Year in review: Denver's biggest food stories in 2011

South Pearl Street loses three restaurants in one fell swoop

Lori Midson

They say that things happen in threes, and that was definitely the case this past weekend, when Pearl Street Grill, OTOTO and India's Pearl all shut their doors on South Pearl Street, one of the city's most vibrant restaurant rows. Pearl Street Grill will relocate to another space on the block (and while we know which one, we're keeping it a secret...for now); OTOTO is gone -- completely; and India's Pearl, which opened in 2008, is now just a ghost, too, leaving the block devoid of ethnic food, save for the Hungarian Budapest Bistro, which is eerily silent on most nights of the week. But while we're saddened by the closures, it gives South Pearl Street the opportunity to revamp its dining-out options. Taqueria! Taqueria! Taqueria! Just not another burger joint. Please!

Trader Joes and In-N-Out: Will they, or will they not, open in Denver?

Lori Midson

Oh, who the fuck knows? Rumors have been running rampant for years that soon! soon! Denver would get its very own In-N-Out Burger, along with its first Trader Joes. But recently, there's been a palpable shift in those rumors, one of them fueled by California native and District 8 Denver city councilman Albus Brooks, who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows someone else, which led him to post this on his Facebook page: "Had a great conversation with folks tied to in-n-out execs. How hungry are y'all to have them come to Denver?" Frankly, I'm not sure why the councilman is so damn eager for an In-N-out Burger to come to Denver at all. It's a chain -- a good one, yes -- but it's still a chain, and don't we already have enough burger shacks in this city? Still, it's on his agenda for 2012. As for Trader Joes, there's speculation that it will finally open a store in Denver -- on Colorado Boulevard -- within the next two years, but we've heard that before. In the meantime, it's only a five-hour drive to the Trader Joes in Santa Fe. And Bobcat Bite is there, too, which is better than any burger at In-N-Out.