“The Bean is back.” That was the overriding footnote last night at the Squeaky Bean, the tongue-in-cheek restaurant that Bean king Johnny Ballen originally unleashed in Highland in May of 2009. And during the three years that the Squeaky Bean resided in Highland, it generated a cult following, thanks to…
Three Denver restaurants will have new patios for summer time enjoyment. EDGE, at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown, opens its renovated outdoor patio on June 26, featuring new planters and an enclosed cover to protect eaters from chilly nights on the town…
Above the heads of passersby, James Bertini’s bees are flying in circles around the entrance to their new home: a small tube set in the red brick wall at Denver Urban Homesteading. Though the bees are still orienting themselves with the ins and outs of their glass-windowed beehive, soon they’ll…
People have a love/hate relationship with frozen dinners. They hate the calories, the fat, the sodium and the bloated, gassy abdominal episodes that often follow eating them. But they love the convenience, the price, the fast preparation and, perhaps most of all, the delicious flavors of cognitive dissonance. At the…
Mrs. Fields Famous Brands, which owns both the Mrs. Fields cookie chain and TCBY Yogurt, has relocated its corporate headquarters from Salt Lake City to Broomfield. Mrs. Fields — and yes, there really is a Mrs. (Debbie) Fields, who opened her first chocolate chip cookie store in 1977 — has…
Jenna Johansen got the boot from Bravo’s Around the World in 80 Plates this week, after making it through seven countries — and countless challenges. “When I came on to this competition, I thought this would be an adventure, and I thought that there would be a lot more cooking,”…
A steady trickle of African immigrants has made the Denver metro area, and Aurora specifically, a haven for quality African cuisine. But closer to downtown, and just down from the white-hot TAXI development in RiNo, is a taste of Somalia at the Safari Cafe…
It’s been several months since Bravo’s Around the World in 80 Plates was filmed in cities spanning the globe, but the memories for hometown chef and contestant Jenna Johansen, who made it through seven countries — and countless challenges — before she was given the boot in last night’s Thailand…
This week’s Westword includes Laura Shunk’s last review, of Fruition; earlier today, she posted her list of “Denver spots I’ll miss most..” Since we announced a month ago that Laura was moving to New York, Westword has received a smorgasbord of applications for her food-writing job. And although Eater recently…
All of us — chefs included — gasped in awe when this arrived at our table. And despite the flood of fresh herbs and rivers of soy, the fresh calms tasted like they’d just been plucked from the sea. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives…
Hugo Matheson The Kitchen Boulder & [Upstairs]; The Kitchen Denver 1039 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-544-5973 1530 16th Street, Denver; 303-623-3127 www.thekitchencommunity.com This is the second installment of my chat with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen. Read part one of Matheson’s interview. Favorite restaurant in America: After all these…
It’s hard to find a good cheese sandwich these days. Sure, plenty of delis, sub shops and even some fast-food chains are serving up sammies like they just became stylish, but few make a really superior cheese sandwich. The exception to this rule? Which Wich?, a diminutive sub chain out…
Hugo Matheson, the co-owner of the original Kitchen in Boulder, along with the new Kitchen Denver, is obsessed with the business. “I live and breathe every detail of the restaurants,” he says in this week’s Chef and Tell interview. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.” No matter how stupid restaurant…
Sushi Bay, a new restaurant in the Berkeley neighborhood, opened its freshly-decorated doors on June 10 in the former home of the Hole, at 3877 Tennyson Street. It boasts an extensive menu for both lunch and dinner, and the bar is stocked with various types and flavors of sake. Happy…
Last week, we revealed the name of the new fast-casual meatball emporium that Row 14 executive chef Jensen Cummings and his partners, Johnny Coast and Alex Comisar, will open later this year: They’re calling it the Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery. But we left it up to you to guess the…
The sign on the window ballyhoos the joint’s Mexican food and seafood, but it shouldn’t be pimping either — certainly not its camarones a la diabla…unless you’re pining for shrimp that tastes like freezer burn masked (unsuccessfully) by an insipid sauce. #Just say no…
Laura Shunk, who chose Fruition for a farewell dinner with her parents and a last review in this week’s Westword, isn’t the only one who considers that restaurant a go-to spot. Foodies from Chicago who’ve eaten around the world focused on Fruition as their number-one dining destination in Denver, and…
This, declares Pete VanItallie, gazing around his new pub, is “exactly what I had envisioned when I dreamed of opening a neighborhood place.” He points to a photograph on the wall, a gift from his uncle and godfather, that’s a framed shot of the old Finley homestead in Ireland. “He…
Hugo Matheson The Kitchen Boulder & [Upstairs]; The Kitchen Denver 1039 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-544-5973 1530 16th Street, Denver; 303-623-3127 www.thekitchencommunity.com This is part one of my interview with Hugo Matheson, exec chef of The Kitchen Boulder and The Kitchen Denver. Part two of our chat will run in this…
Taco Bell is rolling out a more upscale menu on July 5, and after eating a test dinner hosted by America’s Next Great Restaurant chef Lorena Garcia, Jenn Wohletz suggested that the “Cantina Bell menu may make Chipotle a little nervous.” Only if Garcia stays in the kitchen, doubters respond…
My last week in Denver was not really my last, since I have friends and family here who will draw me back to the Mile High City. But after three years of living off the local restaurant scene — first waiting tables and then writing about food — eating in…
The last thing I needed to do after four whirlwind days of eating and drinking myself silly at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, was to drink and eat myself silly within hours of arriving back in Denver. My body needed a detox, but instead, I abused it with…
