With the year drawing to a close, it’s time to look back on the top trends of 2014. The most important — the one driving all the other trends — is sheer growth. More than 300 bars and restaurants flung open their doors this year in the metro area, enough…
A record number of restaurants opened in metro Denver in 2014. Although a few more could sneak in before the ball drops on 2015, last week we took a look back over the restaurant action of the past year and served up our Fifteen Best New Restaurants of Metro Denver…
This week in Cafe Society, Gretchen Kurtz was transported back to the Reagan years with hearty, unpretentious breakfasts at Sunrise Sunset. We spotted a doughnut shop that will soon open on South Colorado Boulevard called the Fractured Prune that has become our new frontrunner for the worst restaurant name in…
Food lesson for the day: Broasted is a trademarked word. Who knew? Apparently not the Forgy brothers, who just opened Block & Larder, which features “broasted rabbit” on its menu. But even though that rabbit is cooked in a pressure fryer built by the Broaster Company of Beloit, Wisconsin, you…
Hanukkah is in full swing and on the fourth day, we bring to you a veggie sandwich of latke proportions. Zaidy’s has been around as long as some natives can remember (29 years, to be precise), dishing up latkes, kugel, knishes, and more in Cherry Creek North. So to celebrate…
Denver is rolling in doughnuts. Last year Dunkin’ Donuts made a big comeback in Colorado, and Voodoo Doughnut opened its first shop outside of Oregon smack-dab on East Colfax Avenue. And now we’re about to get another national name in the local market, albeit one of the worst names imaginable…
Block & Larder just opened on Tennyson Street, featuring a chophouse-style menu from chef Lucas Forgy, who owns the place along with his brothers Jason and Aaron. Although the three brothers also own beer mecca Freshcraft, Block & Larder focuses more on the food and on cocktails than on craft…
A banner hanging outside Sunrise Sunset, which I review this week, proclaims, “We serve only Colorado farm-fresh eggs.” This got me thinking about eggs, because in the hundreds of conversations about sourcing I’ve had with chefs over the years, no one has ever waxed poetic about eggs. Local produce? Yes…
The Gravitas Development Group has been behind quite a few of Denver’s hottest restaurant projects this year. Gravitas is the company responsible for the shipping-container project at 2500 Larimer Street that houses Work & Class and Cart-Driver, and it also built out the neighboring spaces on Tennyson Street that are…
When Malissa and Scott Spero came back to the states after a year of teaching in Korea, they were ready for a change. Before the trip, Malissa had worked at the China Center at the University of Denver and Scott was a graphic design student. “We realized we could do…
While brunch has become a popular hipster meal, breakfast remains a meal for traditionalists. And it doesn’t get more traditional than at Sunrise Sunset, a three-decade-old, three-spot chain that Gretchen Kurtz visited for this week’s review. She found a lot to like at the Wheat Ridge location — but not…
After the Portulaca Cafe, a decades-old Slavic speakeasy in Globeville, closed in 2008, the White Owl moved in and transformed the space into a cozy dive bar. In 2011, metal artist Shane Evans took it a step further, dubbing the spot Crash 45 and making such improvements as expanding the…
Elitch Lanes, a mainstay in Berkeley, has been sold, our Show and Tell blog reports this morning. Cal Eichinger, who’s owned the bowling alley for thirteen years, hopes to relocate somewhere nearby. And in the meantime, the building at 3825 Tennyson Street that Elitch Lanes will vacate in May has…
“Once again, let it be known that Denver’s BBQ is atrocious,” wrote one commenter last week. It’s been an unusually tough year for barbecue in this town, with several of our longtime favorites closing up shop. But barbecue fans can expect big things come January, when the National Western Stock…
Matt Mine Atticus 1115 East Evans Avenue 720-459-8273 Twelve years is a long time to hold down the same job; in the restaurant industry, it’s nearly a lifetime. When chefs manage to stick around for more than a decade, it’s usually a sign that they’ve found a home where they…
Since a reader labeled Denver’s barbecue scene “atrocious,” readers have poured out their ideas of where to go for good Texas-style, good KC-style, good Carolina-style ‘cue. Still others have suggested that instead of worrying about barbecue, local diners should focus on what this city does well, including green chile. And…
Sunrise Sunset 7400 West 38th Avenue, Wheat Ridge 303-423-8380 Michael Pollan famously proclaimed that we shouldn’t eat anything our great-grandparents wouldn’t recognize as food. Most of us play along with this theory by reading labels and skipping things that belong in the lab. But there’s another way to heed Pollan’s…
Nikki Hazamy and Donna Dempsey started Gypsy Juice over the summer, selling cold-pressed juices at music festivals and other special events around the state. In August, they opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Capitol Hill to serve juice and coffee to the neighborhood. But something was missing; with such a sunny,…
If you’ve noticed that the Denver restaurant scene is blowing up, you’re not alone. The dizzying number of new restaurants here and the competition pushing chefs and restaurateurs to give guests better dining experiences is getting national attention. Some of the resulting stories actually look into Denver’s changing reputation, focusing…
Regularly regarded as one of the best restaurants in Lower Highland, Duo is the little bistro that could. As one of the pioneers in standout farm-to-table cuisine in Denver, Duo applies the same approach to local sourcing and fresh ingredients to its weekend brunch, offering consistent, seasonal delight for your…
The news that Krewe Crescent City BBQ had closed, joining a long list of now-shuttered barbecue joints around town, prompted one reader to share his opinion that Denver’s barbecue is “atrocious.” That, of course, inspired other readers to defend their favorite ‘cue spots around town. And still others suggested that…
Green chili. Red chili. Chili rellenos. Chili con queso. The word stood out on the menu like an intentional affront, dismissing all notions of regional American-Mexican food with a simple refusal to differentiate between two vowels at the end of a single, all-important word. At Brewery Bar II, though, the…
