I have yet to find Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant in Denver that serves a laudable lentil soup — and that includes this thin, watery version that also arrived woefully underseasoned. I thought about pointing this out to our server, but given that her vocabulary was limited to a single phrase –…

Nadine Donovan Old Major 3316 Tejon Street 720-420-0622 oldmajordenver.com This is part two of my interview with Nadine Donovan, pastry chef of Old Major; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What do you enjoy most about your craft? It’s rewarding. At the beginning of the day, I step into…

Our server is incredulous. “Really? You want the pork belly? Most Americans don’t order the pork belly. You’re positive you want the pork belly?” she asks, entirely positive that we’d prefer kung pao chicken instead. When we assure her that yes, we want the pork belly, which is listed on…

Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with a spacious kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s best ingredients home with them and cook up a feast, and when they’re not…

Nadine Donovan Old Major 3316 Tejon Street 720-420-0622 oldmajordenver.com This is part one of my interview with Nadine Donovan, pastry chef of Old Major; part two of our one-on-one will run tomorrow. It’s 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, four hours before Old Major opens for happy hour. Behind the transparent…

It’s 5:30 p.m., and the scent of nightfall — the faint breeze of kitchen gusts — already permeates the air when I pull my car up to the meter. And inside twelve, Jeff Osaka’s Larimer Street restaurant, the smells grow more intense: Osaka and a brigade of chefs are concentrated…

If chefs can crown corn chips with beef, chicken, carnitas and mock meat, then why not smoked oysters? That’s the unorthodox (and delicious) approach this kitchen takes with its nachos, a foreseeable addiction. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to a…

The bobas in the above snap didn’t come from a bona fide Asian-style bubble teahouse. Instead, the fruity slushies and smoothies with their fat straws and soft tapioca pearls are blended at a timeworn restaurant that sizzles with steer. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…

Cafe 180, a donation-based, pay-as-you-go restaurant in Englewood that’s been paying it forward, feeding anyone and everyone, independent of their financial situation, for the past three years, is bringing its charitable philosophies to a kiosk on the 16th Street Mall. Starting today, the kiosk, located near the D&F Clock Tower,…

Cafe Society dished up four Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a plate of larb from Real Thai, a Wheat Ridge newcomer, to a platter of street tacos, paired with salsas, from Taqueria 7 Salsas, a terrific joint that I discovered while cruising down Sheridan Boulevard. And then there…

There are numerous spellings for this fiery and tart toasted rice salad that’s a daily staple in Isan, a rural area of Thailand that borders on Laos, the birthplace of larb, laab, lahb or laap, but no matter how you spell it, the intensely aromatic flavors of dried ground chiles,…

Larkburger, the Colorado-based, fast-casual burger utopia, is asking its fans to help name its new customer loyalty program, a program that will reward burger hounds with discounts, perks and Larkburger schwag based on frequency of visits and milestones, in addition to anniversary gifts and longevity bonuses. “Who better to name…

The downside: a burger half the size of the soggy bun (I hate that!); overcooked macaroni and cheese and french fries that needed the pep of Viagra. The upside: an awesome bartender, a whiskey cocktail that went down easy and flawlessly prepared Brussels sprouts. Can you guess where I’m eating?…

Jesper Jonsson Randolph’s at the Warwick Hotel 1776 Grant Street 303-318-7272 randolphsdenver.com This is part two of my interview with Jesper Jonsson, executive chef of Randolph’s at the Warwick Hotel; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What specific requests would you ask of Denver diners? Being that we’ve integrated…

I think there must be a vein in my body that bleeds tacos. I can forgo the other Mexican staples — burritos, chile rellenos, enchiladas and even green chile — but there’s something about a terrific street taco that makes me all giddy. And these tacos, supplemented by a salsa…

If you ask Darrel Truett, executive chef of Barolo Grill, to describe the fragrance — and taste — of truffles, he grunts. Loudly. “They’re indescribable,” he admits. “All I can say is that for two weeks straight, their scent permeates the kitchen, and as soon as I smell them, I…

Jesper Jonsson Randolph’s at the Warwick Hotel 1776 Grant Street 303-318-7272 randolphsdenver.com This is part one of my interview with Jesper Jonsson, executive chef of Randolph’s at the Warwick Hotel; part two of our chat will run tomorrow. Bill Cosby, Clint Eastwood, Victor Borge, Caroline Kennedy, Yoko Ono, Kevin Kline,…

Shocking news out of Chicago today: Charlie Trotter, an American, self-taught chef whose relentless pursuit of fine-dining perfection shaped the futures of fellow chefs all across the globe, passed away earlier this morning of undetermined causes. Trotter, who closed his eponymous Chicago restaurant in 2012 after 25 years at the…

Back in April, the month that Crimson Canary closed on South Broadway, a Westword reader suggested that Drew Shader, owner of Atomic LLC, a restaurant group that includes Atomic Cowboy, Denver Biscuit Co and Fat Sully’s, all of which reside under the same ceiling on East Colfax, should grab the…