If you’re going to call yourself a bona-hide steakhouse, then for the love of cows everywhere, hire a kitchen staff that understands the concept of temperature, specifically mid-rare. This barn of steer doesn’t have a clue, delivering the first slab of steer so beyond well-done that it was inedible; a…

After Ali Baba Grill first opened in Golden a dozen years ago, two more outposts followed, including one in Greenwood Village and another in Highlands Ranch, which is now closed. But the Middle Eastern joint, whose cuisine is rooted in Lebanon, Persia and the Mediterranean, is now back to being…

Cafe Society dished out four Guess where? contests last week, ranging from a margarita from the new Ay Caramba!, to a glass of beach-y rum punch from the Cherry Cricket to a plate of superb lamb chops from a restaurant whose chef just nabbed our Best of Denver Best Chef…

It’s no secret that Denver is one of the nation’s burrito capitals — a fervent mecca of seam-busting tortillas jammed with everything but the kitchen sink. And while there’s nothing wrong with that distinction, the beans-rice-cheese combination isn’t exactly groundbreaking territory. And that’s one reason why Clay Markwell is making…

Music, great food, libations and local art — that’s the mantra of Cold Crush, a new venue opening April 20 in Ballpark at 2700 Larimer Street. The all-in-one package, run by model and DJ Cassie Stevens and three guys obsessed with music and art — general manager Eric Cunningham, owner…

It’s a good thing that the tom yum goong, a tart and spicy Thai seafood soup, was on the money, because the service — stoic and uncomfortably unfriendly — definitely wasn’t, and nor was the chalky panang curry, ordered “Thai hot” and arriving inexplicably milder than the pot of rice…

Just over a month ago, Jeff Bauman and his brother Marc shuttered Pig & Block Charcuterie, their butcher shop at 3326 Tejon Street, in LoHi. “We were given a really decent offer to sell, and while things had been going very, very well for us — we were even preparing…

Earlier this week, three Colorado chefs — Elise Wiggins (Panzano), Daniel Asher (Root Down and Linger) and Riley Romanin (Hooked in Beaver Creek) — convened in the kitchen of Metropolitan State University Hospitality Learning Center to vie for an opportunity to cook at the Taste of Derby competition at the…

Announcement: We have a winner of our Jax Fish House High West Oyster Fest contest. Congrats to kayodo, who guessed 10,887 oysters. The correct number is 11,932. (Sorry, CRGWKM, but as I said, if you don’t leave an e-mail address, you can’t win.) Kayodo, we’ll send you can e-mail about…

In case you haven’t heard, Westword’s Best of Denver issue hits the streets later this afternoon, and somewhere within the confines of the newsprint is a big shout-out to the chef whose lamb chops are depicted in the above photo. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who…

After prowling for more than a year to find the perfect space to open his first restaurant, Mario Nocifera, a former Frasca Food & Wine alum who commanded the front of the house at the nationally recognized Boulder restaurant for two years, finally dried the ink on a space last…

Following on the heels of Zengo, Richard Sandoval’s Latin restaurant in Riverfront Park, which recently began offering bottomless brunch, Tamayo, Sandoval’s modern Mexican in Larimer Square, is now strutting a similar deal: $35 for unlimited cocktails, including margaritas, Bloody Marias, mimosas and Bloody Marys, along with an endless flow of…

There are Mexican feasts — and then there are paradillas, aluminum trays, beneath which lie burning coals, exposing the best eats from south of the border, so large in scope that even a soccer team can’t crush it. This restaurant, which serves nearly two dozen paradillas, recently added a slew…

For months, Brian Laird has been plotting under the radar, slowly and methodically working on lease negotiations for a new restaurant in Jefferson Park, and finally, just last week, Laird and his business partners, Taylor Swallow and Kajsa Gotlin, inked a deal on a century-old corner space at 2900 West…

Cafe Society served up four Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a still-unidentified pupusa from a new joint on Federal Boulevard, to a hearty plate of ham, eggs and pancakes from Breakfast King, to a decadent lobster roll from a new seafood shack and fish market…

Zanitas Mexican and Margaritas, which originally opened in Boulder in August of last year — and then shuttered just four months later — is back in business, this time in south Denver, right off I-25 and Hampden in a new retail and restaurant development that also includes a Smashburger. See…

This was the first time I’ve been to this diner during the daylight, but morning, noon and night, breakfast is on the menu, and while it’s more conducive to a 2 a.m. grease soak — after a few beers or ten are swishing in your belly — breakfast for dinner…

Despite the stained tablecloths, the pulsating music (and then none at all) and a dining room bereft of any bodies during the lunch hour, the housemade pupusas (and hot sauce) at this South American restaurant are worth a return visit. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who…

Garren Teich 1515 Restaurant 1515 Market Street 303-571-0011 www.1515restaurant.com This is part two of my interview with Garren Teich, exec chef of 1515 Restaurant; part one of our chat ran yesterday. Most memorable meal you’ve had: In Pines Point, Maine, there’s a little lobster shack where you can buy a…

Garren Teich 1515 Restaurant 1515 Market Street 303-571-0011 www.1515restaurant.com This is part one of my interview with Garren Teich, exec chef of 1515 Restaurant; part two of our chat will run tomorrow. Twenty-seven acres devoted to chickens, goats and vegetables. That’s where Garren Teich grew up, in farm country north…