interview with Matt Mine, executive chef of Oceanaire. To read part two of that interview, click here. Matt Mine, the executive chef of Oceanaire, is searching for a new girlfriend, and since he…

Earlier today, when I got Keegan Gerhard, owner of D Bar Desserts and longtime host of Food Network Challenge, on the horn, he was driving through a jungle in Puerto Rico on his way to Saborea, Puerto Rico’s annual culinary extravaganza. He was there with several other Food Network celebrities,…

The cocktail list is still a work in progress, but if the above concoction, made with Champagne, muddled oranges and Campari, is any indication of what’s to come, then I may have just found my favorite new watering hole. Whose cocktail roster is new and noteworthy?…

For three months, we forked, spooned and knifed our way around the Mile High City, stuffing our gullets silly so we could bring you 100 of our favorite dishes in Denver. We started with the chicken fried steak from Lola and ended with the magnificent feijoada from Emporio do Brasil…

Pho Van Noodle Souper, the Vietnamese pho shop at 472 South Federal Boulevard, closed early last week — but the space won’t be closed for long. Red Claw Seafood and Wings, which took over the spot just before the lights went dark, opens this Friday, April 16, with a menu…

Want to buy a restaurant? Kate’s at 35th Avenue, the address of which is really 3435 Albion Street, is on the selling block, and for a mere $525,000, the Victorian farmhouse, complete with a commercial restaurant kitchen, hotel and restaurant liquor license and 60-seat restaurant, can all be yours. But…

Best of Denver 2010 was released April 1, but Cafe Society continued to count down, in no particular order, our 100 favorite dishes, a project that ends today with our final dish, the feijoada from Emporio do Brasil…

This is Greekness in all its glory: spit-roasted lamb and crumbles of feta tucked into a warm pita picket, a Greek salad specked with oregano and sided with a small cup of Greek dressing and a little plastic container of tzatziki, tart, garlicky and delicious. Where did I get my…