Denver Food Blog

Ellen Jaskol

How do you make kids happy with healthy food? Ask Mary Meitus.

​Marty Meitus's longtime job as food editor disappeared with the Rocky Mountain News last February. But she's been putting her down-time to very good use: She created a pilot program for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant and Children (WIC), which offers nutrition education and counseling for low-income parents and caregivers of young children, and issues vouchers for very specific nutritious foods.

Meitus's idea was to create a place where WIC clients could sample foods, almost as if they were at a Costco or a Sam's Club, while visiting one of the Tri-County Health Department facilities in Aurora. And with the help of a grant, last fall she created the Tasting Cafe.

​Denver's gained Saucy, a new restaurant that just opened at 2200 Market Street, but it's lost Sauce Pizza & Wine, whose former space at 5322 Denver Tech Center Boulevard in now empty.

Sauce had been brought to Denver by Fox Restaurant Concepts, which still has Sauce outposts stirring in Arizona. But here in Colorado, Fox has had better luck with Bloom in FlatIrons Crossing and North, still a Cherry Creek hot spot.

​The South is rising again at Saucy, which opened for business on January 25 at 2200 Market Street (the former home of Otto's Grill and, before that, the downtown Brix).

But Saucy wants to do more than serve up traditional Southern cuisine, according to IsaacTorres, part-owner of the restaurant with his father, Raul. They also want to serve up a heaping helping of Southern tradition. "That's our roots," explains Torres. "We grew up Southern and we don't show that with just the food, we want the hospitality. We want to be a mom-and-pop where everyone knows you by name."

Adam Brock and others speak out.

​"You are what you eat" -- we've all heard that one before. But writers and activists such as Michael Pollan have brought the issue of conscious eating into the forefront.

And tonight, the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, will serve up "Conscious Eating: Food Choices and the Natural World," a panel discussion featuring conscientious local foodies.

​Valentine's Day. The holiday perhaps most feared in the hearts of...well, everyone. How can one silly, Hallmark greeting-dominated day be so over-hyped, yet so continuously underwhelming, at least in terms of delivering that rapturous, romantic haze we all want to be caught up in?

One sure-fire way to make sure that your Valentine's Day doesn't disappoint is to reject the typical approach and redefine your expectations for romance. Invite a group of your dearest friends into your home and get ready to fall in love with someone (or should I say, something) who truly deserves it - dessert wines.

Lori Midson

​As a countdown to the Best of Denver 2010, coming April 1, Cafe Society is serving up, in no particular order, a hundred of our favorite dishes in Denver. Send your own nominations to cafe@westword.com.

​If zipping off to Canada for some bathroom sex doesn't say "Happy Valentine's Day" to you, how about a fast trip to Scandinavia, where Valentine is one of the most popular saints?

Consider these charming Scandinavian customs:

Lori Midson

​There's nothing that beats the gravy fries at Steuben's or the cheese fries at Jonsey's EatBar, but these French fries, pelted with bacon and ribbons of scallions, drizzled with mild cheese sauce and served with a side of housemade ranch dressing, certainly do justice to the lowly tuber.

At which restaurant did we eat half of Idaho's potato crop?

Special bonus: Anyone who gives the first correct answer to the week's Where am I drinking/eating posts is entered into a pool -- and every Monday, we select one lucky winner who'll receive a DINR deck, worth up to $520 in discounts at independent restaurants. Read all about DINR decks here.

Soon to be seen in Belmar

​The 4,547 square foot space in Belmar vacated by the doomed Mark & Isabella and, before that, Chama, has been snapped up -- by the fourth location of Little India, which should open this spring.

"Belmar is very excited about this new addition," spokeswoman Lisa Wieting says of the new entry into a restaurant space that would seem somewhat doomed, given the fate of the previous tenants. "The restaurant has a strong following in Denver and it will add to the diverse culinary mix at the center."

You can agree to disagree, but Sunday's Super Bowl left much to be desired. The spread was wide, all of the commercials seemed to be created by a sleep-deprived schizophrenic coming off of a Ritalin bender, and The Who should clearly never perform again. Ever.

We'll chalk it up as a wash, but hopefully the following list of the top five drink and food-related Super Bowl commercials of all time will assist you in getting that weird taste out of your mouth.

5. Budweiser: Wazzup
Bar rats and frat boys everywhere had a hard time letting this one go for months afterward. And we can't really blame them.