No sooner had Sean Kelly opened his Aubergine Cafe, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this month (“The Eggplant and I,” July 5, 1995), than the pressure to expand began. Over the past five years, Kelly has considered adding on, moving to a bigger space, even opening a second Aubergine. But…
Chain gang: The slow-growth approach of Red Robin CEO Mike Snyder (see review this week) is a rarity in the restaurant biz; most chain enterprises seem determined to conquer the world — and conquer it quickly. Exhibit A: Highlands Ranch, which just gained a new C.B. & Potts (its fourth…
Q: Do you know where I can find a white garlic pizza? I had one years ago in a construction work camp that was made by an East Coast chef, and I have been looking for something similar ever since. A: A lot of pizzerias offer some type of white…
For a beginning chef, the scariest unknown isn’t whether you can get a job (particularly not in this market). No, when you’re starting a culinary career, your worst fear is who will be your first boss. Horror stories abound about head chefs — screaming chefs, hard-to-please chefs, pot-throwing chefs, fit-throwing…
Don Quijote Restaurant. 35 Federal Boulevard, 303-934-9753. Hours: 10:30 a.m.- 9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Michael Degenhart left Tante Louise (4900 East Colfax Avenue) in capable hands — from the moment he told owner Corky Douglass that he was thinking about doing his own thing, Degenhart began training the sous chef, Duy Van Pham, to replace him. “We were in an unusual situation in that…
Q: I am a fifty-year-old hippie engineer with a hot date for Saturday night. Where can we go so that she can dress to the nines? So many places are way casual even when they are expensive. She seems to prefer the more basic foods — steak, good salads –…
Nicole and Rick Fierro fell in love at first bite. The two met one night while noshing at Chinook and immediately found they had food in common. Rick was managing the Washington Park Grille (for years before that, he’d been a front-of-the-house man at various Berardi ventures, including Juanita’s Uptown);…
Until Piscos arrived on the scene, Cafe Brazil, at 3611 Navajo Street, was about the only South American game in town — and it doesn’t have nearly as choice a location or as snazzy an interior. But it certainly has excellent food, and that’s enough to ensure that this storefront…
Q: A few years ago in Port Arthur, Texas, in a working waterfront cafe/bar/dive, I had something called “rat toes.” These were breaded, deep-fried jalapeños, stuffed with your choice of boudin (blanc) sausage or a bread/seafood/ broth filling. Both were marvelous. Anyplace in the Mile High City where I can…
It was a weeknight in Cherry Creek North, and two Italian restaurants were open for business a few blocks away from each other. One was so crowded that at the check-in desk, the matre d’ looked like a tourist surrounded by street urchins waiting to pick his pocket outside of…
I once watched a tense Broncos playoff game at the jam-packed Edgewater Inn, and when the crucial moment arrived — your predominantly orange heroes down a field goal late in the fourth quarter, and Elway directing one of his trademark drives — a curious phenomenon took hold in the place…
The way things are going in the restaurant biz — the Colorado Restaurant Association reports that sales will be up about 6.1 percent this year over 1999, which should translate to $6.4 billion shelled out to Colorado eateries, and restaurant jobs in this state will increase by 2 percent, which…
Q: I come to Denver for about a week each month, and I’m looking for other restaurants with the quality of food you find at the Beehive and Café Brazil. Something romantic with excellent service and value, at $15 to $20 per entree, preferably not in the suburbs and not…
It takes about ten minutes to get to the table, walking slowly and deliberately, with two or three items dropped along the way, which means other diners are bumping their heads trying to help. Once we reach the table, there’s much deliberation over whether this time we need booster seats…
It’s a beautiful day in the Denver Tech Center neighborhood when an eatery as good as El Azteca moves in. This local favorite recently opened a fourth location, at 12201 East Arapahoe Road. Like the original El Azteca, at 3960 South Federal Boulevard in Sheridan, as well as the downtown…
From the day Teri Rippeto opened Potager in May 1997, her restaurant has been ripe for the picking. So why don’t more diners stop in and smell the roses? “We’ve been a tough restaurant to understand and adjust to, I think,” says Rippeto. “Our menu is different every month, we’re…
Q: Just wondering if there is a Thai restaurant that offers facilities for wedding receptions? A: You bet: Vientiane Garden, at 7113 Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster (303-429-4462), has a setup for a DJ, a big dance floor, and excellent Thai and Laotian food. Get your guests a big platter of…
Some professional chefs never intended to cook professionally. Exhibit A: Marvin Bronstein, who won Denverites’ hearts as well as their stomachs with his brief stint at the coincidentally named Marvin Gardens in the mid-’90s. Fifteen years before, he’d been a nurse practitioner working in the pediatrics department at the University…
In the December 30 Mouthing Off, I invited readers to guess when the very lame Dante Bichette’s Sports Bar and Grill, at 700 East 17th Avenue, would finally strike out. As it turns out, even the most pessimistic prediction was much rosier than reality, since the restaurant shut its doors…
The regulars at Rodney’s are a sufficiently worldly and world-weary lot that when John Elway used to fall by for a Scotch on the rocks and a game of backgammon, they paid him almost no mind. Too busy dismembering their slabs of prime rib and football-sized baked potatoes. Too busy…
Q: I have lived in Colorado since 1983 and Denver since 1988, but my wife and I will be leaving the sprawl in about six weeks for Bend, Oregon. I was wondering if you could give me a list of your top ten favorite restaurants in the city — not…
