Julie Powell, the former blogger who cooked every recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and then turned her hits and misses into a book of her own, Julie & Julia, was meant to take the big stage tonight in Denver, but for whatever reason (low ticket…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
The FDA recalls thousands of products each year, presumably so that no one gets numb to all the hysteria. But when it’s popcorn that’s been pulled from the shelves, especially during the time of year when popcorn balls and popcorn strands and big bins of popcorn, caramel corn and cheese…
This is part two of my interview with Max Mackissock, executive chef of Squeaky Bean. To read part one of this interview, click here. Proudest moment as a chef: One of the best parts about being a chef is watching people enjoy our hard work — our food — every…
Quick! First, think of the worst (but funniest!) possible food or beverage around which to stage a cook-off. Now, imagine the worst (but, again, funniest) place to hold said cook-off. Now, imagine the one celebrity chef on earth who should stay far, far away from such a debacle in the…
Troy Atherton Guard, the man behind the semi-eponymous restaurant TAG, serves the best rice I’ve ever had. Yeah, rice. But this is no backhanded compliment. Rice is important — vitally so to maybe half the world. There are about a bazillion varieties of it, each one requiring its own infinitesimally…
Last week, I wrote about a not-so-great cheesesteak. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone in having that not-so-great cheesesteak. Laura was with me, and Laura is a woman who knows from good (and not good) cheesesteaks. I was disappointed. She was even more so. And so, in advance of the recent snow…
We’ve just scored two tickets to Guy Fieri’s “Culinary Road Show” tonight at the Paramount Theater. The meet and greet starts at 6:30 and the show begins at 7:30. Want the tickets? Be the first person to answer the following question correctly: Fieri’s first car was a Datsun 280z. He…
In case you’ve got nothing else planned for tonight and have a yen to go rub up against a whole bunch of other Denver foodies and star-fuckers, don’t forget that the one and only Guy Fieri (the restaurateur, Food Network workhorse and hair-bleach pitchman) is bringing the circus to town…
Okay, so maybe the new location for Yanni’s Greek Restaurant isn’t quite this pretty, but it is certainly a step up — a move from a slightly rattletrap strip mall on South Monaco Parkway to a space smack-dab in the middle of the Landmark development’s throbbing retail heart, right next…
We met five weeks ago. We’ve seen each other at least once a week since then, and it’s always been just as good as the first time. It’s a relationship of consistency, simplicity and warmth; I’m completely smitten. The creator is a goddess in my book, and she’s whipped up…
There’s a new watering hole on Colfax. Sort of. Pete’s Monkey Bar, 717 East Colfax Avenue, opened October 2 in the space formerly occupied by Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey, the jazz-turned-jam club that was owned by Jay, Phil and Aric Bianchi (the three brothers who are also the force behind Sanchos’s…
Liver lovers are an exclusive bunch. And as a lunch special on a cold winter’s day, this steaming plate of organ meat smothered with onions and jalapenos had half of our table swooning — and the other half cringing.Can you guess where I was eating?Special bonus: Every Friday, anyone who…
As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com…
Pete Marczyk and Barbara Macfarlane do not leave their work behind when they leave Marczyk Fine Foods and head for their great old Denver house with the big, new kitchen. They often bring some of their market’s choicest ingredients home with them, and cook up a feast. Pete and Barb…
“After all that nonsense at Primebar — those guys are the biggest scumbags ever — it was unbelievably refreshing to get a job at a restaurant that’s owned by one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” Max Mackissock says during our interview at Cafe Europa. Mackissock, who was the…
How cold was it last night? So cold that Barry Fey was wearing long pants. But the dining room at CY Steak, the revamped steakhouse attached to the Diamond Cabaret at 1222 Glenarm Place, warmed up fast — and not just because of the evening-gowned (at the start) girls dancing…
The call came yesterday: The Denver Department of Excise and License has approved the liquor license for the Tavern Hospitality Group’s project at the Lowenstein, in the space that had been occupied by Neighborhood Flix. THG’s Frank Schultz had gone through a series of neighborhood meetings before the postponed hearing…
Hiramasa, flash-seared on a hot flattop, served with yuzu, jalapeno and pop rocks. Braised pork cheek with a hard-fried quail egg balanced on top. Sushi rolls cut and plated with machine precision, filled with Maine lobster, with kobe beef, with avocado and unagi and pickled gobo root. Beef short ribs…
My eyes kept wandering back to the Stranahan’s cocktail with carrot juice, an ingredient that, on the surface, sounded absolutely horrible as a cocktail component. And the fact that I’m not a big (or even small) proponent of the carrot, period, only solidified my resolve to stay as far away…
There are two types of people in this world: those who are totally psyched to receive kitchen appliances as gifts, and those whose first instinct is to send the giver straight to the basement with an air mattress and a sleeping bag. (Gentlemen, it is extremely important to determine which…
There’s been a lot of discussion around here lately about all things vegan, vegetarian, cruel-free, meat-free and humane. Last week, for example, Sarah, a former vegetarian, went back to eating meat, which, of course, led to a full-tilt party for all the crazies out there in wackadoodle land . (One…
