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On innumerable occasions, I've tried to enjoy baklava and managed not to do so, always finding it too sweet or too sticky or too spiked with rosewater, too goopy or too stiff. Finally, I'd gotten to the point where I'd assumed baklava was just not to my taste -- like celery, roasted eggplant and pad thai -- and had simply stopped ordering it. But then I tasted this baklava...

That's an excerpt from my review of Ya Hala, the Syrian restaurant (pictured above) that's inspired a new obsession that has me rolling out at all hours, cruising the mean street of South Colorado looking for my fix of honey, walnuts and phylo. My counters are now crowded with empty take-out boxes, my fingers sticky with sugar. My name is Jason Sheehan, and I am a baklava addict.

You can check out the rest of the Ya Hala -- plus a pretty cool Bite Me column in which I compare Julia Roberts' acting career to a dead chicken) --- in this week's issue, coming soon to a newsstand (or computer) near you. -- Jason Sheehan

Sometimes these weekly missives are about time and the progression through it of a menu, a chef, an address. Sometimes they're about history, which isn't the same as time, because time is smooth and steady, and history is, well, bumpy. History is the story of peaks and jags in time, and food often captures these chronological features quite handily.

Sometimes they're about an event. Most often they're about me, because I am afflicted somewhat with egomaniacal leanings and enjoy being the highly opinionated filter through which these many meals slip. And sometimes -- although rarely, I must admit -- they're even about the food....

This week is all about the food.

Don't believe it? Then pick up the October 26 issue -- or come back to this website later today -- to read my complete review of Venice Ristorante in LoDo. And then offer up your own views as a comment on this blog.— Jason Sheehan

I checked out Buenos Aires Grill (see "Grill of My Dreams," September 21) again on Wednesday -- this time for lunch, which I'd somehow missed during my first whirlwind tour through owner Francis Carrera's beautifully appointed Argentine fine- dining restaurant. And while almost everything I loved at dinner (bacalao and sweet potato fries, blood sausage and the pimp who looked like Willie Nelson) was AWOL at lunch, the staff was kind enough to dig a couple of morcilla sausages out of the cooler and throw them on the grill for me and my friends.

The kitchen had done an okay job cooking the fried chicken -- but it had also slipped in some ginger, which I didn't appreciate. Yes, the ginger had been mentioned on the menu, but not emphasized. At least, not enough. There should've been more warning. The menu description should have shouted, in all caps, something like "fried chicken WITH MOTHERFUCKING GINGER and mashed potatoes."

Fried chicken by itself is a wonderful thing. Fried chicken with ginger is just fried chicken with ginger. In other words, wrong.

That's just a taste of what I have to say in this week's Cafe review of Gelman's Market and Bistro. Hungry for more? Pick up the October 19 issue — or come back to this website later today for a heaping helping of my opinions. And then dish out your own. Love the place or hate it, let me know. Love my review or hate it, same thing. Who knows? If blogging works the way it's supposed to (and I still have very mixed feelings on that subject), maybe we can get a dialogue going. — Jason Sheehan

With my review of Steuben's now off the stands (read the October 5 "American Idyll" here) and all questions of owner Josh Wolkon's American obsessions and searches for provenance and origin answered, we can get down to the truly important matter raised by his menu: namely, where is the best green chile cheeseburger? Bear in mind, I'm looking for the best green chile cheeseburger in Denver, not the best overall. Anyone who knows anything knows that the very best are made at the Owl Bar in San Antonio, New Mexico. The burgers at Steuben's are actually a copy of those done at the Owl Cafe in Albuquerque (with the addition of a challah roll and a bigger-than-average patty). An

My late-night local fave is the Cherry Cricket's white-cheddar-and-green-chile burger washed down with two Genny Cream Ales and a Jameson's back -- though only when the house is busy, the kitchen backed up and the cooks rushed enough that my rare burger actually comes bloody and soaking through the bun.

What's your favorite? If there's some little hole-in-the-wall joint in your neighborhood doing killer chile cheeseburgers, I want to know about it. If there's some massive chain operation with a green chile burger buried on the menu, let me hear it. If you've got a place that you've been keeping under your hat, now is the time to stand up and be counted. This is a flat-out burger battle, folks. Whose side are you on? -- Jason Sheehan

Two weeks ago in Bite Me, I wrote about Kyoto, the new-old restaurant being reopened by Duy Pham and partner James Lee at 7301 South Santa Fe Drive in Littleton.

Now it's official: The place will close on Sunday, October 15, and then, after a five-day whirlwind of cleaning, repair and staff training, reopen on Friday, October 20.

Pham, who early on gathered raves for his menu at the now-defunct Tante Louise (see one recipe here), is rewriting Kyoto's menu right now. He 's already revealed one addition to the sushi lineup: the Bling-Bling Roll, nigiri toro and a thin layer of rice wrapped in o-toro and nori for eighteen bucks, an item inspired by Pham's recent consumption of way too much super-fatty, unbelievably expensive top-grade tuna belly. -- Jason Sheehan