Four Barrel Bar & BBQ opened last month in a former Texaco station on the edge of Olde Town Arvada. Although there are four barrels that serve as beer taps built into the bar back, the name actually comes from four-barrel carburetors that the former service station once installed in high-powered…

Native Kentuckian Sheena Ferguson opened the Bluegrass Coffee & Bourbon Lounge in Olde Town Arvada over the weekend, bringing a taste of her home state to the Denver suburb. The Bluegrass opens early for coffee and breakfast sandwiches and keeps the Southern charm flowing into the evening with a well-stocked…

Chris MacGillivray just started as executive chef at the Squeaky Bean in May, but he’s already an old hand in the LoDo kitchen. That’s because he’d been there before, having worked under Max MacKissock before the opening chef departed two years ago. MacGillivray stayed for a short time under MacKissock’s…

The Baron family hit it big with its Udi’s brand of breads and bakery cafes, but ever since they sold their gluten-free line of products to Smart Balance for a reported $125 million, things have been a little tough. First they had to rename all the cafes and bakeries that…

Koan Goedman and Jonathan Power know Larimer Street; they both worked at Crema Coffee House and went on to open businesses a few blocks away — Goedman with Huckleberry Roasters and Power with The Populist. They had wanted to collaborate on a new project in the neighborhood and had been…

From the outside, there’s not much to distinguish one Denver taqueria from many of the others around town: a low-key storefront in an out-of-the-way strip mall, a simple sign, maybe some hand-painted lettering on the windows to advertise specials. The list of tacos may not give much hint as to…

No. 29: Gnocchi Maison au Canard Fume at Z Cuisine Sometimes you come across a dish where every component is so pitch perfect, every bite so enticing, that you just want it to go on forever. Z Cuisine’s smoked duck and gnocchi is just such a composition of elements —…

July was a hot month — for restaurant openings as well as the weather. Avanti Food & Beverage turned up the heat in Lower Highland with seven kitchens and two bars under one roof, while Rebel Restaurant — with a worldy menu and a street-smart vibe — took over a…

The block of retail spaces on Lincoln Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues have been difficult for restaurants — and the curse of the Beauvallon building continues. Jura’s Modern Asian Kitchen — which served an eclectic menu of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese dishes — didn’t even make it…

With the success of LoHi pork palace Old Major, the focus on chef-owner Justin Brunson’s career of late has been on his haute cuisine, so much so that it’s easy to forget his Denver debut as a restaurateur: a humble, counter-service sandwich shop called Masterpiece Delicatessen. There are two of…

The “Coming Soon” banner in front of the Osaka Ramen in Cherry Creek North could be replaced by a “Now Open” sign any day now. Chef-owner Jeff Osaka says the only holdup is final sign-off from Xcel Energy on a new gas meter that was recently installed. Once that happens, he says…

No 30: Foie Gras Bonbons at Milk & Honey Bar KitchenChef-restaurateur Michael Shiell was out of the Denver culinary scene for more than a decade, but with Milk & Honey, which opened in Larimer Square two months ago, he’s back with a swank and understated subterranean eatery that feels both…

After more than thirty years, a pizza joint can start to look a little lived in, to say the least — and running a chain of multiple eateries makes staying modern a little more difficult. The homegrown Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta chain is wrapping up a full overhaul of all…

From new brunch to a revamped roster of smaller plates, a few Denver restaurants are fine-tuning their menus and service to take advantage of the longer dining days and warm weather. On East Alameda Avenue, Bittersweet has been dishing up elegant and artistic plates from chef-owner Olav Peterson for nearly…

If there’s one conversation everyone in Denver has had this summer, it’s about the weather. Overcast skies and persistent downpours meant an atypically soggy spring — and now we’re into monsoon season, with blazingly beautiful days punctuated by fast-moving afternoon storms that build over the mountains and race across the…

No. 31: My Wife’s Doughnuts at Osaka Ramen Osaka Ramen just opened in late April but has already earned a reputation as one of the top tonkotsu spots in town. An exploration of the full menu, though, reveals that chef-owner Jeff Osaka has a knack for more than just noodles and…

My exposure to the cuisine of the Philippines has definitely been limited here in Denver, primarily consisting of visits to a couple of food trucks: Orange Crunch and A Taste of the Philippines, which both serve great food but have small menus. But then ChowSun opened last November in east Aurora,…

This week our music blog featured Savvi Neufer, a cook who’s trying to spread a little comfort by cooking for bands under the name Feed the Scene Denver, a personal chef service of sorts that got its start in New York City. Read about how Neufer provides hot meals and “a…

The northeast corner of Alameda Avenue and Downing street has been home to a string of Asian restaurants since the late 1990s. What originally opened as Stir Crazy quickly changed names to the Crazy Asian Cafe, which survived until 2012, when new owners took over and gave it the name…