The cookie was fine, and you can’t really screw up a from-the-bottle pickle. But the sandwich and potato salad? Not good at all. And that’s all I have to say about that. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s…
“I got my passion from Tony,” Kelly Whitaker of Pizzeria Basta, which I reviewed this week, told me. “I carried that through everything else I did.” He was talking about Antonio Race, the native Italian who founded Pulcinella Ristorante in Fort Collins back in 1991; Whitaker got his kitchen start…
Eric Chiappetta Pizza Republica 5375 Landmark Place, Greenwood Village 720-489-2030 www.pizzarepublica.com This is part two of my interview with Eric Chiappetta, executive chef of Pizza Republica. In part one of this interview, Chiappetta weighs in on why he believes the cook at Griff’s Hamburgers is a culinary god, and that…
After short-lived runs as Jezebel’s Juke Joint & Brothel and Gin & Sin Speakeasy over the past year, the hundred-year-old building at 3862 High Street has re-opened as the High Street Bar & Grill. Frank Blea, who’s owned the building for over three decades, says that some of his family…
Let the good times roll! Lucile’s Creole Cafe has now brought a taste of the bayou to Littleton. The fifth link in a chain that started in 1980 in Boulder, then added Fort Collins and Longmont, and stretched to Denver in 2005, is now in the south suburbs, too, occupying…
The comments about Denver’s Five Best Burgers are still sizzling, and now people are getting hot about our Six Best Pizzas, adding five of our favorites to Pizzeria Basta, winner of the Best Pizza in the Best of Denver 2011. No Enzo’s? No Oven? At least Lipster was polite about…
You wouldn’t believe us if we told you how many times we stuffed our piehole in our quest to find the city’s best pizza in our lead-up to this year’s Best of Denver issue, which, of course, included pizza — several pizzas, as a matter of fact, starting with our…
Westword ran a cover story on SAME Cafe (SAME stands for “So All May Eat”) more than two years ago — and the pay-what-you-can concept restaurant is still going strong, judging from the lunch crowd yesterday (not to mention the two other pay-what-you-can eateries that have opened around town). The…
Yesterday afternoon, while stopped at the light at Sixth and Broadway, I noticed a pair of construction workers maneuvering a sign — a big sign that kept swaying — up the side of the brick building whose former tenant was Daphne’s Greek Cafe, which closed just over a year ago…
If you’ve been here before, then you’ll recognize the origin of those red, white, blue and spice-dusted chips immediately. If not, then you’ll want someone to guess correctly ASAP so you can run over there and get some. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the…
Eric Chiappetta Pizza Republica 5375 Landmark Place, Greenwood Village 720-489-2030 www.pizzarepublica.com Eric Chiappetta’s first job in the kitchen had nothing whatsoever to do with a palpitating passion to actually cook. “I was sixteen, horny and I wanted to make enough money to take girls to the movies,” confesses Chiappetta, the…
We’ve reached the middle of the work week, and as we all know, Wednesday has its own, well-earned nickname: Hump Day. Why? Maybe because from here, having gotten Monday and Tuesday out of the way, we can start contemplating the joys of the coming weekend, and some real hump days…
Denver could soon be awash in places owned by Landry’s Restaurants. On Monday, Tilman Fertitta, chairman and CEO of Landry’s (who has a 10.1 percent ownership of the company, according to the Houston Chronicle), made an all-cash offer for the McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants chain worth more than $137…
The news that Steak ‘n Shake is finally coming to town — Centennial, to be exact, with a groundbreaking this month — has fans of this iconic Midwestern burger drooling. Consider this from Lynn: Thank god there is finally good food coming to Denver! There are some decent restaurants, but…
“Alex Weiser, man. He grows the best potatoes.” Kelly Whitaker was standing in front of his roaring wood-fired oven at Pizzeria Basta, slicing a tiny, misshapen purple tuber with exacting precision, then spreading the disks on a just-stretched circle of dough. “I used to get potatoes from a local farm…
It’s been a banner year for pizza in Boulder: Between January 2010 and January 2011, three ambitious pizzerias opened their doors, all with wood-fired ovens baking renditions of Napolitano or Napolitano-inspired pizzas. Kelly Whitaker, chef and owner of Pizzeria Basta, says the competition has actually helped; his restaurant’s numbers were…
On Friday night, we left Coors Field after the ninth inning, when the game was still tied. Obviously, this skull knew something we didn’t. Can you guess where we were drinking? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered…
Every year, TIME magazine (which seems to get smaller each month) holds a little poll full of big names — names that, according to those at TIME, are the most influential people in the whole wide world. And from now until April 14, you can vote for the person you…
When New York native Dino Espejo picked up a spot in lower Highland at 32nd and Tejon, he projected, optimistically, that he’d open his coffee shop, the Laughing Latte, sometime in December. Four months later, he’s finally hiring his staff, stocking his coffee beans and getting ready to brew…
Two months ago, Zi Fusion, whose name will soon change to Purple Ginger (more on that later), was flooded when a sprinkler head burst and several water pipes broke, severely damaging the restaurant’s hardwoods, mainly in the bar area. “The bar is warped so bad that you can hardly walk…
I used to subsist on shepherd’s pie (and curry and scrumpy) when I lived in London, but it’s been years since I’ve had a good version of the stuff on this side of the pond. Sadly, the shepherd’s pie in the above snap did nothing to change that. Can you…
Our choice of the Vine Street Pub as one of Denver’s Five Best Restaurants for a Blind Date, as well as its win as the Best Break-Up Restaurant, raised an eyebrow…or two…from Dan. “Not exactly sure how a restaurant that only takes cash is good for either a Blind Date…
