So far, 2012 is sucking up restaurants and bars at a rapid pace. In a matter of just days, Pearl Street Grill, India’s Pearl and OTOTO have called it quits; after 34 long years, M&D’s Cafe shuttered; Se7en, the corner bar in the Beauvallon, is gone, too; and the California…
I’d asked for no glaze — it came glazed. I’d asked for it mid-rare — it arrived medium-well. And the third time? Mid-raw. Perhaps the moral of the story is don’t order a pork chop at a steakhouse. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the…
For last week’s Year in Review issue, we recapped what the subjects of the 2011 Chef and Tell interviews would like to see less of in Denver. This time, we’re serving up their wish lists of what they hope to find on Denver’s plate in the new year — everything…
Denver foodbeasts who eat up the city’s culinary scene had plenty to chew on in 2011: Big-name chefs who abruptly closed their restaurants; other chefs who walked out; a restaurant that burst into flames — and rose from the ashes; a very public divorce; and sadly, unfathomably, a beloved restaurateur…
While we were ushering in the New Year with friends, family and booze, several Denver restaurants were closing their doors. Over the weekend, Pearl Street Grill, India’s Pearl and OTOTO all shuttered; after fifteen years in its Park Meadows location, California Cafe quietly closed; and in what could be some…
My first meal of 2012 was here, at this Chinese restaurant, where a bunch of us gather every year to dish about the Denver culinary scene. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is…
Cafe Society dished up four Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a vile plate of chile rellenos from a still-unidentified, seedy restaurant in Commerce City to a panang curry with frozen peas to a cocktail at a splashy new restaurant in the Rocky Mountains. For identifying that cocktail as…
Jesus, it’s only day three of the new year, and already, in the span of one weekend, three restaurants have shuttered on South Pearl Street. After 29 years, the venerable Pearl Street Grill locked its doors after service on Friday night, India’s Pearl stopped slinging curries after New Year’s Eve…
By 5 p.m., Pearl Street Grill, the iconic watering hole on South Pearl Street, was jammed with imbibers clinking pints of porter, embracing friends and lamenting the closure of one of Platt Park’s oldest neighborhood gathering spots. At 2 a.m., after last call, Pearl Street Grill will lock its doors…
It’s been open for exactly 25 days — an infant — but Trillium, Ryan Leinonen’s Scandinavian restaurant in the Ballpark neighborhood, has already found its way onto one coveted roster — namely our “Ten Best New Restaurants in Denver” listacle. And tomorrow night, on New Year’s Eve, one Cafe Society…
Of all the Mexican meals I had this past year — and there were dozens of them — this was by far the worst. Worse than Blue Bonnet, worse than anything you can possibly imagine. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer…
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 the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them and cook up a feast. Not that any…
I love fresh peas immensely, but I’m definitely not a fan of frozen peas in a Panang curry. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into a pool — and every Monday,…
When Trillium, Ryan Leinonen’s highly anticipated Scandinavian restaurant, opened a few weeks ago in the Ballpark neighborhood, the accolades began almost immediately, which was good news for Leinonen. “I want to have one of the top five restaurants in Denver,” he told me during a pre-opening interview. We recently spotted…
As we’ve discovered in our weekly Chef and Tell interviews, Denver’s kitchen commanders are, if nothing else, unapologetically opinionated. We pepper them with dozens of questions, and sometimes their answers are salty — especially their responses to what they’d like to see less of in Denver from a culinary perspective…
As we’ve discovered in our weekly Chef and Tell interviews, Denver’s kitchen commanders are, if nothing else, unapologetically opinionated. We pepper them with dozens of questions, and sometimes their answers are salty — especially their responses to what they’d like to see less of in Denver from a culinary perspective…
Cafe Society dished up five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a still unidentified Christmas sweater-clad bottle of Maker’s Mark to a plate of Rocky Mountain oysters from the Fort Restaurant to a bourbon, basil and balsamic cocktail. For identifying that drink as coming from Cafe|Bar, Dave wins an…
Dana Rodriguez Bistro Vendôme 1420 Larimer Street 303-825-3232 www.bistrovendôme.com This is part two of my interview with Dana Rodriguez, exec chef of Bistro Vendôme. Part one of that interview ran in this space yesterday. Favorite restaurant in America: Gramercy Tavern in New York. It’s a wonderful place with delicious, flavorful…
It hasn’t been a good year for our economy, but it’s been a stellar year for the Denver restaurant scene, which continues to produce culinary heroes and push the envelope. I can’t even begin to guess how many meals I’ve eaten in restaurants over the past year, but I’m fairly…
Dana Rodriguez Bistro Vendôme 1420 Larimer Street 303-825-3232 www.bistrovendôme.com This is part one of my interview with Dana Rodriguez, exec chef of Bistro Vendôme. Part two of that interview will run in this space tomorrow. Last month, three lawyers swaggered into Bistro Vendôme for dinner. One was from Puerto Rico,…
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of inadvertently breakfasting next to the executive director of the Golden Chamber of Commerce, a man who takes his morning glories seriously. He highly recommended the biscuits and gravy, but I was in the mood for a proper hash and yolk-dribbling eggs, both…
Cafe Society dished up five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a meaty, medieval-sized lamb shank from Devil’s Food Bakery and Cookery to a plate of chicken wings from Russell’s Smokehouse to a smashing zombie cake from a supermarket bakery. For identifying that cake as coming from King Soopers,…
