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Keen readers may have noticed we didn't give an award for Best Coffee Shop in this year’s Best of Denver issue. There’s a reason. Coffee shop awards are the third rail of best-of editions. Most people rabidly adore their favorite java joint with the same passion usually reserved for a first-born child, and so when their café doesn’t win Best of Denver, threats usually follow of lynching and/or castration directed towards the numskulls responsible for the oversight. (For the same reason, Westword doesn't give a Best Mexican Restaurant award -- we divide that category into many Mexican awards, because there are so many Mexican restaurants we love.)

But while the Best of Denver 2008 stayed away from the controversial subject of coffee, Forbes did not. With the help of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, it recently compiled a list of “America’s Best Boutique Coffees,” and in Denver the honor went to Novo Coffee, a local roaster that also operates coffee shops in Arvada and the Denver Art Museum. From Ninth Street Espresso in New York City to the LA Mill on the opposite coast, that puts the family-owned Novo in rarified company.

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Plan on eating out -- a lot -- on Thursday, May 1, when Dining Out For Life returns to Denver. Hundreds of restaurants will be donating 25 percent of their proceeds this day to Project Angel Heart, which delivers meals to people living with AIDS/HIV. Last year's event raised $380,000, and more than 350 area restaurants are participating this year; for a complete list, click here .

Or just stop by Mezcal at 3230 East Colfax Avenue, where I'll join an all-star lineup of alleged celebrities (City Councilwoman Carla Madison, Nick Cage of KTCL, songbird Lannie Garrett) who will be fighting to do more good than the lineup of more tarnished stars at Tambien, Mezcal's sibling.

Look for me behind the bar after 6 p.m., and if you can somehow distract me from bartending duties, I'm sure eveyrone in the room will be grateful. -- Patricia Calhoun

After thirty years, Taqueria Patzcuaro is finally adding a patio to the side of its building at 2616 West 32nd Avenue. The duplex that was there has been cleared away, and the restaurant's owners hope to have an outdoor dining area in place by June.

And not a moment too soon, because three decades after this classic Mexican outpost first appeared in 1978, it's more popular than ever. This past Sunday morning, both old regulars and new fans (this part of Highland is gentrifying rapidly) were lined up outside the door, eager for a plate of huevos ranchero and a bowl of the Best Free Chips and Salsa in town, as noted here in the Best of Denver 2008.

By comparison, Benny's Restaurant y Tequila Bar is a relative baby: Although he'd cooked in kitchens around town, Benny Armas didn't open his own spot until 1987. But it caught on fast, and after expanding once (the original space is now occupied by Mizuna), he moved Benny's up the street to the former home of Chef Henry at 301 East Seventh Avenue.

This place is vast, but it's not big enough for the army of Benny's faithful, and so Armas is adding a second patio, along Grant Street, which will be used mostly for overflow bar crowd when it opens next month. But if you ask nicely, we're sure you can get the reader's choice for the Best Free Chips and Salsa -- and unlike the one-basket-per-table policy at Taqueria Patzcuaro, Benny's free basket is bottomless.

As is my affection for both of these joints.-- Patricia Calhoun

I felt I had to set down my initial impressions of the place before I lost them -- before they were blown clean out of my head with shotgun severity by the next outrage. So there I was, hunched up against the wall, frantically scribbling on the back of an old check:

This is not a restaurant, I wrote. This is a time-warp trip back to the Rome of the Caesars…a gilt-edged and bejeweled palace filled with polished marble, fire, lacquer, iron and gold with glowing lamps and statuary and fiery angel choirs singing from atop massive pillars…

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I haven't eaten at Annie's Cafe in years. But I still have fond memories of the great gringo green chile that was the perfect way to celebrate the end of yet another all-nighter getting Westword out the door.

For that matter, I haven't eaten at Goodfriends in years -- although I did down several drinks at its bar last Christmas, while judging the Mile High Holiday cocktail contest. And I have fond memories of Goodfriends, too, which when it opened 29 years ago was the first restaurant in town to feature built-in shelves for free publications. (Before that, 3100 East Colfax Avenue was the home of Pick-A-Rib, shown above, which was not a Westword distribution spot).

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Today, Tuesday April 29th, is Ben & Jerry's annual Free Cone Day. Stop by any area location to sample one of the many delicious ice cream flavors. The only location with a Denver address is near DU at 2339 East Evans, where they will be serving from noon to 8 p.m. as a benefit for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Other local Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops are located in the Park Meadows Mall, Boulder, Belmar and Fort Collins. For more information, visit www.benjerry.com.

- Aubrey Shoe

I’ve been raving about Jeff “Maestro” Hughes, a violinist whose music mixes hip-hop sensibilities with classical technique, since I first clicked on his website . But you can catch him in person Thursday, May 1 at the Denver Food Rave, which promises plenty of other tasty entertainment, including a fourteen-model fashion show, other live performances samples from Elegant Catering and M&D’s Cafe, which has been dishing up great barbecue for more than thirty years.

Dondrae Mills, who owns Eventizm.com and organized this first Food Rave, hasn't been around long enough to eat M&D's barbecue from the beginning, but he knows a good thing when he sees it. Or hears it. Or eats it. In fact, Eventizm.com is a spinoff of a catering company. “You name it — as part of a catering company, I’ve been there," he says. "Now we do creative events.”

Events like this one, which Mills hopes will turn into a series. “We want to do this every three months,” he says. “Different performers, different chefs, different venues.” And very likely different prices, because the debut night at the Loft, 821 22nd Street, is a real deal: just $5, so that as many people as possible can get a taste of what Mills has in mind for the city.

To get your ticket in advance, click here. -- Patricia Calhoun

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I finally made it back to New York for what was not “one of,” not “among” the best meals of my life -- but, plainly and simply, was the greatest meal of my life. It was only the third most expensive (coming in behind a dinner last year at the Palace Arms where several diners consumed way too many drinks and my wedding reception in Philadelphia, which, coincidentally, also involved way too many drinks) and did not crack the top five on the list of most affecting (those charmed slots are almost all reserved for damaging childhood food memories). But it was the best by a good margin, and will likely keep its position for the remainder of my days.

I finally ate at Le Bernardin.

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The clubby atmosphere at Morton's always makes an evening at this LoDo institution feel special (especially if you hit the cozy bar when those free steak sandwiches make their appearance). But on Monday, April 28, Morton's will host a particularly special event: the fifth annual Wine-Tasting Benefit for the Tennyson Center for Children and the Third Way Center.

You couldn't find two better causes, or a better way to enjoy doing good. The $250 VIP ticket buys entry for a 6 p.m. reception; the hoi polloi (at $150 per) come in at 7 p.m. for a silent auction, meaty buffet and all the wine you could possibly want (even if it's doled out in civilized tasting sizes). Morton's is at 1710 Wynkoop Street; for tickets, call 303-825-3353.

There’s a bit of man-wisdom (folly?) that goes like this: All women are crazy. You just need to find one with the kind of crazy you can deal with, and then marry her.

Well, if knowing immense quantities of information about brewing really good beer could be considered a “kind of crazy,” then I’ve found me a second wife (and I’m moving them both to my polygamy commune in Texas). Hilary, the adorable chemist/biologist/tour guide/bar maiden at Great Divide Brewing Co., certainly knows a lot about beer, and she shared some of her knowledge Wednesday with me and Westword web editor Sean Cronin, as we embarked on our second brewery tour that's part of a 101-brewery project we will never come close to finishing (don’t tell Sean).

Our first tour was of the mighty Coors brewery in Golden, which gets around a quarter of a million visitors a year – so many, in fact, that the company gave its last guided tour on April 8 before switching to shorter, self-guided ones two days later. But Coors is not Great Divide.

“Do you give tours?” we asked Hilary after walking into Great Divide’s tasting room at 2201 Arapahoe Street at 3 p.m. (the website says tours are at 3 and 4 p.m.). “I can show you guys around,” she said. “Do you want a beer first?” Crazy. We each had a Hercules Double IPA, which, no offense to the Silver Bullet, is one of the tastiest beers made in this state, and then checked out the scene.

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What does Colorado taste like?

To create Colorado: See the New West Like a Local, the new exhibt on the skybridge leading to Concourse A at Denver International Airport, DIA's art office asked Coloradans to submit written descriptions responding to the question "What does Colorado Look Like to You?"

A more important question: What does Colorado taste like to you? This state is full of great restaurants, both modest and grand, that are places you could only find in Colorado -- whether because of character or cuisine, or both. From the classic, stew-like green chile at La Fiesta, a weekday lunch-only joint that's survived for more than forty years in an old Safeway (and whose fans include Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs,spotted there on April 24) to Frasca, an amazing spot in Boulder that's racked up award after award since it opened four years ago (among then Best Taste of Colorado in this year's Best of Denver), there's plenty to celebrate on the state's dining scene.

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We love the brunch at Lola, the coastal Mexican restaurant at 1575 Boulder Street that won Best Brunch in the Best of Denver 2008, but we love this event even more:

On Wednesday, April 30, Lola is hosting Dos Casas, a charity event benefiting Brent's Place, a haven for young cancer patients and their families. Chef Jamey Fader has invited five fellow chefs -- Sheila Lucero of Jax in Denver, Matt Selby of Vesta Dipping Grill, Goose Sorenson of Solera, Tyler Wiard of Elway's and Duy Pham -- to join him in cooking up regional Mexican plates to match Lola's excellent cocktails. Tickets are $75 or $150 VIP; to find out more, click here. -- Patricia Calhoun

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I spent a long time talking with the Candy Company’s Rube Goeringer last week, and got a fascinating glimpse into the history of Georgetown – particularly that part of Georgetown now occupied by his candy shop. I got even more of a peek into the past just by hanging out at Kneisel & Anderson, the general store/grocery store/hardware store a few doors down 6th Street, and came away wishing that I either had a place like this in my neighborhood or that I lived right down the street from it in Georgetown. Not that I’d be willing to give up any of the weird little Asian, Indian or Middle Eastern groceries I already do have close to home, but a store like Kneisel & Anderson (where I can get a bag of Doritos, a couple bottles of root beer, a round of Danish Havarti, some French chocolate and instant, Japanese wonton soup) would certainly be a welcome addition.

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