Review: Solitaire Deals a Winning, Inventive Menu in a Historic Highland Space
Too much noise in a restaurant isn’t good, unless you don’t like your date and are glad for the excuse not to talk. But what about the opposite: too much quiet? That’s what I considered one night at...
View ArticleReview: At Ophelia's, Justin Cucci Has Cooked Up His Raciest, Riskiest Plan Yet
Over the years, I’ve come to think of Justin Cucci as a mad genius, twirling his thumbs and cackling as he ponders what dominion to conquer next. Who else could take a gas station and some vegetables...
View ArticleReview: Bubu Lowry Is Missing Some Troy Guard Magic
If Troy Guard’s combination of Pop Rocks and yellowtail sashimi at TAG hinted that he was a magician, his treatment of TAG|Raw Bar just down Larimer Street confirmed it. One day the subterranean space...
View ArticleReview: Avery Brewing Company Creates a Restaurant Worthy of Its Beer
Go big or go home. That seems to be the motto at Avery Brewing Company, which celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year by decamping to a new $27 million campus in Boulder. But the move did more than...
View ArticleReview: Things Are Looking Up at Jeff Osaka's Original Osaka Ramen
Eating dessert after a bowl of ramen is like ordering a brownie fudge sundae after downing a milkshake. It’s excess with a capital E, a feat best left to competitive eaters who swallow 62 hot dogs...
View ArticleReview: The Good Son Is the Next Act for the U Baron Group
Can there be a third act? That’s the question for the homegrown U Baron Group, which has mounted a string of restaurants in the former Lowenstein Theater complex since taking over a space there in...
View ArticleReview: The Farm House at Breckenridge Brewery Cultivates Two Big Trends
There we were, two restaurant critics drinking coffee and talking shop — quietly, of course, so that no one around us could hear. “What’s big in Denver right now?” she asked, noting that in her home...
View ArticleReview: Baur's Restaurant and Listening Lounge Could Use a Sound Check
”Do you want to be as close to or as far away from the music as possible?” asked the hostess at Baur’s Restaurant and Listening Lounge, which opened last spring in the former downtown home of Le Grand...
View ArticleReview: Onefold Cooks Up a Delicious Way to Start Your Day
The story of Onefold is not a cautionary tale. There are no lurking dangers from which to learn, no pitfalls trapping overextended chefs, no overwrought concepts so common in the restaurant industry....
View ArticleReview: Welcome to the Promised Land of Milk & Honey
Michael Shiell created quite a stir when he picked the name for the restaurant that would mark his return to Denver after a three-year hiatus: It would be called Milk & Honey, after a biblical...
View ArticleReview: Brik on York Could Be a Knockout Wine Bar — With Pizza on the Side
Soon after my salad and dried-out meatballs arrived at Brik on York, I began to wonder: Had Elvis left the building? The thought persisted, buzzing about my head, on that night and others. I tried to...
View ArticleReview: Dos Santos Is a Heavenly Addition to Uptown
I’m supposed to be writing about chilaquiles. Instead, I’m eating them. Oh, I tried to sit at the computer and soldier on. Tried hard, in fact. But in the end, all those thoughts about cumin, serranos...
View ArticleReview: Asian Authenticity? It's All Relative at Uncle Joe's
I’ve heard of many secrets to long life, from not smoking to eating a bowl of ice cream every day. But the one on the menu at Uncle Joe’s, a Hong Kong bistro that opened early this year across the...
View ArticleReview: The Art Hotel's Fire Needs to Turn Up the Heat
This summer saw its share of big food stories. The opening of Fire, an elegant restaurant in the Art Hotel, wasn’t one of them. Indeed, the restaurant was so far off the radar that unless you followed...
View ArticleReview: Raise a Glass to The Palate Food + Wine Bar in Greenwood Village
The last time I ate a piece of fish at 5375 Landmark Place, I had to work for it: I chopped and sautéed vegetables, mounded them over the fish, then maneuvered the tucks and folds of the papillote...
View ArticleReview: Rebel Restaurant Is So Refreshing, You'll Be Hungry for More
When I left New York more than a decade ago, foodies (as they were known then) felt a little sorry for me. What was a food writer to do in a town known for steakhouses and omelets? But who’s sorry now?...
View ArticleReview: Remembrance of Things Pasta at The Old Spaghetti Factory
I don’t normally review restaurants where placemats are decorated with pictures of what I’m eating. But there I was, sitting in a red trolley at The Old Spaghetti Factory, a plate of Spaghetti Vesuvius...
View ArticleReview: Small Wonder Food and Wine Is a Small Miracle in West Highland
A year ago, Grant Williams, then bar manager at the Coral Room in West Highland, decided to buy the restaurant from his boss, who was putting it up for sale after ten years. Williams and longtime...
View ArticleReview: Honor Society Handcrafted Eatery Does Fast, Fine Work
Justin Brunson wasn’t an obvious addition to the founding team behind Honor Society Handcrafted Eatery, a fast-fine restaurant that opened this summer in a new office building behind Union Station. If...
View ArticleReview: Revelry Kitchen Issues a Wake-Up Call
When I first walked into Revelry Kitchen, there wasn’t much revelry going on. No one was laughing over mimosas or micheladas, as they would’ve been on a busy weekend morning. No one was even waking up...
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