Restaurants

Birdcall is fast. It’s affordable. And it’s where the future is headed, given the pinch of high labor costs. But is it good food?

Thanks to Comal Heritage Food Incubator, we now have one more culinary word in our lexicon. The lunchtime restaurant at 3455 Ringsby Court in the Taxi development is named for the large, flat cooking surface used to cook tortillas and other Mexican fare. But starting this Thursday, December 14, we…

Fort Collins is long on community gathering spots; breweries fill with neighbors on nights and weekends and locals turn out in force to support a vibrant live music scene. But until this week, it was lacking an upscale hub for business meetings and lingering lunches. Enter the Emporium Kitchen and…

Denver is losing many of its iconic restaurants, including the Wazee Lounge and Supper Club.

Our metabolisms are slowing down, but our appetites aren’t. Thank god more restaurants keep cropping up to keep us fed and watered. Topping the list this week is Ultreia, the sumptuous new Iberian eatery in Union Station from the owners of Rioja and nearby Stoic & Genuine. On the casual…

Westword’s most-read food stories of 2017.

One of the premier offerings on the opening menu at Ultrieia is Cinco Jotas Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, a cured Spanish ham aged for four years before being sold. With as many delays as owners Jennifer Jasinski and Beth Gruitch have experienced since announcing their plan to open a Spanish/Portuguese “gastroteka”…

Yellowbelly Chicken is out to conquer the suburbs, one fast-casual chicken joint at a time. But this month the company is doing a two-fer by unveiling locations in Arvada and Lakewood within a week of each other. Yellowbelly was founded in Vail in 2012 by Michael Friedberg, Eric Wupperman and…

Sweet, fatty, salty, smoky, spicy: It’s not a new Chili Peppers album, it’s a bite of the huarache at Las Fajitas at 2680 South Havana Street in Aurora. A huarache ($10.50) is similar to a tostada, only the masa for a huarache is thick and lightly fried, resulting in a…

On Thursday, December 7, the next season of Top Chef will debut on Bravo, featuring a pair of Colorado-based chefs: Brother Luck and Carrie Baird, who took the reins at Bar Dough in July. Read our interview with Baird here.

As if the avalanche of new eateries that have opened over the past eleven months hasn’t been enough for 2017, there are a few restaurants and bars that could squeeze in under the deadline. Look for these seven places to debut before the end of December — although some are…

ClusterTruck is showing Denverites a new way to experience delivery food. The restaurant’s delivery-only model offers an end to lukewarm food and soggy sandwiches…

“Red or green?” the server asks yet another customer during lunch service at Little Anita’s Foods of New Mexico, a Denver branch of an Albuquerque original that’s been smothering stacked enchiladas and burritos for more than forty years. She doesn’t have to ask the question of every diner; regulars blurt…

Customers looking for a hot breakfast and a cup of coffee at DJ’s 9th Avenue Cafe (865 Lincoln Street) this morning were instead greeted with note on the door explaining that the breakfast eatery is now closed. The sign reads “Thanks again for making the last 12 years of our lives…

News came down last week that Steve Ells is resigning from the CEO position at Chipotle, closing the door on a nearly 25-year chapter during which he grew the burrito company from a tiny shop on Evans Avenue — originally intended to be a cash cow for the fine dining…

Chef Pino Saverino remodeled his Italian restaurant, Pino’s Place (1400 East Hampden Avenue in Cherry Hill Village), just over a year ago, but in mid-October an allegedly drunk driver tried to do a little extra renovation. A minivan jumped the curb and punched a hole in the exterior wall of the…

In-N-Out Burger, a legendary chain that got its start in California seventy years ago, is finally coming to Colorado. But some readers aren’t rejoicing.

The restaurants keep coming, even if the rest of us just want to hibernate for the remainder of 2017. Fortunately for hungry bears looking to pack on some winter fat, there’s plenty of variety for foraging: sushi and other more esoteric Japanese cuisine, comfort food with a little rock ‘n…

November was the month for doubling down. Ambli, Bardo Coffee House, Godfather’s Pizza, the Post Brewing Company, Punch Bowl Social and the Soul Kitchen all made it a duo with new locations of their existing operations. In addition, the owners of Blackbelly, Bistro Barbes and Historians Ale House all opened…

The Wazee Lounge & Supper Club moved into an old plumbing shop at the corner of Wazee and 15th streets almost fifty years ago and has held court there ever since, standing as a reminder of a bygone era as lower downtown became LoDo and Denver’s urban core gentrified around it…