It’s been a smashing week for Smashburger. The Denver-based chain of fast-casual burger restaurants has suddenly exploded, with plenty of ink documenting how it’s gone big-time. First, Nation’s Restaurant News tapped the operation as one of its “Hot Concepts” for 2009 — a very big deal in the highly competitive…
I have no use for fusion cuisine, for the deliberate fuckery that comes of trying to jam two or three or five culinary traditions together on one plate, for the dumb manhandling of food — torturing it and forcing it into unnatural configurations of time or flavor or place. Of…
Restaurants carry a lot of history. Some of it is the centuries-old history of the culinary traditions that inspired that restaurant. And some of the history is much more recent. This week I review Karma, Peter Hsing’s Asian fusion restaurant built on a solid foundation of well-prepared and interestingly executed…
Every week in Chef and Tell, Lori Midson features a Denver chef. During the Taste of the Nation, the July 19 charity event that Matt Selby chef-chaired, he turned to me and uttered one word: “Wow.” He was awestruck by the size of the crowd, but also by something else:…
Today is National Waffle Day, so I did what any self-respecting waffler would do: I ate pancakes. Not just any pancakes, mind you, but a trifecta of flapjacks at the new Snooze, which opened its second location last Friday at 700 Colorado Boulevard. The new space, just like the original,…
Yesterday, Jack in the Box was giving away two free tacos with no strings attached; today, Taco Hell Bell is giving away four tacos for one buck, with the attached string being that you’ve got to purchase a drink (the cheapest one is $1.72, including tax, at the Taco Bell…
The sandwich: Hummus Florentine What’s on it: Scrambled eggs, spinach, homemade hummus, cheddar cheese, tomato on rosemary ciabatta Where to get it: Duffeyroll Café (1290 South Pearl Street, 303-753-9177) How much: $5.95 I dare you to tell me not to eat a breakfast sandwich at 2 p.m. Seriously. I dare…
I suspect most of you could plaster the above photo to your bathroom mirror and stare at it while you shave, brush your teeth, straighten your hair, pluck your eyebrows, and blow your nose — and even after all that, not have a clue as to what I’m eating or…
During the Taste of the Nation, the July 19 charity event that Matt Selby chef-chaired, he turned to me and uttered one word: “Wow.” He was awestruck by the size of the crowd, but also by something else: himself. Selby, a Denver native who turned 35 on July 30, wasn’t…
If the president can do it, so can everyone else. What Colorado needs now are more sudsy sit-downs. Here’s an example (see yesterday’s sudsy sit-down here): Dispute: Brandon Marshall vs. Josh McDaniels Beer: Great Divide Brewing Company’s Hercules Double IPA When it comes to dick-swinging contests, everything’s got to be…
Count me in as one of the neighborhood’s bitterest complainers when Mulberries, the whimsical cake and cupcake shop in Platt Park, upped and vacated its longtime home at 1570 South Pearl Street and relocated to 2027 East Colfax Avenue. That’s a swath of sidewalk close by Lovely Confections, 1489 Steele…
Charlie Master — well-known floorman-about-town and scion of the former Mel’s restaurant empire — is packing it in at Sketch, leaving his gig with Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz to become the new FOH guy for Goose Sorensen at Solera. “I’m excited about going to work for Goose,” Charlie told…
This, ladies and gentleman, is why Denver is awesome. One burger (with a little bacon), one order of fries, from a place that no one even thinks of when they’re listing the best restaurants in Denver — and yet this has quickly become one of my favorite fallbacks. Name it…
I have no use for fusion cuisine, for the deliberate fuckery that comes of trying to jam two or three or five culinary traditions together on one plate, for the dumb manhandling of food- — torturing it and forcing it into unnatural configurations of time or flavor or place. Of…
These days, it seems like every city has a Taste of Whatever-Ville. Taste of Dayton, Taste of Barstow, Taste of Weehawken, and so forth. What’s more, it seems that, in the larger cities, every neighborhood wants to get in on the action with its own mini-festival celebrating whatever it was…
When this place decided to introduce its first happy hour this summer, it dove right in. So now, seven days a week from 3 to 6 p.m., you can dive right into a bucket of six Coronas for just $15. Where am I drinking? (First correct answer gets a free…
What I love most about Middle Eastern food is the way that you can shove a dozen different dishes onto the same plate, mix them all together, stack a big bite of everything on a fork and end up with the Gaza Strip, a flavor explosion of parsley, onions, roasted…
Back in 1951, a man named Robert O. Peterson (not Jack) unleashed the country’s first Jack in the Box in San Diego, on the main east-west artery leading into the city. The Box had a drive-thru window, an intercom and that freakshow clown on the roof whose bobbing head on…
No big deal: Just four guys having a beer and settling a brewhaha. That’s what Barry, Joe, Hank and Jim did last week (with Colorado’s Blue Moon in a starring role). It’s something that happens all over the world, millions of times a day. In fact, it worked well enough…
The first time someone asked if I’d like to try Shochu, I replied, “God bless you.” The correct answer should have been, “Ohhhhh, yes. I’ve heard that Shochu is delicious.” Because it is. If you’ve never tried Shochu, you’re missing out. Shochu is a distilled liquor made from barley, sweet…
Tonight, from 6 to 10 p.m., TAG, Troy Guard’s jet-setting Larimer Square storefront at 1441 Larimer Street, is hosting a benefit for the Love Hope Strength Foundation, an international cancer charity that provides support for cancer centers. The three-course dinner, which doesn’t include tax, gratuity or libations (although the TAG…
Jason Rogers has signed on as head chef of Oskar Blues, where he’s overseeing a complete kitchen renovation of the Oskar Blues Grill & Brew brewpub in Lyons, and will then run the kitchen at the soon-to-open Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids in Longmont. “The moment I met Jason…
