Food & Drink

Matt Fackler took his inspiration for Relish from Colorado. Lemon braised artichoke with roasted garlic herb butter. Venison carpaccio with Humboldt Fog blue cheese, organic olive oil and black pepper. Chicken fingers (for lack of a better term), smoked and fried and served with summer sweet corn and blue crab…

It’s quickly becoming the story that never ends. After the surprise announcement on September 29 that Jim Sullivan was closing both Nine75 (975 Lincoln Street) and Ocean (201 Columbine Street) — the last two properties remaining in the Sullivan Restaurant Group—and all the fallout that came from staff suddenly left…

There have been lots of problems at the Landmark project in Greenwood Village — prices up, tenants out. (At one point, Sparrow was going to not only open a second restaurant in the development, but a market — but then the restaurant on Seventh Avenue closed, and Sparrow Market Cafe…

Photos by Nancy Levine. See more after the jump. I am a creature of habit, and there are a few events I look forward to every fall. I’ve attended Oktoberfest since I was old enough to drive, although I’m still confused as to why it’s in September. And no sooner…

We’ve learned a lot about fainting goats — also known as stiff-legged goats and nervous goats, goats whose propensity for falling down have earned them their own international society — since we heard that an outfit called The Fainting Goat has applied for a liquor license at 846 Broadway, just…

Steve Lerach wrote Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants as his thesis as he prepared to become a culinary instructor in Minnesota. Because of its academic orientation, the book includes historical accounts of cooking intertwined with Lerach’s own experiences in the kitchen over the decades – and even a few…

The Landmark project in Greenwood Village will get a big boost this week, when Comedy Works South finally opens. But what was supposed to be one of the development’s big tenants was grounded long ago: Sparrow was once going to open not just a second restaurant that played off the…

October is National Chili Month! But here in Denver, the only chili that matters is spelled with an “e,” and features those hot, hot peppers now being roasted up and down Federal Boulevard. So all this month, chile fans will be weighing in on their favorites around town. Green chile…

While other chains are pulling back, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers just keeps growing. This morning, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers — which got its start outside the University of Washington in the ’40s, but moved its national headquarters to Greenwood Village in 1996 — is opening its 22nd Colorado restaurant at…

Frosted Rice Krispies Kellogg’s Rating: Two spoons out of four Cereal description: Toasted kernels of crispy puffed rice visually differentiated from regular Rice Krispies by… nothing. Yep, they look identical, which means keeping Frosted Krispies and their namesake segregated must be a bitch…

Almost right on schedule, Moe’s Original BBQ opens today at 2395 South Broadway, in the former Falcon space next to the Gothic Theatre, and we hear the place should be smoking! Moe’s is originally out of Tuscaloosa, but the company moved its headquarters to Vail eight years ago…

I’ve been hearing about these new “upscale” M&M’s for awhile, and have been really eager to try them since our earlier foray into new M&M’s flavors had gotten mixed reviews. We really enjoyed the Limited Edition Wild Cherry M&M’s, but the Indiana Jones Special Edition Mint Crisps just tasted wrong…

Ex-employees say Jim Sullivan ran his empire like the dictator he named a restaurant after. Since Monday, when I posted my first blog about the sudden closure of Nine75 and Ocean — Jim Sullivan’s last two Sullivan Restaurant Group operations — my phone has been ringing off the hook. Some…

Now that Ocean has closed, no one will ever make a reservation at Oceanaire thinking they’re dining in Cherry Creek. But once you step inside Oceanaire, the Denver link in a national chain of upscale seafood houses that debuted last year at 1400 Arapahoe Street, you could never mistake it…

Not only am I a very budget-conscious shopper and eater, I have also been a vegetarian for nearly seven years and am married to a lifelong vegetarian. So I know a thing or two about finding affordable, planet- and animal-friendly eats around town. In the weekly Veggie Girl, I’ll be…

“I always bite the right side first…” If I know my fans (and I think I do), I’ll bet that every single one of you — Democrat, Republican or Independent, naturalized citizen or space alien here on those secret intergalactic visas given out by NASA — wants to know what…

October is National Chili Month! But here in Denver, the only chili that matters is spelled with an “e,” and features those hot, hot peppers now being roasted up and down Federal Boulevard. So all this month, chile fans will be weighing in on their favorites around town. I come…

For a slide show from their romantic night, go to westword.com/slideshow. For the video, go here. Irina Voronina sucks at beer pong. Or Beirut, if you prefer that name, which I most certainly do. That’s how the distinctly college game in which competitors stand on either side of a table…

Last week, I got stuck in three “best pizza in blahblahblah” discussions. One was a drunken confession. One was a declarative statement: If I didn’t agree that this was the best pizza ever made, I was some kind of idiot. And one was almost a fistfight over thin-crust-versus-sorta-thin-crust, an angry,…