Stellar service at Cafe Star

The customer was always right at Cafe Star Sunday. I went to Cafe Star, at 3201 East Colfax Avenue, last night with my friend, Cathy, for the Sunday night special. It’s a great deal: $12 for either a pizza or pasta entree with a glass of wine. Cathy’s a vegetarian,…

Milking It: Special K Cinnamon Pecan

Special K Cinnamon Pecan Kellogg’s Rating: Three spoons out of four Cereal description: Brown-tinted flakes made of rice and wheat of various shapes, sizes and textures. Imagine a topographical map of a mountainous region run through a blender set on “chop.” Pecans are part of the combination, too, but finding…

Some good dim sum news at Alameda Square

Super Star Asian could be on the move. Some good news for those as depressed as I am over the coming “revitalization” of Alameda Square at 2200 West Alameda Avenue, home to some of my favorite spots in Denver. I have it from a good source that several of the…

Ka-ching! Blake Street Vault opens its doors

For months, the former American Costume Company has been undergoing a transformation — and you now can see the results for yourself, since Blake Street Vault has finally opened its doors at 1526 Blake Street. The restaurant/bar’s opening this week was a few weeks behind schedule, but as one partner…

One time only! My Brother’s opens on a Sunday

Never on Sunday. That’s the unofficial motto of My Brother’s Bar, the classic, signless joint at 2376 15th Street, which has always been closed on Sundays. Until now. For one Sunday, and one Sunday only, My Brother’s will be open from 2-6 p.m. on September 7. But it will only…

Candy Girls: Brach’s Milkmaid Caramel Apple Candy Corn

We know there are candy corn detractors out there, but the Candy Girls can’t help loving the seasonal treats that appear as fall rolls around. While we would normally wait until next month to start in on candies that might otherwise appear in the Halloween category, it’s been so positively…

Marczyk for Market!

Meaty promises. Obama! McCain! Udall! Ron Paul! Lois Court! Joshua Sharf! Marczyk! Driving around Denver last week, it seemed that every other car had a political bumper sticker on the back and every third house had a candidate’s sign staked out front. And as the election season heats up, the…

Bistro One joins the lunch bunch

Things didn’t go well for chef Olav Peterson at Euro, but his move to South Broadway seems to be going smoothly. After a few months of just dinner and brunches at Bistro One, 1294 South Broadway, he and owner Alex Waters have started lunch service, with an emphasis on seasonal…

Local eateries sum up the DNC action — or lack thereof

So it’s over. The political circus has folded the big top, loaded all the donkeys and elephants, packed up the clown cars and skipped town. Was it fun? Hell, yeah. I wish it was still going on, would go on forever, if only for the sudden injection of action and…

Surviving the shrieks at Sengers on the Fax

It’s not the volume of the screams that’s so troubling; it’s the pitch. “Shrill” is the first adjective that comes to mind, then “piercing.” We’re sitting on the back patio of Sengers on the Fax (3014 East Colfax Avenue), trying not to stare as a table of sequined tank tops…

Indulge, William Wahl’s French bistro, leaves no diner behind

Serving dinner for one is as important as doing the same for a multitude. Absent all considerations of circumstance, every single diner deserves the absolute best from everyone involved: This is the essence of professional service, of French service in particular, the core truth that makes being a servant a…

Taste the rip-off at A Taste of Colorado

That’ll be nine dollars, please. Is it just me, or did prices go way up at A Taste of Colorado? The outdoor eatin’ extravaganza just held its 25th anniversary of offering Denver’s regular festival-goers a greater array of food options than turkey legs and corn dogs. But after checking it…

Papa John’s gets a pizza the DNC action

They’ve got a lot of crust… Of all the goofball promos tied to the Democratic National Convention, the goofiest may have been the massive outdoor billboard for Papa John’s: a six-acre crop circle in a wheat field near Denver International Airport that appeared in early August, promoting the company’s new,…

Milking It: Froot Loops Marshmallow

Froot Loops Marshmallow Kellogg’s Rating: Three and a half spoons out of four Cereal description: Yellow, green, orange, red, purple and blue circles of “multi-grain” cereal — meaning an amalgamation of corn, wheat and oat flour swirled together in a slather of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. (Bet fully hydrogenated vegetable…

Should we eat at Lala, Lola, Lele or Lulu?

Poor Lala’s. If the history of the space at 410 East Seventh Avenue wasn’t enough to contend with, the new upscale pizzeria and wine bar also has to battle phonetics. I can hear the conversation now. “Hon, tonight should we eat at Lala’s?” “How about Lola?” “Actually I kind of…

From Barack Obama to Carl’s Pizza

Carl’s, please don’t change! Change can make a person hungry. And after standing in line in the sun for two and a half hours, watching speeches and bands for another five (Yes We Can!), hearing constantly about change, and then being funneled nearly a mile in the wrong direction by…

The early birds catch Harry Smith at Racines

By this morning, most of the big names from the Democratic National Convention, Hollywood and the traveling press will have packed up their bags and headed for home (or the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention). But for those of you who just aren’t quite ready to let it…

Eavesdropping on Dems on the 16th Street Mall

The 16th Street Mall today was the same mess it’s been for a week: ugly T-shirts, people selling ugly T-shirts and bewildered delegates and staffers haggling over a final-day discount on said ugly T-shirts. I dropped in to see my buddy Biker Jim at Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs in Skyline…