Since moving back into Denver, I’ve rediscovered the joys of living in a neighborhood. Specifically, I’ve rediscovered the joys of neighborhood eateries. Every time I drove past Peter’s Chinese Cafe (2609 East 12th Avenue), an institution in the Congress Park neighborhood for thirteen years now, the parking lot had been…
When Sushi Boat was launched several years ago, a trip there was anything but smooth sailing. For starters, you had to find the funky little spot, tucked away on a side street next to the Marriott at I-25 and Hampden. Once you were inside, the setup was wonderful — a…
Q:Perusing French-restaurant possibilities in a recent issue of Westword, I was very dismayed not to find The Savoy, at 535 Third Street in Berthoud, on your list. As a French-born Denverite, I consider the Savoy the most authentic — and certainly the best — French restaurant in the area. It…
If you paint a sign on your restaurant window that reads, “The best there ever was. The best there is. The best there will ever be,” you’d better be prepared to back up that claim. And Sami Kraydie, owner of the four-month-old Sinbad that bears that sign, is ready to…
Along Champa Street in downtown Denver, institutions are dropping like flies at a greasy diner. First the Changing Scene, the avant-garde theater that shocked audiences for thirty years at 1527 Champa Street, closed its doors at the end of 1999; Johnny’s Newsstand, at 1555 Champa Street, will be shutting down…
You can always count on Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant. Among the things you can count on is that the food will be a mixed bag. During any given meal there, half of the dishes will be delicious and half astoundingly insipid. But the Imperial still has the nicest decor of…
“I wish we’d never had kids,” announced the woman sitting next to us, as she poured the remaining half of her husband’s margarita into her glass. “God, it’s so good to be here without them.” Okay, so not everybody needs to get away as much as that couple, the parents…
One of the best things about a meal at the Table Mountain Inn (see review in this week’s issue) is that it’s hotel dining that doesn’t feel like it’s at a hotel; the food doesn’t taste like hotel food, either. And that’s pretty rare, although metro Denver does offer a…
The time is long past when John Wayne would swagger into the Ship Tavern and promptly tuck into a double scotch and a slab of prime rib as big as Kiowa County. Another old regular, Bob Hope, doesn’t get out much any more, and most of the flinty wildcatters who…
Q: There was a recent column that mentioned pizza bread. Where can it be purchased and, more important, do they sell it retail? We moved here 28 years ago from New Jersey, and in the Berkeley Heights area we could buy pizza bread and make Italian hot dogs, which are…
Since the word ambrosia not only means “food for the gods” but also “anything that tastes or smells delicious,” it’s an appropriate name for Ambrosia Bistro. This four-month old eatery serves up many morsels for mortals that taste or smell delicious — often at the same time. But not often…
Sometimes a restaurant completely fails to find its niche; sometimes everything just falls into place. More often, though, adjustments are made here and there, a few things get changed along the way and, with any luck, an eatery eventually finds a modicum of success. Or much more, in the case…
Let me just point out that on March 9, I was not the one having lunch in Bistro Adde Brewster (250 Steele Street) on Project Angel Heart’s Dining Out for Life day wearing a mink coat, a T-shirt and a pair of jeans with a little dime-sized hole cut carefully…
Q: I recently started doing business in Boulder, and I’d like to have a list of places to take clients for both lunch and dinner. Since I’m female and they’re male, I’d like upscale spots that would impress them but that aren’t romantic. I’ve never spent any time up there,…
On the sixth day, God made the beasts — some of them very tasty — and when He was done, He looked the beasts over and said, “Yes, this is good.” Then He paused for a moment and added, “But it might be better with sauce.” And so man created…
Red & Jerry’s is a cozy little nook containing fourteen full-sized pool tables (two of them cloaked in black light and featuring iridescent billiard balls), several acres of flashing, bell-ringing video games (including a roller-coaster “simulator” as stomach-churning as the real thing), enough dining tables to seat the U.S. Marine…
Although Big Eddie’s Bar-B-Q has closed its doors at 2260 South Quebec, the local barbecue scene is still looking good. Longtime favorites such as M&D’s Bar-B-Que and Fish Palace (2004 East 28th Avenue) and Sam Taylor’s Bar-B-Que (435 South Cherry Street in Glendale) are going strong, and newer kids, including…
A good brunch is a mixed blessing. Once a restaurant becomes known for its brunches, customers tend to go there for that meal, and that meal alone. “How many times did you eat in Pour La France!, and how many of those times were for dinner?” asks Scott Holtzer, who…
Although five staffers are milling about Cucina Leone, no one seems interested in helping us — and we’re the only takeout customers in the place. A cook paces back and forth in front of the grill in case some item must be prepared to order — not that he’s about…
Across the street from Seven 30 South (see this week’s review), a longtime Denver favorite is about to get the extra space it’s needed for several decades. Fourteen tables simply aren’t enough for fans of the Saucy Noodle, which has been serving up a quintessential red sauce at 727 South…
Q: Do you have any restaurant reviews concerning a great brunch here? I haven’t been able to find much information on brunches in the area. A: First things first: Our Web site, at www.westword.com, contains an archive of my reviews — brunch and otherwise — as well as four years’…
Imagine the last dinosaur, its heavy, lumbering body unable to find enough sustenance to meet its vast energy requirements, all of its kind gone, nothing to do but hang around until the environment ultimately becomes so unfriendly that it finally dies a slow, painful death that’s torture to watch for…
