In the dog-mangia-dog world of Italian restaurants, local eateries must work hard to create something that sets them apart. No longer is specializing in the food of Northern Italy or offering a wine roster of small regional vineyards enough, because someone else has already thought of it. “We noticed that…
Fighting fire with fire: Sally Rock and Dale Goin have had more than their share of ups and downs with the space at 1585 South Pearl originally occupied by their Philadelphia Filly–several attempts to sell the restaurant or have someone else take it over have fallen through, and the group…
Bone of contention: Sam Taylor, former proprietor of Sam Taylor’s Bar-B-Q at City Park and maker of the best ribs in Denver, came under fire this past year for alleged non-payment of commissions to the city through the restaurant–an amount Denver auditor Don Mares tallies at $50,000. Taylor claims it…
So we went to the cafe named for the famous writer known for his terse, staccato sentences and we marveled at the credible reproduction of a Key West restaurant down to the exposed bricks and breezy marina decor and we ate the food and it was bland. As the menu…
From the Fifties coffee shop where a sandwich, a piece of pie and a cup of joe was the standard order, to the smoky Sixties coffeehouse where you could wave your clove cigarettes in time with the bad Kerouac, to the gleaming chain-owned coffee emporiums of the Nineties, food and…
If at second you don’t succeed: The coffeehouse biz can be a real grind, and no one knows that better than the Art of Coffee. For the second time in two years, this LoDo meeting place has closed its doors at 1836 Blake Street, and this time, it sounds like…
Tools of the trade: Like those of most foodies, my kitchen drawers need to be opened with a certain amount of care and apprehension. An aggressive yank will only serve to intensify the orgy of kitchen gadgets under way inside. Oh, it’s ugly: The lemon zester’s mixed up with the…
We were halfway through our entrees when we realized what we’d been doing since the start of the meal. Here we were at Little Nell, the Aspen restaurant voted by Gourmet readers as one of the 25 Top Tables in the United States this fall, and all we could do…
Out with the old, in with the new: Is the restaurant scene hopping, or what? In just one week in December, six new restaurants opened. (A seventh, Del Frisco, a southeast Denver steak place, postponed its debut scheduled for that same week until January.) The newcomers: Cucina Cucina, Bella Ristorante…
Having a potentially fatal food allergy and trying a new restaurant is a little like jumping into a one-night stand of unprotected sex: You have to have faith that someone you know nothing about is telling you the truth. My poison: dill in any form. Since it shuts down my…
Here’s a good New Year’s resolution for public-relations people: Stop sending so much junk mail along with press releases. Every two weeks I recycle at least forty pounds (that’s not an exaggeration, because I can barely carry it out to the curb) of paper, the majority of which is excess…
Over the past year I’ve eaten the food of more than 200 restaurants, including 32 Italian spots, 15 Chinese, 5 steak, 4 French, 2 fusion and 1 Japanese/Salvadoran. Some meals stuck with me longer than others–the Japanese/ Salvadoran dinner, for one–and some provided memories that will stick with me for…
Read-letter daze: In response to a statement I made that Parker lacks “decent pizza” (Mouthing Off, November 21), the owner of a Parker pizzeria wrote to ask if I’d eaten at her Mak’s Pizza, Subs & Ice Cream, at 10841 South Parker Road. “If you have not been to Mak’s,”…
The holidays cry out for traditional activities, so this year a few harried wives and mothers in my neighborhood collaborated to start what we hope becomes an annual “Girls’ Night Out.” The original intention was to hire a limo–that way no one would get stuck as the designated driver–and go…
Tempting fate: It was my first fortune-cookie message completely out of the realm of possibility. “The secrets of seven dynasties will be revealed to you,” claimed the slip of paper I found in the cookie with my to-go order from Pavilion restaurant (see review above). Not a chance: When I…
Before I left on a trip to New York many years ago, I called an old college buddy who’d grown up there and asked him for restaurant recommendations. He gave me about ten names, including an eatery on the edge of Chinatown that he said served some of the best…
Foie gripe, part II: Talk about your wild goose chases. I’ve been following foie gras around for weeks now, and guess where it’s brought me: right back to Denver. I initially waded into these waters with my November 7 review of Tante Louise, “Fedded Bliss,” that mentioned its “humane” foie…
The sign outside the modest Lancer Lounge promised Salvadoran and Japanese food, a combination so unusual we couldn’t resist popping in for a multicultural bite to eat. Never mind that we were overdressed (one member of our group was wearing a suit, something the Lancer probably hasn’t seen since they…
Foie gripe: My mention of Hudson Valley Foie Gras in the November 7 Tante Louise review, “Fedded Bliss”–particularly my use of the word “humane” in conjunction with the duck liver I’d eaten–prompted reader Amy Crews to request more information about Hudson Valley and its purportedly “humane” foie gras. “Being aware…
Most couples promise to stay married “for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health,” but no wedding vow directly addresses the problems unique to twosomes who take on restaurants. Of course, the “richer or poorer” part applies, but so does “and when the dishwasher calls in sick and…
Withered on the vine: Cliff Young has shut down Napa Cafe, at 2033 East Colfax Avenue. This isn’t the first Young venture to close abruptly, leaving employees jobless and disgruntled. One such casualty of Napa left a bitter voicemail message wherein he listed all of Young’s closed restaurants–several of which…
At the rate they’re going, the partners in the Larimer Group have only to open a Sephardic-Ethiopian restaurant and they’ll have the culinary bases pretty much covered. They’ve already done Italian at Josephina’s, upscale Mexican at Mexicali Cafe, American pub grub and microbrews at Champion Brewing Co. and Southwestern-meets-the-rest-of-the-world at…
