Bite Me

The two Ted’s Montana Grill eateries that recently opened (at 1401 Larimer Street and 7301 South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton) serve beer and wine only. Why, you may ask? I was wondering the same thing, so I called the Larimer Square location with what I thought was a very…

Consumed

Adam Avery is the patron saint of Colorado’s gonzo beer lovers. As the owner and founder (with his father) of Boulder’s Avery Brewing Company, for the past ten years he’s been making the state’s most assertive, mouth-whomping beers. While much of Colorado’s craft trade has focused on accessible, middle-of the-road…

Drink of the Week

At Steamboat Springs, the destination better known as “Ski Town USA,” you can immerse yourself in champagne powder all day long. But après ski, the indulgence of choice is the bright-yellow Chicarita served up at Dos Amigos, a Mexican restaurant that’s been a fixture in the mountain village since 1975…

A Beautiful Dine

Two things you should know about Opal right from the start. One, it’s expensive. Not quite once-in-a-lifetime, mortgage-the-condo expensive, but to do it right — to really kick out the jams with appetizers, flights of sushi, wine, entrees and dessert — it’s gonna cost you. And two, it’s worth every…

Bite Me

January 23 marked another small victory for the forces of clean air and intrusive legislative fanaticism, as Denver’s Board of Environmental Health voted 4-0 in favor of a resolution recommending amendments to a circa-1986 city smoking ordinance that would drastically increase limitations on smoking. (Chairman Leo Goto recused himself because…

Drink of the Week

Irish Car Bomb The Irish Hound 575 St. Paul St. 303-996-0709 Sure, the name’s politically incorrect, but an Irish Car Bomb ($6) will start your big night with a bang. And the Irish Hound, Denver’s hot new Celtic bar, is just the place to let ‘er rip. Although the drink…

Net Loss

Lunch at Roy’s Cherry Creek was fantastic — comfortable, cheery, leisurely, and deeply, profoundly satisfying. Over my long history of long lunches, rarely have I had a better one. It helped that Roy’s space, just to the right of the valet stand at Cherry Creek Shopping Center, was made for…

Bite Me

Everyone is going Hollywood these days. First, Chipotle — that home-grown chain of burrito joints that’s slowly taking over the world with a little help from now-majority-owner McDonald’s Corporation — got a massive pop-culture bump on a recent episode of MTV’s The Osbournes. Ozzy, everyone’s favorite stumbling, stuttering, shuffling dad,…

Consumed

Haggis is the souse of Scotland, a meaty mystery traditionally made of ground sheep organs, oats and spices, boiled together in a sheep’s stomach. It’s a peasant dish with hundreds of years of history (both pleasant and unpleasant) and a pungent smell that lingers almost as long. “You smell it…

Drink of the Week

If you’re looking for a place to watch the big game this Sunday, head directly to Chopper’s Sports Grill — and get there early, because the place will be packed. Chopper’s, named for Bob “Chopper” Travaglini, the late, beloved Denver Nuggets trainer, is a real sports bar, with memorabilia and…

The Grill Next Door

Just go ahead and sit anywhere, guys. We’ll find you.” Happy hour at the Stout Pub. Cheap drafts and well drinks at recession-friendly prices, soggy blue corn nachos and an appetizer lineup borrowing heavily from the Midwestern “Everybody loves fried cheese!” school of menu design. Behind the bar, bottles lined…

Bite Me

Over the holidays, I received this charming missive from Julie: “I read your December 5 ‘Smoke Free or Die’ with interest, and I agree that legislating a smoke-free policy is terrible for Denver businesses as well as the unfortunate patrons who just want a place to eat, drink and have…

Drink of the Week

Sushi Den, filled with beautiful, impeccably dressed people eating perfectly arranged sashimi and unagi rolls, is as popular as ever — which means the wait for a table can be brutal. If you’re starving, that sucks. But if you’re thirsty for both killer drinks and company, nursing Saketinis and popping…

A Rare Bird

One of the best reasons to eat at an ethnic restaurant is to sample another culture relatively risk-free, without the expense, hassle and occasional danger associated with actually traveling to far-flung corners of the globe in search of pigeon pie or the perfect shark taco. You don’t have to pack…

Bite Me

Another one bites the dust: Okay, so I gave the guy a break when he did it at Dandelion, but now uber-chef Kevin Taylor has gone and closed the doors on Nicois (815 17th Street) without any warning to his staff, dropping the hammer just after the big ball dropped…

Consumed

Forget “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” What serious beer lovers crave most is a bottleless brew, kegged suds that flow like the good stuff at the pub down the street. But at-home keg beer has always been too bulky and costly for most beer nuts. Enter the Party…

Drink of the Week

Roll out the red carpet! There’s a hip new place to drink in Denver! Forest Room 5, which opened six days before Christmas, is housed in an old Denver firehouse (#5) on what used to be Forest Street — and is now the main drag between Highland and LoDo. The…

In Vino Veritas

The wine room at Adega Restaurant + Wine Bar is made of glass and green light. It’s a powerful presence, beautiful in the way that cubist art can be, or a ’50s-era Hugo Gernsback-inspired Greyhound bus station. There’s an undeniably weird majesty in the geometric arrangement of its towering shelves,…

Bite Me

Yes, it’s that time of year again, and I’ve been sitting here at Bite Me World HQ trying to think of ways to improve this column in 2003. For starters, I was thinking of moving the entire operation to some tiny island in the South Pacific, where the tropical breezes…

Drink of the Week

As many of Denver’s seedier neighborhoods undergo gentrification and John’s TV floods our public airwaves, finding a hooker in thigh-high boots walking Colfax just isn’t as easy as it used to be. But the Lounge, a swank, newish joint on the corner of Colfax and Marion Street, stays true to…

It’s My Party

All through the run-up to this holiday season, people were asking what I’d be doing for dinner: on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, on New Year’s Eve and the day after. They asked expectantly, assuming that I’d be doing something fabulous. Maybe they thought that, as a restaurant critic, I…

Drink of the Week

Everyone knows you can’t ring in the new year without popping the tops off several magnums of champagne. But if you prefer your bubbly mixed with a little hard stuff, Rhino serves up champagne cocktails that should add buzz to your big night. La Playa ($9), made with Bacardi O,…