CULTURE
11:02 am, Feb 19, 2009
I have a friend, let's call her Germina, whom I dine with about once a month. This friend and I share closely held secrets, admit to shameful indiscretions, and regularly swap gossipy stories about people we have in common. But one thing we never, ever share is bites of food--not from each other's plates, and certainly not from each other's forks... MORE
2:13 pm, Feb 12, 2009
Two years ago, my eating habits underwent a radical policy shift, inspired in part by Michael Pollan's "Unhappy Meals" in The New York Times Magazine. The political-minded food writer declared you shouldn't "eat anything your great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." That night I raided the cupboards, tossing everything from granola... MORE
2:11 pm, Feb 5, 2009
A few weeks ago, I went to a lecture after work at the University of Denver. The talk about novels and literature filled the soul but left my stomach so empty that by the time I reached my car, the hard fingers of hunger had clamped a tight grip on my stomach. I glanced down at my watch. 8:45 p.m. Heading home to make dinner was not an option.... MORE
2:19 pm, Jan 29, 2009
Two months ago, friends of mine living in the foothills outside Boulder called to say they wanted to come to Denver for dinner. They wanted to dress up, valet-park, and dine someplace with a heady downtown vibe--and they left it up to me to choose the restaurant. Immediately, I thought of The Capital Grille, the dark-wood and white-tablecloth... MORE
11:23 am, Jan 22, 2009
My sister has a knack for ordering the wrong thing. Over a birthday brunch at Le Central, when the rest of us ordered thick slices of eggy quiche and leafy greens, she asked for casserole espagnole. The dish, a piping hot blend of chorizo and potatoes topped with poached eggs, sounded tasty, but throughout the meal, she picked at the potatoes,... MORE
11:52 am, Jan 21, 2009
I've always enjoyed throwing dinner parties: poring over cookbooks, then strutting the aisles of a grocery store so that later I can stir brown sugar into pecan bars and sprinkle blue cheese over salads before sitting down to dinner with a group of friends. But last year at this time, when the city's newest restaurants (Fruition, Osteria Marco)... MORE
2:07 pm, Jan 8, 2009
After a long day of skiing recently, I called in a takeout order from Mici Italian. I wanted salad and pizza, and sure, I told the person on the other end of the line, I could be there in 15 minutes to pick it up. It was 8 p.m. and snowing when I swung open the door of the brightly lit Cherry Creek spot, and as I did so, the chef, cashier, server... MORE
9:11 am, Dec 23, 2008
Kevin Delk and his business partner John Skogstad opened two restaurants, Two Fisted Mario's and Double Daughter Salotto, before they tackled Beatrice and Woodsley. Experience had taught them that, when opening a restaurant, many factors are out of their control. So when construction frustrations and contractor setbacks slowed them down at their... MORE
1:58 pm, Dec 18, 2008
Just a year and a half ago, Mark Dym, his wife Kristy, and their three kids were living in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Dym owned a commodities company and lived three blocks from the ocean. But in all the 18 years he lived there, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd been to the beach. Finally, fed up with his life, Dym decided to... MORE
7:46 am, Dec 16, 2008
Since the August opening of The Counter in Park Meadows, the life of its executive chef, Ken Brown, has been something like "Around the World in 80 Days" on fast forward. He's launched new restaurants in Connecticut, Dublin, and now Sydney, Australia. For each opening, Brown manages two-and-a-half weeks of training, buying, and branding. When he... MORE
2:49 pm, Dec 11, 2008
Two cruises over two years gave pastry chef Lisa Bailey and her husband, Food Network chef Keegan Gerhard, plenty of time to dream about starting their own restaurant. But the two were busy working in Las Vegas, balancing TV and festival appearances. A fateful trip to the Taste of Colorado in 2006, though, landed them in the kitchen of String's... MORE
12:32 pm, Dec 9, 2008
Throughout December, our Tasting Notes blog is featuring web-only interviews with select chefs from this month's roundup of Denver's Best New Restaurants. The birth of his daughter brought big changes to chef Bob Blair's life. He left his job at Parisi and became a stay-at-home dad with the grand idea of pulling together a business plan for his... MORE
10:44 am, Dec 4, 2008
Throughout December, our Tasting Notes blog is featuring web-only interviews with select chefs from this month's roundup of Denver's Best New Restaurants. For years, Alex Waters knew he would open a restaurant. But his professional background--working in weaponry logistics for the U.S. government and then waiting tables at a corporate chain--had... MORE
12:25 pm, Dec 3, 2008
Throughout December, our Tasting Notes blog will feature web-only interviews with select chefs from this month's roundup of Denver's Best New Restaurants. Six months after entering the Denver restaurant scene Masterpiece Delicatessen has outgrown their original space. (The deli added 20 seats over Thanksgiving weekend.) Taking a step back from... MORE
11:44 am, Nov 28, 2008
Mine family is one of traditions. Which means that for every major holiday dinner, I make dessert--a job I wholeheartedly tackle. Searching the Internet, the library, and cookbook after cookbook, I've found flourless chocolate cake and poached pear recipes that have won table-wide accolades. Over the years, eliciting these compliments has... MORE
