See? I’m not the only one who loves O’s…

Steven Shaw, founder of egullet and a serious food-world heavyweight, was in town this month for the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference, and he somehow found time to take a spin up to Westminster to check out Ian Kleinman’s molecular gastronomy menu at O’s Steak and Seafood. I’ve been…

Get your Two Spoons of cereal

We may be seeing a trend in the competitive small-batch, independently owned ice cream sector of our economy. Two Spoons, an ice cream shop at 1021 Pearl Street in Boulder, just introduced a breakfast-cereal bar — a concept that mirrors an idea introduced last month at the Red Trolley in…

Tocabe inspires a fry bread confessional

Like whiskey and the music of the Pogues from the Irish, tortillas from the Mexicans, prosciutto from the Italians and mother sauces and threesomes from the French, fry bread is the Native American people’s proud contribution to our mutt and multicultural present, one of the most awe-inspiring culinary innovations of…

Snarf’s finally arrives in Denver

Do you have any idea how much time I’ve wasted over the past six months cruising along Ogden Street, specifically to the corner of Ogden and 11th, where I’ve been stalking the parking lot, harassing the construction workers and repeatedly asking the already stressed staff, “Dude, where’s my sandwich?” At…

The suit is slingin’ Spud Bros. spuds!

Like 50 is the new 30, Twitter is the new talking. And here’s yet another story about how one tweet put something into motion, so that a former venture capitalist is now spending his afternoon working the fryer at Spud Bros., located at 2010 10th Street in Boulder:Brad Feld is…

Common Grounds left its liquor license behind in move

Common Grounds, the popular LoDo coffeehouse that’s a sibling of the original in northwest Denver, barely missed a beat when it moved last week from 1601 17th Street across the street to 1550 17th, in the old Sugarbeat Café space (the entrance is on Wazee Street). But somewhere along the…

Sketch introduces Wino Wednesdays

When we first visited Sketch, the new wine bar tucked into the old 1st Avenue Hotel at 101 Broadway, we took note of its location facing Big Lots and its bar manager, Charlie Master, who’d injected much-needed humor into Cherry Creek with his white-trash specials at Brix, and immediately suggested…

Ask the Critic: Where should Guy Fieri eat?

Last week, I got a phone call from Amanda, a lovely woman doing research for the Guy Fieri Food Network show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The company that produces the show was giving Denver a serious look-see — trying to assemble a list of restaurants for Guy to hit –…

Parallel Seventeen bids a happy birthday to Buddha

Zone in on your zen (and blow off tax day) on Wednesday, April 15, when Parallel Seventeen, the modern Vietnamese restaurant at 1600 East 17th Avenue, rolls out a special a la carte menu to celebrate the birthday of Oh, Ye Great Buddhist, Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, who…

The Market Report, April 11

Now, this is what I’d been waiting for…for months. Hordes of people talking about the proper time to snip lettuce, kids helping their parents put onions into their (always reusable!) bags, militant environmentalists scolding those not like them…ah, the Boulder Farmers’ Market. At about 11 a.m. on this past, overcast…

Milking It: Froot Loops with Fruity Golden Bars

Froot Loops with Fruity Golden Bars Kellogg’s Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: Wheat, oat and corn flour ovoids colored in assorted bold hues (neon blue, alien green, strep-throat red, Prince’s underwear purple) and speckled with a whitish glaze that looks delectable, and is. Also tossed in for…

Cafe Society: Week in Review

What you might have missed this week in Cafe Society:Spring has sprung — Denver style.  That makes for some snowy farmers’ markets and a chilly Taste of Vail.   The sun is peeking out a bit for the opening weekend of baseball and Rockies fans’ fav stadium bar.   Jason…

Play Ball at the Breckenridge Ballpark Pub

Timely news for opening day: I just heard from the manager at what had been the Breckenridge Brewery & Pub that the name of this establishment at 2220 Blake Street, just up from Coors Field, has been changed to the Breckenridge Ballpark Pub. The change is simply to avoid confusion…

The List: Mexican on my mind

  This week’s review of D’Corazon marks something of a return to reality — to a restaurant where I can dependably guess what my food is going to look and taste like when I order it, a place where I don’t have to worry about anyone trying to sneak pomegranate…

Two more local Starbucks bite the dust

Two more area Starbucks shops will close as a result of the company’s latest round of cutbacks: one at 7777 East Hampden Avenue at Tamarac Square and another at 5350 South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton. The frappucino magnate announced this week that it will be closing nearly 200 U.S…

Morton’s unleashes a double dose of power hours

Okay, so when super-expensive meat palaces like Morton’s jump on the happy-hour bandwagon, you know times are tough. I mean, Morton’s isn’t exactly renowned for its bargain-basement steals, but starting tonight, at promptly 5 p.m., both Morton’s Downtown Denver and Morton’s Tech Center, located at 1710 Wynkoop Street and 8480…

Candy Girls: Big Fat Cupcake

Starting a cupcake shop in Denver raises some obvious concerns: Will an already cupcake-crazed city welcome yet another baker of tiny cakes?  And if so, how do you distinguish yourself from the others?  Kathleen Nevin, owner of Big Fat Cupcake, had a clear vision of creating big cupcakes with superior ingredients,…

Our Weekly Bread: Safeway

The sandwich: Smoke stack Where to get it: Safeway What’s on it: Turkey, ham, fontina, tomato, lettuce and mustard on ciabatta bread How much: $5.49 I didn’t really want to review the sandwiches at Safeway; I’d rather check out a small, or at least medium-sized, business, rather than a giant…

Denver ChopHouse takes off at DIA

For months, the sign on the boarded-up space in Concourse A taunted us: The Denver ChopHouse & Brewery would be opening a branch at the airport. But when?Turns out, sometime last weekend — in the middle of a Westword writer’s trip back East. Sometimedturing his travels, this outpost of the…

The Flagstaff House lei-ing it on the line

The folks behind the Flagstaff House are heading west…far west. The Monette brothers, sons of Flagstaff House founder Don Monette and now owners of that restaurant, have established a second beachhead in the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii. They designed two separate concepts for the hotel…