The Ballpark neighborhood is changing fast, and so is the dining scene there. Three years after it opened as Ignite!, the restaurant at 2124 Larimer Street has renovated both its interior and its menu. It’s also given its name an update, to Ignite Burgers & Lounge — but one reader…
First Helen Thorpe’s new book, Soldier Girls, got close to fifteen minutes of fame from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Then the “compelling” Soldier Girls rated an excellent review from the New York Times. And to make for a very unusual trifecta, Soldier Girls just made Book of the…
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni was back in Colorado last week, eating (and tweeting) at Acorn, attending a book signing for Helen Thorpe’s Soldier Girls (which not only earned a good review in the Times, but a rave in People, of all places) and, it turns out, researching this…
What’s your favorite place in Denver? This morning the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development — whose office is definitely not the favorite place of people applying for building permits and zoning variances — launched the Favorite Place in Denver campaign, part of an attempt to “launch a citywide…
Back in June, when we listed the Ten Best Restaurants in the Golden Triangle, Gallo di Nero was one of our favorites. But the restaurant closed its doors last week — quickly and quietly. “The reasons for the quick closing are as follows,” a spokesperson said. “There is a potential…
This week in Cafe Society, while Cafe critic Gretchen Kurtz took a well-deserved vacation, Kristin Pazulski reported on the efforts of Joshua Pollack, owner of the new Rosenberg’s Bagels & Delicatessen, to make a perfect bagel. For Chef and Tell, Mark Antonation spoke with Al and Tory Belsky, founders of…
More than forty new restaurants and bars opened in July — and one of them, Provisions Chophaus & Drinkery, which opened in the busy block of 1500 Blake Street, barely lasted a week. “Unfortunately due to one bad apple we have to close the doors,” said Provisions’s Facebook posting announcing…
We have a new candidate for the worst black hole in Denver: 1135 Bannock Street. That address just swallowed up Gallo Di Nero, which had emerged from the ashes of Fired Up, a restaurant that repositioned itself after an electrical fire. See also: Best Dinner Under $10 — Gallo di…
The name of El Taco de Mexico says it all: The taco of Mexico. But while this tiny spot on Santa Fe Drive is a go-to spot for taco lovers, you can’t go wrong ordering anything else — especially the chile relleno burrito, which we just named one of our…
Last week we poured out our list of the ten best hipster bars in Denver. If you’re a cultural anthropologist looking to observe hipsters in their element or maybe you’re just new to town and looking for a hand-built bar within fixie-riding distance where you’ll feel at home, these are…
When History Colorado planned its Denver A to Z exhibit, which features everything from the Barrel Man to zombies (don’t ask), it had a true historic artifact for the letter E: an electric car, the Fritchle, which was manufactured in Denver in the early 1900s and featured in the old…
The ’90s were a big decade for big burritos in Denver. Qdoba was founded here in 1995, the same year that Illegal Pete’s got its start in Boulder. That was two years after Steve Ells transformed a former Dolly Madison store by the University of Denver into the first Chipotle…
In her recent review of the Kitchen Next Door Glendale, Gretchen Kurtz gave a short history of the TGI Fridays phenomenon, and wondered if the Kitchen Next Door could be the next big thing? It’s certainly becoming big in Denver, where the Kitchen Next Door just opened in Union Station,…
South Pearl Street always attracts crowds on weekends, but this past Saturday the place was really packed for the annual Blues and Brews Festival. We sent photographer Brandon Marshall to capture the action; keep reading for a taste of Blues and Brews. See also: The neighborhood of Old South Pearl…
Bree Davies penned a Love Letter to Denver, the City I Used to Know for our arts blog last week, and in response dozens of people have spilled out their own memories, many of them of restaurants: Colorado Mine Company, Soapy Smith’s, Denver Drumstick, M&Ds, White Spot, Cafe Giovanni, Yum…
Here, kitty, kitty! Yesterday we told you about Sana Hamelin, an attorney who wants to follow her dream and open the city’s first cat cafe. And if donations pour into her Denver Cat Company fundraising campaign the way comments have been flowing, she should have no problem meeting her goal…
Old Fisherman’s Grotto, a bustling California tourist attraction, recently posted a sign prohibiting strollers, high chairs, booster seats, loud kids and crying babies. While some parents complained, Jenn Wohletz applauded the move by restaurant owner Chris Shake, and offered her own five reasons why cranky kids should be banned from…
As gubernatorial activities go, John Hickenlooper’s mission last night was only slightly less hazardous than negotiating an election-year truce with various fracking contingents. Both involved scary liquids, but in this case one far more delicious than the fracking fluid that Hickenlooper once bragged about swigging. Hickenlooper was back at his…
In her recent review of The Kitchen Next Door Glendale, Gretchen Kurtz compares the homegrown restaurant group to the decades-old phenomenon of TGI Fridays — not because of the quality of the food, but because of how well the Next Door concept captures the community. “As I downed a stiff…
On Friday, protesters demonstrated outside the McDonald’s on the 16th Street Mall, celebrating the new National Labor Review Board ruling that holds the corporation accountable for the level of wages paid at all of its restaurants, including fanchises, and calling for an increase in the minimum wage. There was just…
Colorado may be the healthiest state in the country, but it gained an unwanted honor this week, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest gave its top Xtreme Eating award to a monster meal at Denver-based Red Robin, which clocked in at a whopping 3,540 calories. But one…
During an otherwise pleasant review meal at The Kitchen Next Door Glendale, Gretchen Kurtz watched as a busser dropped a utensil into a bowl filled with broth — which splashed all over her husband’s shirt. Mistakes happen all the time at restaurants, she notes; what’s important is what happens next…
