Applebee’s just hired hot Boulder-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky — the same creative outfit that Arby’s recently signed — to give the ubiquitous American meat-starch-veg spot an image boost of some kind. But here’s the rub: Unlike Arby’s, Applebee’s doesn’t really need a facelift…
On Friday, Lori Midson broke the news that Jeremy Kittelson, the exec chef at Ambria (and a partner in the four-month-old restaurant) had been fired in the middle of Denver Restaurant Week. “I was relieved of my position — told, simply, that it wasn’t working out — and I’m really…
What’s your favorite shrimp dish?” my friend asked our waiter. He’d been standing beside our cramped booth, shoulders slumped, holding a small notepad in one hand and studiously avoiding our eyes while we studied the huge menu and sucked down the sugary, freshly made lemonades he’d slid across the table…
Last week, I broke the news that Jeremy Kittelson, the opening chef of Ambria, had been fired during the height of Denver Restaurant week — one of the busiest weeks of the year and an incredibly risky (some would say incredibly stupid) time to boot your executive chef off the…
A McAlister’s Deli opens today at 13950 East Mississippi Avenue in Aurora — in a space formerly occupied by a Bennigan’s and one of the doomed BenchWarmers. There’s already a McAlister’s Deli at 3471 Salida Street, also in Aurora…
Bill Yalch may be a Pittsburgh native, but it took just a few trips to the southwest for him to become utterly obsessed with New Mexican food — namely, green chile. “If you live in Pittsburgh, you have no idea what good huevos rancheros are,” he admits, adding that he…
Last March, Food & Wine magazine introduced a “People’s Best New Chef” competition to go along with its own yearly listage of the top ten best new chefs in the country, all of whom are introduced at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic in June. Max MacKissock, chef of the…
Fried chicken, pan-fried pork chops, collard greens, macaroni and cheese and sweet tea equals a soulful Saturday lunch — and a crane to carry your weighted gut and butt out the door. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week’s…
No one’s saying you have to go meatless just because it’s Monday — but as incentive to join the growing movement, every week we’re offering an animal-free recipe. Split peas are a kind of superfood, an excellent source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. Homemade split-pea soup is much, much…
Cafe Society dished out five Guess Where? contests last week, ranging from a caddy of salsas from Machete to a beer poured in the deserted bar at the Stanley hotel to a fruity caipirinha from Fogo de Chao that went down easy to a plate of stunningly fresh clams from…
On Friday we posted our Restaurant roll call for February, a compendium of that month’s openings and closings. The big surprise was the closing of The Crushery; on February 28, owner John Davidson signed a deal to sell the spot to Kayvan Khalatbari, who’ll turn the space at 1579 South…
Michael Pollan — journalist, advocate and patron saint of sustainability in our food system — was in Denver this week to speak to a crowd at the Paramount about the importance of understanding where our food comes from. After his talk, he headed to Fuel Cafe, where he had a…
No. 35: Savory waffle from City, O’ City…
Gary Lee Bomar first inked the deal on an abandoned garage on South Broadway last year, and since then, he’s been working hard to overcome a series of liquor license fights that have derailed the opening of Gary Lee’s Motor Club & Grub. There was light at the end of…
Some of the best food I’ve had this year came from the kitchen of Ambria, a Mediterranean-New American restaurant on the 16th Street Mall, whose line was built — and quarterbacked — by Jeremy Kittelson, a brilliant kitchen magician whose culinary background is more than impressive: He cooked at Vong,…
The Louisville-based Lucky Pie closed out the month’s action on February 29, when it opened a second Lucky Pie in (half of) the former home of Dixons. But other local ventures have not been so fortunate with their expansion plans: The companies behind both the Spicy Pickle and Mercedes Mexican…
I wanted brain tacos, but the kitchen was fresh out of brains, so I changed my mindset and ordered chips and salsa instead, along with a potent margarita that made my head spin. Can you guess where I’m eating? Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the…
Yasmin Lozada-Hissom, the pastry chef of Duo and Olivea, where her husband, John Broening, is also the executive chef, was a regular at Spuntino, an Italian cafe in Highland, owned, in part, by Simone Parisi, who also runs a namesake pizzeria and deli, as well as its downstairs restaurant, Firenze…
MiniBar opened in Cherry Creek nearly three years ago, when Bill Ward, the Denver club owner who once ran now-defunct Below Bar and Slim 7 in Larimer Square, picked up the space below the old Village Inn and installed a lounge…
Cappuccinos for kids? On a recent episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert tipped his hat to Brooklyn baristas for creating the diminutive coffee drinks and “hooking babies on the foam dragon.” And why not? Getting our nation’s spawn to recognize the dual benefits of espresso addiction and effective niche…
Patrick Canfield, the sous chef at the Trinity Grille who’s the subject of this week’s Chef and Tell interview, has won new fans — for his position on gluten-free diets, his memories of old Denver restaurants, and this answer to a question about what would be his dream restaurant: “I…
Denver Restaurant Half Month, not surprisingly, is bringing out the glutton in all of us, and while rezzies are filling up fast, it’s not too late to stamp your name on a seat at one of the 340 feedlots offering multi-course feasts between now and March 9, when the culinary…
