Years ago, when I was cooking several nights a week at home, I’d often make spring rolls, one of my favorite Vietnamese starters. I’ll still do them occasionally in my own kitchen, but I also love the idea of going out to dinner with a big group and ordering a…

This is part one of my interview with Kelly Whitaker, exec chef-owner of Pizzeria Basta. Part two of our chat will run tomorrow, and part three will run on Friday. Kelly Whitaker Pizzeria Basta 3601 Arapahoe Avenue, Boulder 303-997-8775 pizzeriabasta.com I have news,” declares Kelly Whitaker, sliding his slim body,…

Chef John Little calls them “truffled pork rinds.” I call them pig crack. But it doesn’t really matter what you call them — what matters is that you don’t go anywhere near my share, otherwise the mud will fly. I liked Phat Thai, Mark Fischer’s Cherry Creek offshoot of the…

Her name is Flora, and she represents the “stereotypical modern Cuban girl,” says Kristy Socarras Bigelow, the owner of Cuba Cuba, Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria in Boulder and Cuba Cuba Sandwicheria in Glendale, which opens tomorrow in the City Set Project, joining Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar, Big Smoke Burger,…

The last place I expected to find a Low Country-style seafood boil is here, at this usually dependable neighborhood watering hole that’s steeped in burgers, sandwiches and steaks. And perhaps it should stick to what it does best, because the seafood, especially the shriveled mussels, would make Southerners cringe. But…

The crew at Coohills is taking the week off to soak up the summer sun — the restaurant will reopen on Monday, July 8 — and given that chef-owner Tom Coohill has spent the last few weeks digging in dirt and expanding his patio, he deserves it. “We’ve all been…

Chilaquiles may be Mexico’s answer to breakfast, but it absolutely satisfies as a late lunch, too, and after a long day scouring the produce markets in Brighton and Commerce City, a plate of chilaquiles, coupled with a michelada, was a perfect afternoon pause. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special…

Cafe Society dished out six Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from flaming volcano cocktail from Ming’s Dynasty, to a bison and corn sausage pizza from Live Basil, to a platter of oysters that, on Tuesday nights, go for just a dollar a slurp…

Just what Denver needs — another burger joint, right? Cameron Tune, who’s opening Big Smoke Burger in Glendale on Monday, in the same City Set project that already houses Jax and World of Beer, certainly believes so. In fact, Tune even called Denver’s burger scene “immature” — at least when…

You won’t find any bison roaming anywhere near this pizza joint, but you will find its meat on the pizzas. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to a Guess Where post is entered into a pool — and every Monday, we…

It won’t be Pizzeria Basta, insists Kelly Whitaker, but “I can promise you that it’ll be epic.” Whitaker is describing the new restaurant that he, along with Andrew Birkholz, president of distributorship at Ciao Vino Selections, and Whitaker’s partners at Id Est Hospitality Group, the company that he founded when…

On my way home from the office today, I stopped at a convenience store to grab a bottled water, and when I walked inside, the clerk blurted out, to no one in particular, “It’s so motherfucking hot that I’d run around the block buck-naked if we could have just one…

Arnold Rubio Tamayo 1400 Larimer Street 720-946-1433 richardsandoval.com/tamayo This is part two of my interview with Arnold Rubio, exec chef of Tamayo; part one of our chat ran yesterday. What’s your idea of a great dining experience? I love great food, but a great dining experience really depends on superior…

In Philadelphia, cheesesteaks are a cultural obsession — but the sandwich infatuation stretches all across the nation, including Denver, where we have dozens of cheesesteak shacks, some of which do justice to the city where they originated and others that don’t. This one falls somewhere in the middle of the…

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 choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. “We grilled some sausages…

Arnold Rubio Tamayo 1400 Larimer Street 720-946-1433 richardsandoval.com/tamayo This is part one of my interview with Arnold Rubio, exec chef of Tamayo; part two of our chat will run tomorrow. Arnold Rubio’s smile is infectious, and it’s all because of Richard Sandoval, the New York-based chef and restaurateur who owns…

There are plenty of chefs who are passionate, hungry, driven. But Kimber Hollar is all that and a merlot burger. “I was thinking earlier today that I’m just this small town girl from a cow town who never thought I’d be doing this,” says Hollar, fighting back tears. “This is…

The owners of Winter Park Winery — winemaker Jon Brickner and his wife, Cassidi — have brought the grape divide to Denver, recently uncorking Mile High Winery, a tasting room, retail outlet and full production facility in River North. Like its mountain sibling, which is actually located in Fraser –…

I have a very good friend who’d be an even better friend if he liked oysters, but since he doesn’t, it just means more for me, and on Monday night, when they’re just a buck a slurp, I can get my fix without having to hawk my pearls. Can you…

Earlier this year, in January, Food Network walking caricature Guy Fieri and his crew were in Denver, shooting footage at various local restaurants for upcoming shout-outs on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, now in its fourteenth season — and still as inexplicably popular as ever. See also: – Watch Guy Fieri…

I skipped the “x-rated” drinks, which, frankly, are more PBS than Skinamax, and went straight to the flaming volcano stocked with rum — and that was the first time and likely, the last, that I’ll order the erupting tropical cocktail. Done and done. Can you guess where I’m drinking? Special…