Nate Bychinski
Mateo
1837 Pearl Street, Boulder
303-443-7766
mateorestaurant.com

This is part one of my interview with Nate Bychinski, exec chef of Mateo; part two of my interview with Bychinski will run tomorrow.

"I didn't play with knives, but I definitely did my fair share of cooking," says Nate Bychinski, remembering his younger years in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he grew up bow-hunting white-tailed deer on his cousin's farm and working in the kitchen with his mother and grandmother. "My grandmother came from a family that ate a lot of peasant food, and that's what we ate, too: lots of chipped beef on toast, macaroni and cheese and pfeffernüsse -- little nuggets of bread dough that my grandmother perfected," says Bychinski, who's now immersed in French cuisine at Mateo, in Boulder.

See also:
- Tyler Nemkov is now the exec chef at Mateo
- Tyler Nemkov has left Mateo

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Mark Antonation

Jungle curry at J's Noodles Star Thai.

In A Federal Case, I'll be eating my way up Federal Boulevard -- south to north -- within Denver city limits. I'll be skipping the national chains and per-scoop Chinese joints, but otherwise I'll report from every vinyl booth, walk-up window and bar stool where food is served. Here's the report on this week's stop...

Technically, my next meal should be atLao Wang Noodle House -- but I needed a few extra mouths to help me explore that menu and couldn't pull enough people together in time to stick with strict geographical order. And since J's Noodles Star Thai shares a wall with Lao Wang, the few inches of drywall and cinderblock that separate the two are hardly a barrier for cuisine swapping -- not when compared with the many hundreds of miles and the South China Sea that come between Thailand and Taiwan.

See also:
- Little bundles of joy at Gio Cha Cali
- Golden Pho & Grill is a newcomer, but fits right in on Federal
- Vietnam Grill serves up a surprising culinary lesson on Vietnamese cuisine

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Ghost Plate & Tap opened in June 2011 in the historic Ghost Building. It had a great location (the former home of the Rocky Mountain Diner) and savvy owners: the Wynkoop/Breckenridge crew. But Ghost won't be around to celebrate its second birthday; it's closing on Friday. Initially, the restaurant was envisioned as sort of a "greatest hits" concept, but it wasn't a big enough hit with diners.

See also:
- Ghost Plate & Tap will shutter on Friday
- Chef and Tell with TJ Hobbs, chef of Ghost Plate & Tap
- Chef Christopher Cina lands in the kitchen of Ghost Plate & Tap

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It's National Hamburger Month, and Denver-based Red Robin is celebrating with a "Who's Your Burger Daddy?" social campaign, encouraging customers to ask friends and family on Facebook or Twitter to be their "Burger Daddy," and entering those who participate in a sweepstakes to win free Red Robin burgers for a year (twelve $30 gift cards).

To push the promotion, Red Robin CEO Steve Carley will be at the store at 6790 South Cornerstar Way in Aurora today, passing out $100 gift cards to unsuspecting (unless they've read this) patrons.

See also:
- Red Robin's Burger Works delivers signature dishes in a smaller space
- Slideshow: Red Robin's "fast-cazh" foray
- Red Robin does the time warp -- with burgers from the past

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Peach Street Distillers

Peach Street Distillers Artisan Goat Vodka.

Rory Donovan has known fellow Peach Street Distillers co-founders Bill Graham and Dave Thibodeau since they were making beer in Graham's kitchen and starting up Ska Brewing. Donovan and Graham talked whiskey-making for years, looking at all manner of still plans -- like one they found on the Internet created by desperate Chevron gas-field workers who wanted to make their own hooch.

When Donovan was growing up, he'd watched his dad and his buddies working a still, too. "When I saw that those guys could do it, it took some of the alchemy out of it," he explains.

See also:
- It's gin for the win at Roundhouse Spirits
- Woody Creek Distillers takes spirits to another level in Basalt
- Denver's five best bike-friendly bars

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Trevor Andersen

The owners of Sushi Bay, which took over the space in the Berkeley neighborhood that had been occupied by the Hole, now have a place in Uptown, too. Sushi Bay 17 is located at 1728 East 17th Avenue; keep reading for a look at the space and the food.

See also:
- Photos: Sushi Bay now occupies the former Hole spot on Tennyson Street
- Sushi Bay will open where the Hole closed
- The Hole will close on Tennyson Street

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Lori Midson

TJ Hobbs, the current chef of Ghost Plate & Tap, will become the corporate training chef for Breckenridge/Wynkoop.

Next month, Ghost Plate & Tap, an elevated pub with a formidable beer list and an excellent cocktail program, would have celebrated its second anniversary downtown, but the Wynkoop/Breckenridge concept, which opened in June of 2011, is shuttering just shy of its two-year anniversary, closing this Friday, directly after lunch service.

See also:
- TJ Hobbs, chef of Ghost Plate & Tap, on portion size, pastry and Pepsi
- Round two with TJ Hobbs, chef of Ghost Plate & Tap
- Chef Christopher Cina lands in the kitchen of Ghost Plate & Tap

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Mark Manger

Taita.

According to CareerCast, my colleagues and I have the worst job in America. Low pay and high stress catapulted newspaper reporter to the top of the job portal's annual worst-of list, ahead of both lumberjacks and meter readers. But how can I complain?

I sat down at the computer this morning to double-check the meaning of the word "taita," because my review this week is of a contemporary Peruvian restaurant named Taita, and I wanted to know what it meant.

See also:
- Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2012
- Photos: Taiti Peruvian Cuisine & Bar opens Friday
- Best Peruvian Desserts 2013: Azucar Bakery

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A scene from the new ad campaign.

New Belgium Brewing is running its first TV ad campaign in eight years, buying airtime in twelve markets across the country in order to help beer drinkers associate the name Fat Tire with the brewery itself, which wants to push the rest of its lineup.

But the commercial, a thirty-second spot created by Denver's Cultivator Advertising, won't be seen in Colorado -- where New Belgium is based.

See also:
- Breckenridge Brewing spoofs megabrewers in new TV ads...again
- New Belgium will build a second brewery in Asheville, North Carolina by 2015
- Novo Coffee teams up with New Belgium for a Colorado nod to coffee cherries

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All photos by Jenn Wohletz.

A one-topping jalapeno pizza from Marco's Pizza.I had one of those accidental TMI conversations right in front of the guy ringing me up at Marco's Pizza. My boyfriend and I were discussing Game of Thrones (and by discussing, I mean I was going on for minutes while he was pretending to listen and care) and I was lecturing him on the character change from book to show without realizing that I was describing a male appendage in a bit too much in detail.

Then I realized it, and there was a moment of awkward silence. I totally apologized to the cashier for overshare -- but he just laughed and said it was cool. I gave him a good tip.

Restaurant staffers with well-developed senses of humor are a real treat in a world of sour, cranky customer service -- and the pizza, salad and wings at the newly opened Marco's Pizza weren't bad, either.

See also:
- Marco's Pizza -- no, not Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria -- is coming to Stapleton
- Exclusive first look: Live Basil Pizza opens Thursday in south Denver
- Photos: Crowds now snarfing burgers at Snarfburger

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