“Please scare the bears,” reads the lead sentence in a story from today’s Wall Street Journal. “That is the message state wildlife officials are sending residents of Colorado communities besieged by hungry black bears with a taste for fresh-baked pies and other fattening human fare.” The bears, state wildlife officials…
It just opened on May 1, but Otto’s American Grill has already closed its doors at 2200 Market Street, in the former home of the downtown Brix in the Premiere Loft project. The space is currently for lease; maybe the third time will be a charm. The original Otto’s is…
Business boosters at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce didn’t know what had hit them. On Friday, when Senator Mark Udall offered a healthcare briefing at the Chamber, there hadn’t been a single member of the media. But on Monday, when Senator Michael Bennet did the same, the TV cameras…
RESTAURANTS OPENING IN AUGUST Doghouse Tavern, 3100 South Sheridan Boulevard Colt & Gray, 1553 Platte Street Cheba Hut, 1531 Champa Street Hutch & Spoon, 3090 Larimer Street Larimer Hot House, 2810 Larimer Street The Living Room, 1055 Broadway Blue Moo’d Lounge, 5950 South Platte Canyon Drive, Littleton Mellow Mushroom, the…
The first Mellow Mushroom opened back in 1974 in Georgia. More than a hundred locations and 35 years later, the “bohemian-chic” pizza chain has finally landed in metro Denver, where today a Mellow Mushroom will open at the Streets at Southglenn. Morris and Sharon Purcel, their son Shane and their…
“What’s he doing in the Senate?” “Why, it’s an honorary appointment. He’s an honorary stooge.” Frank Capra’s classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was on TCM yesterday afternoon — just the thing to warm up the set (and the sofa) before Jake Cutler returned to Mile High, particularly given all…
Oskar Blues’s benefit golf tourney today at Twin Peaks is a big hit, with all 144 slots sold out. But when the golf is over, the participants won’t be able to retire to the new Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids in Longmont, as originally planned. That’s because the still-in-the-works…
Denver looks golden in most memories of last year’s Democratic National Convention — including Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, which was delivered on August 28, 2008, exactly 45 years to the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. But then, there are the memories of trying to…
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 usually bring a selection of some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast…
Dr. Warren Hern just keeps making headlines — whether he wants them or not. For decades, he’s practiced behind bulletproof glass at his Boulder clinic, occasionally attracting the attention of publications ranging from Westword (you can read one of our profiles here) to the current edition of Esquire, whose “The…
Mistakes happen. Just ask Tom Martino. On a post titled “Westword Cowards” that Martino originally published August 17 on the Channel 31/Fox blog, he included a photo of a man identified as “Jared Jacang Maher,” the author of “The Martino Matrix,” an article in the July 23 Westword. Just one…
The space at 1320 15th Street occupied by Alto until the end of June has been leased by Paul Piciocchi, who owns Tryst and last fall bought Theorie, the club that was formerly the Real World: Denver home (and B-52 before that). No word yet on what will go into…
Remembering Denver at this time last year during the Democratic National Convention — the downtown sidewalks full, the downtown cash registers ditto — it all seems like a mirage. Like that season of Dallas that ended with Pam finding Bobby in the shower, and realizing that the entire plotline had…
We’re hearing good things about Chili Verde, a new restaurant cooking up southern Mexican cuisine at 3700 Tejon Street. Good things, that is, about everything but its lack of alcohol — but that could change next month. Owner Eder Yanez-Mota has a liquor-license hearing with the Denver Department of Excise…
The economy has slowed some restaurant projects and killed others, but Brio Tuscan Grille is right on track to open Wednesday, September 2 in the former (and much renovated) Macaroni Grill space at 2500 East First Avenue, in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. Brio is brought to us by the…
In politics, timing is everything. Timing and money — big money, in the case of anyone who’s going to take on barely incumbent Senator Michael Bennet, who’s already raised over $2 million to retain an office he’s held for fewer than eight months. The money was a major obstacle in…
Maria Carrion-Kozak of Colorado just took home the grand prize from Oscar Mayer’s Sabor de Mama recipe contest. Carrion-Kozak’s award-winner, “Tortilla Mama Luisa,” is a variation on her grandmother’s original Tortilla Espanola recipe — the hot dogs are new — and dedicated to her mother Luisa. “Oscar Mayer congratulates Mrs…
I’m looking across the highway at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High, the settings for so many memorable sights during the Democratic National Convention, which kicked off exactly a year ago today. And between them — at least from this vantage point — is Elitch Gardens, where,…
After closing earlier this week for a quick remodel, Andrews on Lincoln, at 1111 Lincoln Street, will reopen tonight with a full menu and an alter-ego: While one side of the space will remain a bar/restaurant, the other will be The Stage at Andrews, with live entertainment. For full details,…
I was running late for a plane and needed some cash very early last Thursday, so I stopped by a local Wells Fargo, put my bank card in the ATM and keyed in my PIN. And nothing happened. Beyond a notice that occasionally blinked “Your PIN must be between 4…
This week’s Time magazine story on “America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix It” cites Chipotle, Denver’s homegrown success story, as one of the companies doing things right — which made yesterday’s petition delivery to Chipotle headquarters in LoDo, calling on the company to work with the Coalition of Immokalee…
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 usually bring a selection of some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast…
