Currying favor

Go Fish certainly has Asian-American fusion down, and that’s because the owners learned a few things at Spicy Basil, which they’d opened a few years before in the other corner of the same building. The fact that Spicy Basil had replaced a failed barbecue restaurant and I didn’t hold the…

Parsley drops physics

I don’t have fond memories of my high school physics teacher, Mr. Woods. Although he was funny, quirky and endearingly curmudgeonly, I was terrible at physics, and for this he had little patience. Furthermore, he once accused me of having cheated on my homework, which wasn’t true. I cheated in…

The latest from Larimer Street, part two

While the 2000-2200 blocks of Larimer Street are jumping, things quiet down past Snooze. And a rancorous project at 2425 Broadway, on the triangular parcel of property bordering Larimer that once held an auto body shop and the late, lamented Bamboo Hut, is currently on hold.  The owners of that parcel, Focus Property…

The latest from Larimer Street, part one

On Saturday morning, the Christmas carols were pouring from the pawn shops on Larimer Street, and the chile at the Mexico City Lounge was appropriately red and green. But all was too calm across the street; judging from the unopened mail inside the locked space, it looks like Larimer Kabob…

Friend or pho? Ha Noi case goes to trial

Denver’s pho restaurants have seen some tough times lately. Last month, a car crashed into Pho 7, knocking the joint out of commission for a few days. Times were even tougher at Ha Noi Pho, our Best Taste of Hanoi in the Best of Denver 2007. Soon after we bestowed…

Cheap tacos — if the Nuggets win big

Last year, Adam Cayton-Holland checked out Taco Bell’s deal offering four tacos for a buck from 4-6 p.m. the day after the Colorado Rockies scored seven runs. By carefully mapping out his course, he managed to secure 28 tacos — and a severe case of heartburn. Now Taco Bell is advertising…

Fat Sully’s grand opening

Fat Sully’s, a pizzeria that took up residence inside Atomic Cowboy about a month ago, will finally celebrate its grand opening at 9 p.m. on December 6. The concept for Fat Sully’s, according to employee Josh Rifkin, “is a neighborhood pizzeria with giant slices of New York-style pizza. We also offer gluten- and fat-free pizza options with delivery going until 1 a.m., sometimes longer.”…

Good times at Go Fish

    The space is simple, almost iconic Japantown nouvelle, with wood and steel and stone all polished to a high and gleaming gloss, mismatched walls in shades of lime and mustard, one of those trickling fountain things and abstract sculptures of fish on the walls done in shiny, candy-colored…

The Boulderado through the ages

The Boulderado has some tread on its tires. The landmark Boulder hotel will celebrate its hundredth year in 2009, beginning with an elaborate New Year’s Eve gala and an open house on January 4. But you don’t have to wait until then to enjoy the Boulderado’s most noteworthy feature: the buffet. The hotel…

Don’t swim in this Aquarium

It’s a thought that haunts the over-stimulated, over-movied imagination: a school of hungry piranhas eating you alive. And while our Café writer Jason Sheehan would have preferred that fate to the time he spent at the restaurant inside the Downtown Aquarium (see “Finding Nemo,” his 2005 review), staff writer Joel…

Cafe Bisque now simply Bisque

When Cafe Bisque opened at 224 Union Boulevard in Lakewood in 2003, Westword food reviewer Jason Sheehan was initially unimpressed with the confused New American menu, but after a return trip in October, he came to appreciate some of chef Alex Gurevich’s menu items, most notably the rich, creamy lobster…

Rooting around Root Down

We’re still looking for a revised opening date for Root Down, the new restaurant coming to 33rd and Osage. But in the meantime, we have two updates: Yesterday, the original opening date, they were putting in grass (!) around the former service station, which will have a great outdoor deck and…

Geek in the Galley: Fat, lazy bastard edition

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. On November 16, the good people at TiVo announced what has to be one of the signs of the foodie apocalypse: that through a partnership deal with Domino’s, customers would now be able to order pizzas through their TV. Why?  Because getting…

Venue: a new venue for Highland

The space at 3609 West 32nd Avenue that 8 Rivers left on October 1, when it finally opened its LoDo restaurant, is now home to Venue.   Venue, which opened two weeks ago, serves “American fare with European influences,” explains owner Holly Hartnett. formerly of Table 6. “We’re using smaller distributors, featuring…

C.R.E.A.M. skims the surface in Cherry Creek

287 Columbine Street is now home to C.R.E.A.M. It replaced Java Creek about two weeks ago, and will be doing similar, but not identical, work.  “We’re going to be much more coffee-focused, doing higher-level barista work,” explains barista Amanda Sapir. “Our coffee is being roasted by Coda Coffee, a local roaster…

Milking It: Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp

Peanut Butter Cookie Crisp General Mills Rating: Three-and-a-half spoons out of four Cereal description: Whole-grain corn discs, yellowish-tan in color, with a semi-rough surface that makes each piece look like a discus designed to shatter on impact. Save each shard for me…

Start December with dinner out — but not too far out — at Black Cat

Think local, eat local. Black Cat is celebrating this holiday month with “100 Mile” dinners, with four-course menus that will change nightly through December 30 — but will always feature ingredients that chef Eric Skokan can find within a hundred-mile radius. And as Jason Sheehan discovered when he reviewed this restaurant…

Is Enstrom’s toffee the “best candy in the world”?

So I was listening to a podcast of the Thanksgiving edition of the hit food radio show The Splendid Table — because I’m a dork like that — and lo and behold, Jane and Michael Stern, authors of the popular Roadfood books, came on to sing the praises of Enstrom’s, the Colorado-based…

Red Trolley is moving fast — too fast

Red Trolley — the coffee house/ice cream shop/cafe that opened just this summer at 2639 West 32nd Avenue — left its second hang-tag of the week on the doors of houses in northwest Denver. “O.ver.zeal.ous,” it read. “Excessively enthusiastic.” The Trolley, it turned out, is moving so fast that it…

Veggie Girl: MAD Greens

    Sometimes all the veggie chile burritos, sesame tofu and lasagna in the world cannot entice me because all I really want is a nice, big healthy salad. Crisp spinach, fresh tomatoes, roasted beets and some fresh mozzarella and I’m happy — satisfying my body’s craving for something that…

The rise of the great, red beet

  Notice something red in your greens lately? Beets have been showing up on lots of Denver menus, mostly in salads, decorated with goat cheese and nuts. Gelman’s Restaurant serves a version with green beans and onions, Jonesy’s Eat Bar lets the red and gold beets shine without too much…

It’s hard to top the burger at The Counter

For more photos of The Counter, go to westword.com/slideshow. So, what’re you gonna get?” “I dunno. What’re you gonna get?” “That depends on what you’re gonna get. Like, I was thinking about the ham, but then I was thinking green chiles…” “Yeah, I was thinking green chiles. Bacon.” “Of course…