Chipotle Mexican Grill got its start in Denver, and in October it will be bringing its hometown a major thank-you present: the free Cultivate Food, Ideas & Music Festival. The one-day festival, which Chipotle introduced last year in Chicago, drew 17,000 people to a city park for demonstrations by celebrity…
Why are the choices for the ninth One Book, One Denver so much better than the previous eight rounds? That’s the question I asked Kristin Rust, spokeswoman for Denver Arts & Venues. She pointed to the commitment of Mayor Michael Hancock, as well as a hard-working committee that came up…
Some new restaurants open with big publicity campaigns and wind up delivering little but disappointment. Not Torta Grill. Opened by Steve Clifton and his wife, Ardeni, in the former Pineapple Grill space at 1818 East Colfax Avenue on June 1, Torta Grill is tiny — but delivers big. And it’s…
For more than forty years, the Mexican City Lounge has held down its particular patch of Larimer Street, serving up hot, hot green chile and great greasy steak tacos to generations of faithful fans. Back in the early ’70s, when the Garcia family opened this neighborhood joint, it was in…
Tacos y Salsas has been a hit since the original opened on Federal Boulevard six years ago — and since then, this homegrown chain has spread out across the metro area, with more than a half-dozen locations in the metro area now open. Not, however, the Aurora location at 2284…
The ninth time’s the charm. After years of serving up the literary equivalent of a Happy Meal for the One Book, One Denver program, the city finally has three great choices for 2012: Through June 22, you can vote for Denver, Enrique’s Journey or The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan’s…
Lori Midson eats out hundreds of times a year, which gives her ample opportunity to observe servers and diners alike. And lately, she’s noticed a lot of guests displaying obnoxious theatrics, which inspired her list of the “Ten rudest things customers do to make servers wish you’d never come to…
Film on the Rocks, which started rolling out its 2012 season last Monday night with Office Space, is back tonight with its next film, Iron Man, with music by The McRae and Force Publique, all at the stunning Red Rocks Amphitheatre. But some readers say they’re underwhelmed by this year’s…
You have one more chance to see Lisa Suarez’s I’ll Remember for You, which ends a short run at Su Teatro tonight. The play tells the story of Suarez’s relationship with her mother, who suffers from Alzeheimer’s. “There’s this bond and this sacrifice and this emotion,” says Su Teatro executive…
I live in the belly of the beast, Denver’s hottest restaurant neighborhood: Lower Highland, or LoHi, as developers have dubbed it. (In response, I refer to my particular block as SoLola — south of Lola.) And with the news that Tavern Hospitality Group plans to put a Tavern LoHi here,…
The Wynkoop Brewing Company was founded in 1988, just three years after Bess Dougherty was born. And this week, Dougherty became the brewpub’s first female brewer. “It’s intimidating for a lady to try to go into this because it’s a boys’ club, a super boys’ club,” says Dougherty. “It’s a…
In honor of the Classic Film Series dedicated to Wes Anderson that started at the Mayan this week, Josiah Hesse served up the top five Wes Anderson one-liners. “Don’t worry about me, I’m on mescaline” from The Royal Tenenbaums made the cut — but isn’t included in the Mayan series…
The news that Tavern Hospitality Group will start work on a spot on South Pearl Street this summer — Tavern Platt Park is going in the former home of India’s Pearl — and has also bought a building in Highland for a future Tavern LoHi brought howls of dismay from…
Congress won’t pass the DREAM act and the Colorado Legislature killed ASSET. But Metropolitan State College (soon to be Metropolitan State University of Denver) is ready to do the right thing for would-be students who are living here illegally, kids who were brought to this country by their parents years…
The news that Michael Trundle is moving Lipgloss from La Rumba to Beauty Bar — after more than eight years — had Bree Davies remembering 2004, and thinking about Denver’s three degrees of separation. And she wasn’t the only one:…
Creating a great cocktail is a true art. And so the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver will be raising awareness of what makes a good drink — and raising the roof in general — at its rooftop bar all summer. But tonight kicks off a particularly important show: the Bartender…
The Tavern could be coming to a neighborhood near you. Tavern Hospitality Group, the Colorado-born and -bred company headed by Frank Schultz and his mother and stepfather, Terry and Al Papay, has enough projects on its plate to stay busy well into 2014. And that’s the very earliest that construction…
There were definitely signs. When Westword was working on “Mr. Right?,” our cover story on Ali Hassan, the son of a political powerhouse couple who was recruited by the Republican Party to run for the House District 56 seat in 2008, the 27-year-old candidate took a break from the interview…
Cherry Creek is getting a new/old restaurant: Opus, which was a terrific restaurant when it opened in Littleton a decade ago, is merging with Aria, its sibling. Michael Long, the opening chef at Opus, left that fine-dining restaurant in 2010 to head the kitchen at Aria, which went into 250…
When Bob Dylan picked up his Medal of Freedom last week, he was wearing a Rockmount Ranch Wear shirt. Steve Weil, president of the Denver-based company, recognized the model — and says Dylan is a long-time fan of the snap-button shirts. But while Dylan’s fashion sense may be above reproach,…
Larkburger, which got its start as a little stand-alone burger joint in Edwards in 2006, plans to open an eighth Colorado location — this one in downtown Denver…
Kurt Lewis won the Best New Theater Space award in 2008 for Crossroads Theater, the ambitious Five Points space he’d developed, but he ran into financial and health problems. And in January 2010 Denver took over Crossroads, adding it to the city’s Arts & Venues lineup. Now Lewis would like…
