Cafe Society is off to celebrate MLK Day....but here's a heaping helping of leftovers

Pizzeria Basta, our Best of Denver winner in 2011. Who will win this year?

Cafe Society is off celebrating Martin Luther King Day, and will be back on duty early tomorrow. If you're hungry for food news in the meantime, try a second helping of some of these entrees from last week:

-- Denver Restaurant Week is less than six weeks away, and the $52.80 menus that will be served at 300 restaurants in the metro area starting February 25 will be posted on Friday. In the meantime, we're collecting DRW tips from diners and restaurant workers alike -- and the author of the best idea in each division will win $52.80. Read the current list of Denver Restaurant Week advice and post your own here.

--Former Westword critic Jason Sheehan is accused of bribing the front-of- the-house to get into the then brand-new Fruition, and the story (denied at length -- what else? -- by Sheehan) makes the national edition of Eater.

--Lori Midson served up "Our ten best pizzas in Denver (and Boulder)," and the flour started flying.

--The Republican presidential candidates are continuing their march to Florida, leaving behind disgruntled restaurateurs in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Read the "Top five reasons diners are fed up with campaigning politicians" here.

--While a record number of restaurants opened in 2011, there weren't nearly as many closures, as evidenced in our "Restaurant roll call for 2011." But the 2012 closings are coming fast and, in some cases, furious, with the Epic Grills that replaced Fatburger closing, Del Taco calling it quits in Boulder, and Seven Cups drying up on South Pearl Street, already the scene of a New Year's Eve massacre. But there's some good news: Waffle Brothers has opened in Boulder.

--The closing that created the biggest ruckus, though, was that of Gabor's, a beloved dive in Capitol Hill that will become the Marion Street Tavern. Gabor's wound up closing even earlier than anticipated, shutting its doors last weekend after running out of beer. But the comments keep pouring out.