To a Tea

Try the tea-infused duck at Solera. Photo by Matthew Staver. Dining in the dark and tea-infused dishes are two recent trends in restaurants; on Monday, May 5, I got to experience both at Solera Restaurant and Wine Bar (5410 East Colfax Avenue, 303-388-8429, www.solerarestaurant.com). Chef Christian “Goose” Sorensen created a…

A Real Domestic Goddess

While researching Georgetown weirdness, I learned that one of the places I wrote about in my April 24 Bite Me column — the Silver Queen bar and restaurant—once had none other than Roseanne Barr on staff in the kitchen, either as a prep cook or a sous chef. To quote…

The Best Damn Crackhead Pickle Shop in Denver

“Pickles! Pickles! Hey, man, you want one of these pickles? One dollar.” I open my mouth to speak. “Uhhh . . .” I had just walked out of the cramped convenience store on the northeast corner of East Bruce Randolph Avenue and York Street, an intersection that I call the…

Milking It: Chocolate Chex

Chocolate Chex General Mills Rating: Three spoons out of four Cereal description: The typical Chex construction: square grids with a puff in the middle, like a pillow that would leave a tic-tac-toe pattern on your cheek. Approximately half the cereal, which represents a fusion of rice, corn meal and (the…

A Fine Bromance

Earlier this week, Jason Sheehan rhapsodized about his dinner at Le Bernardin. His musings did not escape attention on the East Coast, where New York magazine’s food blog weighed in with this. All in all, quite a tasty read. But for the record: The paper is Westword. And Sheehan’s piece…

Quite a Ride

When the stretch Hummer limo emblazoned with a Hornitos sign — commandeered by a tequila-loving pal — pulled up in front of my house, I knew I was in for an unusual evening, one that would take a few twists and turns, not unlike that limo trying to maneuver the…

The Next Great Chef

What are you doing tomorrow? If the answer to that question is “nothing” and you happen to love cooking challenge shows like I do, then you should check out tomorrow’s taping of The Next Great Chef. The show will be taped for the Food Network between 10 a.m. and 4:30…

Milking It: Barbie Cereal

Barbie Multi-grain Cereal with Marshmallows Kellogg’s Rating: Two-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: The cereal pieces consist of hearts evenly split between red and purple – the latter apparently a tribute to men and women of the Armed Services who’ve been wounded in combat. There are also five different…

Free French Underground

I’ve quit a lot of things in my life. Sometimes it seems as though my entire adult life has been just one long bout of giving things up. Often, I feel like I can split my life cleanly down the middle: on one side of the division, the years I…

Introducing Milking It: Cereal Killers & Thrillers

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Milking It: Cereal Killers & Thrillers, a blog dedicated to that most beloved culinary delight, breakfast cereal. And not just any cereal. These pages will review a specific sort – the sugary kind, typically featuring a cartoony character on the box. The stuff that…

Grand Lux Cafe

I’m supposed to be anonymous in this job, and while I don’t always perform with perfect super-spy cool and élan in the dining rooms and back alleys of this city (my own private Berlin, the secret agent’s Valhalla), I do recognize a few hard and fast rules. First, never do…

One Good Thing

At Grand Lux Cafe, the kitchen tries to cook a little bit of everything — the menu runs to over a hundred plates — and does almost nothing well. I don’t blame the cooks for this sorry state of affairs. I mean, how could I? You walk into an Italian…

PS Lounge

I wanted to love PS Lounge (3416 East Colfax Avenue). Really, I did. I wanted to love the cash-only policy for its antediluvian charm. But when I returned from trekking down Colfax for cash and the bartendress wouldn’t keep a simple drink tally for me (even though I was nice…

Bees Knees

Meg is a childhood friend, and some days I believe that I learned everything important from her. She has been a force in my life since we met at West Middle School. We’ve experienced a lot together — everything from dating and dieting to divorce and death. One of my…

Does Novo Have the Best Beans?

Keen readers may have noticed we didn’t give an award for Best Coffee Shop in this year’s Best of Denver issue. There’s a reason. Coffee shop awards are the third rail of best-of editions. Most people rabidly adore their favorite java joint with the same passion usually reserved for a…

Be an Angel

Plan on eating out — a lot — on Thursday, May 1, when Dining Out For Life returns to Denver. Hundreds of restaurants will be donating 25 percent of their proceeds this day to Project Angel Heart, which delivers meals to people living with AIDS/HIV. Last year’s event raised $380,000,…

Lots of Lux

I felt I had to set down my initial impressions of the place before I lost them — before they were blown clean out of my head with shotgun severity by the next outrage. So there I was, hunched up against the wall, frantically scribbling on the back of an…

Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

Today, Tuesday April 29th, is Ben & Jerry’s annual Free Cone Day. Stop by any area location to sample one of the many delicious ice cream flavors. The only location with a Denver address is near DU at 2339 East Evans, where they will be serving from noon to 8…

Making Raves

I’ve been raving about Jeff “Maestro” Hughes, a violinist whose music mixes hip-hop sensibilities with classical technique, since I first clicked on his website . But you can catch him in person Thursday, May 1 at the Denver Food Rave, which promises plenty of other tasty entertainment, including a fourteen-model…

Dinner at Le Bernardin

I finally made it back to New York for what was not “one of,” not “among” the best meals of my life — but, plainly and simply, was the greatest meal of my life. It was only the third most expensive (coming in behind a dinner last year at the…

A Glass Act at Morton’s

The clubby atmosphere at Morton’s always makes an evening at this LoDo institution feel special (especially if you hit the cozy bar when those free steak sandwiches make their appearance). But on Monday, April 28, Morton’s will host a particularly special event: the fifth annual Wine-Tasting Benefit for the Tennyson…