Party like my grandma! When I asked my mother if she wanted to try Steuben’s, she wondered aloud, “Why does that name sound so familiar to me?” And when we walked into this new restaurant on 17th Avenue, it came to her: When my mom was a little girl growing…
The Food and Drug Administration should start requiring warning labels, or at least ingredient lists, on all margaritas. This would undoubtedly decrease work days lost, liver-transplant rates for those of us not lucky enough to be upstanding Americans like David Crosby or Larry Hagman, and the volume of next-day bleating…
Two-Fisted Mario’s must drive John Pool nuts. Here he’s doing his international thing, throwing down the masala pizzas and the lobster pizzas and the freaky rattlesnake pizzas — but at 9 p.m. on a Friday night, there’s no one at Pizzeria Mundo (see review). Meanwhile, just around the corner, Two-Fisted…
His Presidential-ness George Bush is scheduled to visit our fair city tomorrow. What the fuck is Dubya doing darkening our collective doorsteps this time? Why, politickin’, of course. He’ll be in town for a $1000-a-plate lunch in the Cherry Hills home of Charlie Gallagher (of the private equity firm Gallagher…
For barbecue fanatics, summer is like one lengthy treasure hunt, a months-long stretch when, every weekend, the faithful can pile into their cars and strike out for the mountains or the plains in search of the next find. As with all great adventures, most of us have no idea where…
Unlike Cabin Creek Smokehouse BBQ (see review, page 53), Yazoo Barbecue Company is not the kind of place you have to scout out. This white-cement bunker — occasionally wreathed in smoke, partially walled in by a chain-link fence — is right in the heart of downtown at 2150 Broadway, just…
I’ll have the bread pudding — hold the bread. A male friend of mine recently told me that, knowing what he knows about men, he’d eat only two Ritz crackers a day if he were a woman. During lunch at Bambino’s with a girlfriend, we took his misogynistic advice to…
We were ready for some simple fun after a month of international rivalries during which we’d suffered through: more than 1.2 trillion scoreless minutes; 6,752 totally wrong goalie guesses on penalty kicks; 800,967 unnecessary instances of a goalie leaving his feet for an easy save or an obvious wide shot;…
There was a time when this barbecue joint was one of the best in the city, back when it was known as Chapter One BBQ and Grill (“Two for the Road,” October 6, 2005). But sometime earlier this year, original owners Bonnie and Jerome Sims moved on, a big “Two”…
I’ve said a lot of nasty things about chain restaurants. I’ve advocated a boycott of Applebee’s (because of my horror of Riblets), asked both God and Santa Claus to rain fire down on Olive Garden franchises, given away KFC fried chicken to homeless people, savaged McDonald’s on any number of…
I have fairly low expectations of the business of running restaurants — understanding all too well the lowest-common-denominator math involved in the profitable operation of a multi-unit empire. I’ve read Fast Food Nation and the Omnivore’s Dilemma. I’ve managed the kitchens of chain outlets and worked in industrial production (those…
I’m well aware of the seven deadly sins, and while exploring Slim Seven, I saw them all. Pride: The lack of signage for the new bar seems to indicate a certain amount of self-importance, which I love. In fact, finding Slim Seven is part of its charm, since the entrance…
I’m more than a little surprised that we made it to the movies the other night. Typically, when we plan an Institute Movie Night, we are no more likely to actually reach the theater than the space shuttle is to launch on time. One reason for this is our strong…
Pasquini’s is the place you went with your band just before you made it big, where you and your girlfriend ate every Friday night when you were still poor and in love. It’s the place you remember from college — the one where everyone went to celebrate the end of…
Jon Schlegel is standing outside the door of his restaurant, Snooze, wondering where the people are. I’m sitting at the counter inside, sipping my coffee and filling in all the little boxes of the Saturday crossword puzzle with dirty words. And I’m wondering the same thing. It’s two in the…
Even as I was checking a few last details for my review of Snooze , owner Jon Schlegel was making changes to his menu. “It’s an evolving process,” he said when I got him on the phone last week. “You know, I’ve seen these breakfast places with like forty, fifty…
In the summer, sitting on a patio drinking a martini is the adult equivalent of going to the pool as a kid. The first sip always gives me the same delicious feeling I had as a child when the lifeguard screamed, “Adult swim is over! Kids can re-enter the pool!”…
Those of you at the Thin Man (2015 East 17th Avenue) two Fridays ago had no idea you were witnessing a momentous emergency session of the Institute of Drinking Studies. The scene harked back to Cold War Europe, where plans and plots were made in back hallways — which is…
Before they got smart and brought Zaidy’s back downtown — the original deli had opened on 14th Street almost two decades ago before hightailing it to Cherry Creek in 1992 — the owners filled this space in Writer Square with Max Burgerworks, an upscale, overpriced burger joint that was out…
It had taken me almost four years to get here, to this small, comfortable storefront surrounded by taquerías and art galleries, in just the right area for catching hungry adventurers looking for an interesting dinner on a Saturday night. Arada Restaurant has scratchy tablecloths and no silverware; serves strong, sweet,…
There are many things a chef needs to know that aren’t taught in cooking school. How to survive the heat, how to write a menu that’ll sell, how to speak Spanish. Spanish is a big one: When a newly minted chef goes out into the world, he’ll find that a…
The Rooftop Lounge at Tamayo is one of the most pleasant places in town to grab a cocktail — both for the view and for the margaritas. When I took my first sip of the peculiar yet tasty China Poblana ($10), made with Jose Cuervo Tradicional, fresh tangerine juice and…
