The Empire Lounge and Restaurant is no dinosaur, even if its inspiration dates back to the ’70s. At the front, on a Saturday night with an overfull house and spillover crowds starting to pack the bar, I’d been given a dinosaur — a large, plastic tyrannosaurus rex—and had felt less…
After my recent Second Helping on Big Papa’s BBQ, one of my favorite barbecue joints, I received this missive from Big Papa himself: I’m glad you like my BBQ (particularly the baby backs). I’ll tell my mom that you think her potato salad recipe is bland. You should get to…
For 28 years Amici’s Pizzeria has served up pizza and basic, red-sauce Italian to north Denver neighbors from its strip-mall location at 5330 Sheridan Boulevard. But come January 2009, it’ll have a brand-new address — in the old Gemini Restaurant space at 4300 Wadsworth Boulevard. Gemini, which managed to make…
Happy Birthday to moo. Happy fifth birthday to Dubbel Dutch, a tiny store and deli at 4974 Lowell Boulevard that sells Dutch gift items like wooden shoes, as well as groceries and such specialty items as stroopwafels (syrup waffle), speculaasjes (windmill cookies), hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles), poffertjes (little pancakes), kaas (cheeses)…
The Colorado Department of Agriculture says it’s open to any chef willing to throw that giant white hat into the frying pan – as long as they’re cooking up recipes involving such Colorado grown products as onions, squash, apples or last month’s pumpkins. But apparently not everyone got the memo…
Buenos Aires has cut itself another piece of Colorado’s dining pie. Four years ago, Francis Carrera gambled on Buenos Aires Pizzeria, an Argentinian pizza joint that he opened in a modest storefront at the then-unhip address of 1307 22nd Street, just off Larimer. And then he gambled again in June…
The Davies diner horse has overlooked West Colfax for fifty years. In the beginning, there was Davies Chuck Wagon Diner, a classic diner that’s stood sentinel at 9495 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood for fifty years now, serving up the area’s Best Chicken Fried Steak as well as other greasy-spoon…
Mee Yee Lin was once the town’s best dim sum restaurant. But that was before Super Star Asian moved into Alameda Square, and Mee Yee Lin left its down-at-the-heels home at 3090 West Alameda for a much bigger space out east, at 2295 South Chambers Road in Aurora. My meals…
The New York Daily News is reporting that three chefs are in the running for the new White House chef job: Art Smith, personal chef to Oprah Winfrey and owner of Chicago’s Table Fifty-Two; Rick Bayless, owner of Rick Bayless Topolobampo and Frontera Grill, two restaurants in Chicago; and Daniel…
The original Tosh’s Hacienda, post-expansion. Tosh’s may be making a comeback: After surrendering his landmark restaurant in Five Points to a mountain of debt, Ruben Tracy Mackintosh has filed for a liquor license for Tosh’s Cantina at 8101 East Belleview Avenue down in Marina Square. For close to fifty years,…
Start your next two-meal day at The Kitchen, in Boulder (Photo from thekitchencafe.com). Note: Writing this made the author extremely hungry and on pace for an 11:45 lunch break. Readers who brought Lean Cuisine to work should read with caution. I entertained an out-of-town guest this weekend. And because said…
Disney’s Princess Fairytale Flakes General Mills Rating: A half spoon out of four Cereal description: Flakes made of corn — in other words, corn flakes. Except that these corn flakes are particularly thick and sharp; a martial-arts expert could probably use them as a substitute for Chinese throwing stars. And…
Last week, a reader was hungering for paella. Now it’s someone wondering where they can get their goose on goose for Thanksgiving. Does anyone know of a restaurant flipping that bird on November 27? For a comprehensive list of restaurants serving the traditional turkey, try open table. Sadly, that site…
The Landmark project in Greenwood Village is still waiting for some of its tenants to appear, but the New York Times didn’t wait to salute the development. In a November 9 story headlined “A Luxury Development Thrives in Denver,” the paper asked “why is this project doing so well while…
I know we’ve already reported at length about the new vibe (casual) and new concept (not so French) at Aix Restaurant and Wine Bar at 719 East 17th Avenue. I know we’ve talked about alterations made in light of the current economy, talking Aix back to a classic bistro model…
Is that cilantro between his teeth? George Ayala still can’t believe that the next president of the United States sat in his restaurant for lunch. Luckily, Ayala, owner of Jorge’s Sombrero, 1319 East Evans Avenue, in Pueblo, has a ton of pictures to commemorate the visit by Barack and Michelle…
Sign of the times. Ocean, the last restaurant in Jim Sullivan’s once-mighty empire of eateries, closed in late September, and soon, an auction company will be offering some Ocean-front property. Signs posted by the City of Denver’s treasurer and an auction company on the windows at the former Cherry Creek…
I love oranges and cream together. Those Dreamsicles really are dreamy in my mind, and I’ve also developed quite a fondness for Stewart’s Orange ‘n Cream soda. First Reactions: When I spied these new Sunkist Float sodas, described as “a creamy blend of Sunkist soda and ice cream flavor,” I…
A ticket to fried. It’s hard to miss the yellow envelope snuggly nestled on your car — you can see it from down the block. But the fact is you didn’t feed the pay station machine that smugly governs the block or the insatiable meter enough cash and now you…
Tooey’s Off Colfax just opened in the onetime janleone space at 1521 Marion Street. Most recently Club Boca, the address had been vacant for close to a year before the new owners took it over on October 15, and they burned some serious midnight oil in order to get it…
It seems that a couple with a jones for tacos (and obviously no taste whatsoever) got the ultimate happy meal last month when they found a bag of weed kindly tucked in with their takeout order from Del Taco at 5240 South Wadsworth Boulevard. Now, did this fine, upstanding couple…
I’ve always loved Indian food, and since becoming a vegetarian six years ago, I’ve fallen for it even harder. The cuisine offers an abundance of exciting vegetarian options, including my standby dishes of saag paneer (cheese cubes in creamy spinach) and samosas. But every Indian restaurant I visit seems to…
