Like its agave-derivative namesake, Mezcal — the upscale Mexican cantina that opened on East Colfax last December — is getting slammed on a nightly basis. And rightly so. From its glowing Moroccan lamps and sunny walls painted with Sol Cerveza advertisements to such kitschy decorations as a chrome low-rider bike…
I am always amazed by the clarity of thought and flawless logic displayed by members of the Institute of Drinking Studies. In a recent post-Avalanche game wrap-up at the Pepsi Center’s Blue Sky Grill, we solved several of the world’s problems. As is too often the case, however, we could…
New York-style pizza is a tricky thing. In the places where it’s done properly — on the island of Manhattan, in one of the boroughs or, with rapidly declining rightness, in any of the cities that make up the outer estates of the Pizza Kingdom — it’s not even called…
Everyone on the bandwagon! We’re headin’ down to Atkinstown and don’t wanna leave nobody behind… Atkins is everywhere these days. The eponymous diet that Dr. Robert Atkins stumped for pretty much non-stop from the moment his first book on the subject was published (Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution, 1972) until his…
I loved Miami Vice, with its sexy yachts, fast cars and dangerous criminals. And since it went off the air in 1989, Friday nights have never been the same for me — I still miss Sonny Crockett. But life goes on. And if, like me, you prowl the streets of…
I was somewhat leery of meeting Bleary-Eyed Reader Matt K. at his favorite local bar, the Sundown Saloon (1136 Pearl Street, Boulder), because you’d think I’d have better things to do with my time than meet a complete stranger at a bar thirty miles away — things like picking the…
We stood in front of Sherpa’s Adventurers Restaurant, Laura and I, like Hansel and Gretel before the gingerbread house, peering through the dusty windows, looking for some sign of life in the dim interior. What tables we could see were set with wineglasses, white cloths and crimson napkins stiffly folded…
A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.” John Tudor said that, and he was right — which is why I’m not going to repeat everything I’ve heard over the last few weeks about the Hilltop Cafe out in Golden. Instead, I’m going to…
Over the two decades that he’s operated Wolfe’s Barbeque, Louis Wolfe has seen many a rib joint come and go. The reason so much barbecue bites the dust? “Other people don’t think it’s as good as you do,” says Wolfe. “To you, it’s a beautiful baby, but to others, it’s…
It’s a club with no membership rules, no initiation fees, and dues that vary depending on how much liquor you can consume in one sitting. For more than five decades, Don’s Club Tavern has been one of the most inclusive joints in Denver, a home away from home for everyone…
It’s time to start planning the biggest event of the year, your Super Bowl party. I don’t get as riled up about the game as I used to — I think it’s because players now change teams as often as they change their jockstraps — but I do still love…
No, no…Jason, you gotta listen. This place, it’s going to be great! We’ve got a chef coming in from Suriname. I don’t even know where that is, and the guy doesn’t speak a word of English, but he makes this yak-butter soup you won’t believe!” I get calls like that…
Wow: I knew burgers were important, but I never knew quite how important until I opened the can of worms that is the Tommy’s/In-N-Out/Fatburger debate in the January 1 Bite Me. Since then, the Bite Me HQ mailroom has been flooded with letters, e-mails, screeds and missives on a variety…
For centuries, being banished to snowy Siberia was a fate worse than death for citizens of Russia. If you’d like to experience some authentic, icy Russian culture, without the forced labor, stop by Red Square Euro Bistro in Writer Square. On a blustery January evening, our thickly accented bartender poured…
I am on a roll in this new year, and I’m pretty sure I may be a candidate for sainthood. While I know that bleary-eyed readers are already well-acquainted with my piety, I’ve recently performed the requisite three miracles that should get me an all-expenses-paid trip to Rome and the…
No doubt about it: I have the best job in the world. Make that one of the best jobs in the world, because there are other good careers out there, and I don’t want to step on any toes. International playboy, for a start. Professional coffee taster. Sole heir to…
As an American, your odds of dying from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — a variation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow — are roughly one in a million. Odds of dying in a car accident? One in 242, according to the National Safety Council. Odds of dying by falling “out of or…
In unofficial (and perhaps unintentional) homage to Chicago’s entertainment ringmaster Billy Flynn, the spirited Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge performs lots of alcoholic hocus-pocus with its Razzle Dazzle martini. The delicious, bright yellow Razzle Dazzle ($7) is made by combining Bacardi Raspberry with orange juice and champagne, then served up in…
I wasn’t able to go home to Minnesota over the holidays, but I did manage to find an enclave of natives at Cadillac Jack’s (2250 South Monaco Parkway), where my world ended a few weekends ago. Perhaps you remember this particular Sunday: The Vikings lost to the Arizona state high…
He’s just a kid, maybe ten years old, with very new white sneakers that don’t quite reach the floor and martinet parents like something out of Dickens or the grayer volumes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Society types with ramrod postures and delicate, picky little hands. They’re older, but definitely not…
Had Charlie Huang opened Little Ollie’s Asian Cafe, his all-American noodle shack, among the nail salons and after-market car shops along South Federal Boulevard, deep in one of the area’s several versions of Chinatown (or Koreatown, or Vietnamtown, or whatever), he would have been laughed off the block. That’s the…
Even the most devoted cook appreciates time away from his passions. I learned this years ago, when my father bought my mother her first microwave oven. I can still see Mom bawling as she unwrapped her gift. “Mrs. Widmer got diamonds for Christmas,” she sobbed, “and I get something to…
