Bikini-clad models/baristas coming very, very soon to Aurora

Right, so I just received the following e-mail from Perky Cups, which, as you can gather from the note, is apparently a java joint — maybe — that employs bikini-clad females. Lori, Hello. We are Perky Cups. Denver/Auroras first Bikini Model Baristas coffee shop. We are having a grand opening…

Want to buy a bar near DU? The Border’s available

For decades, University of Denver students have downed beers at the Border Restaurant and Lounge, a sometimes Mex joint tucked into a strip mall at 2014 South University Boulevard. Some of those students even did so legally. But for the past thirty days, the Border has been dark: Its liquor…

Sugar High: Hi Rise Bakery

UPDATE: Check out our interview with head baker Sammy Marquez and catch his recipe for raspberry shortbread bars.Oh, my. This beauty of a sticky bun, studded with pecans and glazed with a crème brûlée-like shell, is certainly one way to start off your morning at Hi Rise (2162 Larimer Street). But there…

Plan ahead: Holiday mezcal dinner at Tambien

“Instead of doing a mezcal-tequila tasting like we normally do, we came up with some killer cocktails to pair with each course,” says Sean Yontz, executive chef of Tambien (250 Steele Street), the gathering quarters for tomorrow night’s multi-course holiday mezcal dinner. The fact that Yontz is serving mole de…

Colorado Egg Producers make an egg-celent gesture

One in eight Coloradoans will struggle to put food on the table this holiday season, and 99 percent of food banks in the state have reported an enormous surge in the need for emergency assistance. Kudos, then, to the Colorado Egg Producers, whose Good Egg Project is lending a helping…

What’s cooking: Pete Marczyk falls for carrots and squash

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. Last month, Pete…

Part two: Chef and Tell with Brian Laird of Barolo Grill

This is part two of my interview with Brian Laird, exec chef of Barolo Grill. You can read part one of my interview with Laird here. Best food city in America: San Francisco. It’s all about what I love most: fresh ingredients, seafood, farm-raised animals, vegetables, cheese, wine and beer,…

Matt Mine delivers his bacon brittle to Bourdain

For the chef at a seafood restaurant — Oceanaire — Matt Mine sure loves his bacon. He often features a slab of it on Oceanaire’s menu, and he recently cooked up a batch of bacon brittle with Anthony Bourdain in mind, which was included in the pre-talk meal that Oceanaire…

Barbecue: It’s what’s for breakfast at Cabin Creek

Colorado has recently gone through something of a barbecue boom. Sure, there are places like M&D’s that have been around since forever, but over the past five years, Colorado in general (and Denver in particular) has seen a surge in joints that exist for the greater worship of the smoker…

Update: Ondo’s sets a new opening date

Just got off the blower with Curt Steinbecker (that’s him in the funny hat up there, standing beside his wife, Deicy) of Ondo’s, the Spanish tapas restaurant that I’ve been waiting forever for at 250 Steele Street (in the former home of French 250). Okay, so maybe it hasn’t quite…

Waffle-pocalypse!!! An open letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President. As you are no doubt aware, the Kellogg Company recently announced that it is experiencing a catastrophic waffle shortfall owing to a sort of “perfect storm” of circumstances: scheduled maintenance and upgrades to their army of waffle-making robots, flood damage in the vast waffle fields of the…

Guess where I’m eating?

I love flapjacks as much as the next person (maybe even more), but the smoked salmon, red onion and caper pizza that you see in the above snap is seriously, deliriously delicious. And it’s just one of several breakfast pizzas on the new brunch menu at a Denver restaurant that’s…

Chef and Tell with Brian Laird of Barolo Grill

“It was a step off the cliff for sure, but at the same time, I just knew that I was a good fit for the job,” says Brian Laird of Barolo Grill, the Northern Italian restaurant whose kitchen Laird has cooked in for the past twelve years — the last…

Guess where I’m eating?

Sometimes what we like is a little comfort food, even when the sun’s shining. This homey macaroni and cheese dish might seem small, but it packs a satisfying wallop of creamy goodness set off by a crunchy topping. The side salad is just a bonus. Can you guess where I’m…

Getting personal at Paradise Asian Cafe

It’s what you like that matters. And I like science fiction movies and books about sailing ships and celebrity memoirs and amateur pornography. I like music made in the years that music really mattered to me — those years I spent in high school and in kitchens and had very…

Anthony Bourdain photo-cutline winner revealed!

Twenty-eight hours and sixty-five entries later, we know one thing for sure: You people out there in Hotcakesland certainly do love your dick jokes. And your Colfax jokes. And your vegan jokes. And your vegan-on-Colfax dick jokes… Still, we had to go with just one caption for our last set…

Serious Eats chimes in on Denver’s “unique food trends”

Denver got a shout-out last week on the food blog www.seriouseats.com, which listed what they believe to be four unique food trends in our fair city. Our fast casual chains, microbreweries, green chile, and Beau Jo’s all get mentions. But while we appreciate that they resisted mentioning Rocky Mountain oysters,…