La Sandía is an absolutely beautiful restaurant. It hits that magic balance between light and dark, design and open space, and it seems to glow. In the middle of Stapleton, where everything is new and aloof and distant — all hard surfaces, right angles, mercilessly focus-grouped corporate logos, and clean…
Remember The Restaurant, the reality show that crashed Rocco DiSpirito’s career? Remember all the pissing and moaning about how Rocco seemed to spend all his time zipping around on his Vespa and tongue-kissing B-list celebs while his restaurant fell to pieces? Yeah, well, as anyone who’s had any dealings with…
This week’s lesson is ethics, which are very important if human society is to progress. Without ethics, you end up with such horrors as insider trading, Enron, the United Nations and Ralph Nacchio. Luckily, most people are ethical; the problem is that ethical behavior is often in the eye of…
Loud motorcycle, muffled manhood. Recently a group of my friends decided to meet for brunch, ideally in a spot with a great outdoor patio where we could enjoy the glorious weather. Tired of our normal routine, we hit on El Noa Noa, a Mexican mainstay that dates back to long…
Zengo has always been the weird cousin in the Richard Sandoval restaurant family, the guy with his shirt unbuttoned a little too low, his breath smelling of sweet wine and peppermints, the relative who — if you had to pick someone — would be the relative most likely to have…
Because Richard Sandoval has so many restaurants to keep track of, because he is one of those multi-unit chefs who seems driven to collect addresses the way some kids collect baseball cards, he has no day-to-day control over his properties. He sets a concept, writes a menu, staffs up with…
There are seventeen items on the menu at Montecito. Today there are seventeen items. That might change tomorrow, next week. And those seventeen items involve about ninety ingredients (a rough guess, because I’m making a lot of assumptions on prep and construction) that are stashed in the restaurant’s pantry, in…
When Andy Ho and May Giang announced they’d be opening a new restaurant at 603 East Sixth Avenue, in the space that had been Emma’s, I didn’t shed any tears. I’d never been crazy for Emma’s the way some people were — for that slightly stuffy, somewhat over-romanticized Victorian house…
When a woman over the age of thirty asks where she and her single friends should go for a drink, I always suggest Capital Grille. Yes, I know I’ve derided chain restaurants time and again, but for some reason, upscale steakhouse chains don’t have the same taint (don’t get me…
As they only have a few remaining months here in Denver, we’ve decided that the Scottish Representative and his wife need as much exposure to our stunted version of America as possible. The real challenge will be avoiding overexposure of ourselves in the process. There are some truly American institutions…
My buddy Gracie and I were sitting at the end of the bar, drinking whiskey and talking about Kurt Vonnegut. Gracie is a beer snob, a Rust Belt kid like me in town for some computer conference; he’s also incredibly well-read and a Vonnegut fan. I’d made some passing mention…
Chef Adam Mali’s also a floorwalker, which bothered me a little. When I see a chef working the room, shaking hands, making nice with the customers, all I can think is that with him on the floor loving up the crowd, who’s in the galley watching my agnolotti or expo-ing…
Where I grew up, in upstate New York, there was no Mexican food. No tacos. No burritos. Just a Taco Bell down on Ridge Road (which did not count at all) and a few square feet of shelf space at Wegman’s dedicated to Latino foods: a couple bags of stale…
The revolution has begun — in Niwot. Last fall, chef Bradford Heap (late of Full Moon Grill and the Chautauqua Dining Hall) and his wife, Carol, bought Le Chantecler from Liz Darling, who had taken the place in a settlement after she split with former owner Radek Cerny. For the…
Rosie’s Diner 14061 East Iliff Avenue, Aurora 303-752-3663 www.rosies-diner.com I have never been a morning person. Most days, it would take a major crisis to get me out of bed before 10 a.m. And if I’ve had a late night, a rough night or been forced to self-medicate with black-cherry…
For me, venturing into Northfield was like entering Dante’s ninth circle of Hell. I don’t like malls or chain stores, and Ling & Louie’s promise to deliver “an East meets West love story told in food” did not bode well. But the happy hour that runs from 4 to 7…
Cravings are bad. Whether you crave drink, food, nicotine, attention, women or drink, you often find yourself doing things that you wouldn’t normally do while in pursuit of your obsession. As a result, cravings lead to world wars, religious extremism and most major crimes. And hangovers. I was really craving…
Okay, so the last place I ever expected to find a fantastic sandwich was at Montecito — the new restaurant from the Master family, open since December at 1120 East Sixth Avenue. Some great fish? Yes. Great apps? Absolutely — and constantly being tinkered with by chef Adam Mali. And…
Estillo Mexicano—those were the magic words at Tacos D.F. Mexican style: just spice and meat—rough-chopped grilled steak, marinated in God knows what, with caramelized onions in the case of the asada, and naked chopped pork, redolent of char for the carnitas. If you had to gussy up the tacos, there…
Via has had a tough run. In the summer of 2005, it took over the former home of Brasserie Rouge, whose sudden death is still spoken of in hushed tones by those in the industry — no doubt for fear of bottom-feeding lawyers overhearing the stories and then trying to…
By Thursday, the calls and e-mails had already begun — the complaints, the disputes, the polite thank-yous from winners and strange, ominous silences from those shut out of the Best of Denver 2007. In the interest of democracy and spirited debate, this year we’ve made it even easier for you…
The week after the Best of Denver 2007 is the perfect time to revisit Chama for a Second Helping. Why? Because at Chama, chef Sean Yontz proves that coming in second is not a bad thing. Chama has been a perennial runner-up since it opened almost eighteen months ago (“Dirty…
