Washington to finally get some balls

Lawmakers will finally get some balls this week, when the Western Business Roundtable hosts its annual “Taste of the West” reception at the Rayburn Office Building on Thursday. complete with Rocky Mountain oysters, the official food of Colorado. “We’ve been doing a Taste of the West event in D.C. for…

Free Food— the film, that is

Chipotle Mexican Grill is underwriting a screening of Food, Inc., the stomach-turning documentary now showing at Chez Artiste, 2800 South Colorado Boulevard. The free showing is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15; the first 275 people in line get in gratis. To whet your film-going appetite, read Tyler Nemkov’s interview with…

Milking It: Arrowhead Mills Puffed Millet Cereal

Puffed Millet Cereal Arrowhead Mills Rating: No spoons out of four Cereal description: Small, light tan beads of grain intermittently marked by dark brown specks. They resemble the tiny bits that wind up at the bottom of the popcorn bowl along with unpopped kernels and/or random seeds that attract birds…

Tonight: Le Central’s prelude to Bastille Day on a new patio

Tomorrow marks the day when French nationals, Francophiles, Francophonies and the majority of Denver’s French restaurants celebrate Bastille Day, the national holiday of France that commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789 at the start of the French Revolution. But Le Central, 112 East Eighth Avenue, is getting an…

Blowing the top off topless coffee-shop plans

In the current Shmuck of the Week, Joe Tone weighs in on Dan Kennedy, the University of Colorado sophomore who wants to open a topless coffee shop in a campus conference room that would only be open one day a week — but somehow could cover the costs of topless…

BBQ and bluegrass at Gelman’s

Gelman’s Restaurant & Bar, at 2911 West 38th Avenue, continues to evolve. What started as a market/deli a few years ago, then turned into a full-service restaurant last year, is now featuring BBQ and bluegrass on weekends. The action started last night but picks up again this afternoon, when chef…

Don’t have a cow! Dress as one instead

There’s not a moment to lose: Any customer dressed as a cow will get a free Chick-fil-A meal on July 10, Cow Appreciation Day. Which happens to be today, so grab your cow-hide jacket and hoof it to Park Meadows or any other Colorado Chick-fil-A® restaurant for a free meal…

The List: A fish for every taste

With this week’s review of Mikuni and a visit to the new Hapa Sushi in Greenwood Village, I figure that rookie fish-eaters are taken care of.  But what about those of us who want more than fake crab wrapped in rice or deep-fried shrimp in mayonnaise sauce?  What about those…

Cafe Society: Week in review

What you might have missed this week while schooling us at beer pong…Readers got crabby recounting their worst Denver dining experiences.Our local hot dog champ got his chance to eat with the best at Coney Island on the Fourth.We checked out the underbelly of Denver’s best happy hour, where the…

¡Hola! La Brisa

Back in June, I pretty much broke into La Brisa — by way of the alley, a deserted hallway and a wobbly ladder. Yesterday, the restaurant officially opened at 375 South Pearl Street, directly next door to the Candlelight Tavern, a neighbor that La Brisa co-owner Andy Koncsik wasn’t too…

Guess where I’m eating?

I could tell you that the plate of enchiladas in today’s “Guess where I’m eating?” snap were wolfed down by someone — anyone — other than me. I could tell you that Sheehan threatened to make me lick the title page of his book, Cooking Dirty, if I refused to…

Silos at Oskar Blues, Stranahan’s go against the grain

Silos. The word brings to mind grain. Grain and nuclear warheads (at least if you lived through the Cold War). But in booze-happy Colorado, silos will soon mean something else. In Longmont, the Oskar Blues Brewery is getting ready to debut its second restaurant, Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids & Solids,…

Feed me for under 10 bucks: Virgilio’s

In a perfect world, every neighborhood would have its own version of Virgilio’s — a near-perfect pizzeria, pasta joint and pinwheel parlor, a place where residents, little leaguers, the mob, spunky ladies who lunch and anyone else who appreciates the spirit and soul of Italian food could convene at the…

Beer Pong at Tambien takes true grit

It’s not about winning. It’s about fun. Especially when you get your ass handed to you both by Denver’s monthly lifestyle magazine, 5280, and by the Tambien Beer Pong girls, who use every asset to their advantage. If Westword had won, it would have been about winning and fun. But…

Sheehan, wine and a whine-tasting

Several readers have commented on Jason Sheehan’s recent review of Sketch, particularly his confession that he’s just not that into wine: I used to think it was ­me — that I didn’t have the taste for it, that there was something magical about wine, some secret I had yet to…

This weekend: Wieners, wines and sugar highs

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 191 Inverness Drive West, is kicking off its series of summer fundraisers, named Friday Night Flights, at 6 p.m. tonight, when the testosterone-charged meatery rolls out a selection of appetizers paired with three wines for $25 per person, the proceeds of which will benefit…

Candy Girls: Bean Boozled

It all started with Harry Potter and Jelly Belly’s realization of the fictional Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.  In the books, characters indulge in the candy beans without knowing what flavor awaits them: Will they get lucky with chocolate mousse or be surprised with Worcestershire sauce or, worse, toenail?  While…

Oak Tavern takes over Monarck

After five years as an upscale club, Monarck, at 1416 Market Street, is getting back to basics. Or close enough. Lotus Concepts is reconcepting the club, which will reopen on July 16 as Oak Tavern, a more traditional saloon — and one that owner Francois Safiedinne hopes will have a…

Guess where I’m eating?

If you follow this blog with any sort of regularity, you already know that I’m wildly addicted to tacos. I would be the first person to jump up in a room full of fellow addicts, raise my fists in defeat and bellow, “Hello! My name is Lori Midson and I’m…

King of hot dogs, Oscar Mayer, passes away

First it was the King of Pop. Now, Oscar G. Mayer, the King of Hot Dogs and former chairman of the most recognizable name in wiener-ville, passed away Monday at the ripe old age of 95 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, where he was in hospice care. Mayer, who was the third…

Tonight: Steak and wine at Elway’s Downtown

Escape the stifling heat and head inside to the cool confines of Elway’s Downtown (1881 Curtis Street), the steakhouse in the Ritz-Carlton that’s hosting a winemaker’s dinner tonight with Jerry Murry, cellar master and assistant winemaker for Patton Valley Vineyards in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The dinner includes five courses, all…