Denver Food Blog

Lori Midson

​Last week, I asked whether pho could be on the horizon for the Streets at Southglenn -- specifically a second outpost of Pho 95, Aaron Le's original temple of pho at 1002 South Federal Boulevard.

I have an answer.

​Head up to the Avery Tap Room, 5763 Arapahoe Avenue in Boulder, which is hosting A Decade of Decadence: Ten Years of the Reverend Belgian Quadrupel Beer Dinner and Vertical Tasting. The meal, which starts at 7 p.m., includes five courses and lots of beer; admission is $60. Drew Bixby rhapsodizes about the event here; for more details, call 303-440-4324 or visit www.averybrewing.com.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

Holiday mezcal menu at Tambien

​"Instead of doing a mezcal-tequila tasting like we normally do, we came up with some killer cocktails to pair with each course," says Sean Yontz, executive chef of Tambien (250 Steele Street), the gathering quarters for tomorrow night's multi-course holiday mezcal dinner. The fact that Yontz is serving mole de caderas -- roasted goat -- is reason enough to cancel whatever plans you already have in place. Seriously, when Yontz does mole - mole with goat, for chrissakes -- you know the culinary deities are all in place.

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. and dinner/drinks are $45 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. To make reservations, call 303-333-1763.

Frasca Food & Wine executive chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson

​The Celebrity Chef Tour benefiting the James Beard Foundation lands in Denver tonight, stopping at the Brown Palace, 321 17th Street. That's where Frasca Food & Wine executive chef (and 2008 James Beard award winner for Best Southwest Chef) Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson will join host chefs Thanawat Bates and William Dexter for a reception and six-course tasting menu paired with wines chosen from master sommeliers Bobby Stuckey, from Frasca, and Richard Betts, the former wine director of the Little Nell in Aspen.

​From 6 to 10 p.m. tonight, the French-American Chamber of Commerce and Alliance Francaise de Denver will celebrate this year's release of Beaujolais and other French wines, with a culinary challenge showcasing French-inspired cuisine by top local chefs. The fun's at Mile High Station, 2027 West Lower Colfax Avenue, and tickets are $55 to $65; for details, go to visit www.rmfacc.org/facc-activities-events/beaujolais-beyond-festival.html.

And Le Central, the longtime affordable French restaurant at 112 East Eighth Avenue, will also celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau tonight; find details here.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​We all know you can buy food at Tony's Market, but at 6 p.m. tonight, you'll be eating inside the store at 950 Broadway, which is hosting an Italian family dinner. The meal, $30, features crostine di salmone, melanzana alla parmigiana, rosbif in Barolo, insalata d'indivia and panna cotta con composta, and there are suggested wine pairings ranging from $22 to $25 a bottle. Reservations are required; make yours at 720-880-4501.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​Although most crops have been harvested for the year, there are still truffles in the forests of Oregon. Celebrate this wintertime abundance at a $69, five-course dinner at Cru Wine Bar, 8433 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree, that will pair Barolo wines with Oregon white truffles and a speech by Daniel Kratzer. Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. tonight; make your reservations at 303-708-8084.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

Catch the vocal stylings of Julie Monley tonight at Dazzle.

​Dazzle, 930 Lincoln Street, is stirring things up tonight with its French Soups and Stews event, which kicks off at 7 p.m. Chef Duncan Smith has paired five courses with Hob Nob Vineyards French wines; vocalist Julie Monley and pianist Fredric Desmoulins will provide the entertainment while you nosh. Admission is a mere $35; visit www.dazzlejazz.com or call 303-839-5100.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

Mile High United Way wants to help stock your wine cellar.

​Our online Food & Drink listings feature dozens of culinary events around Colorado this week, including Anthony Bourdain's local appearance, the Mile High United Way Emerging Leaders Wine Event, the Celebrity Chef Tour and Opus's Cele-bracon. A taste of what's ahead:

​Six Great Divide beers -- Denver Pale Ale, Samurai Unfiltered Rice Ale, Hibernation English-Style Old Ale, Fresh Hop Pale Ale, Hercules Double IPA and Yeti Oak-Aged Imperial Stout -- will take center stage tonight at Argyll Gastropub, 2700 East Third Avenue in Cherry Creek, which has paired the beers with six delicious food courses for your eating and drinking enjoyment. Admission is $45 and the dinner starts at 7 p.m.; visit www.argyllpub.com for a full menu or make reservations at 720-382-1117.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​If you're crying into your pillow because Mad Men is over for the season, then you should head to Bitter Bar/Happy at 835 Walnut Street in Boulder for a Mad Men Social tonight and extend the season by one week. You'll enjoy old-fashioned cocktails shaken or stirred by guest bartenders Sage Swink (West End Tavern), Britt Henze (Bacaro Venetian Tavern), Erin Kerns (Centro Latin Kitchen & Refreshment Palace) and Bitter Bar/Happy's own Ben Foote. There will also be classic '60s food provided by the kitchen and prizes for the best-dressed male and female; it starts at 10 p.m. and costs $25. Call 303-442-3050.

For information on dozens of culinary events around town, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​Beginning Saturday, November 14 and continuing through Saturday, November 21, you can take a big bite out of First Bite Boulder, a weeklong event that offers three-course dinners for $26 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) at 40 restaurants in the People's Republic.

For a list of participating feed houses, which includes, among others, The Kitchen, Jax Fish House, Zolo Grill and Mateo, go to www.firstbiteboulder.com. Reservations can be made through Open Table or by contacting the restaurants directly.

Lori Midson

​Beginning tonight, Sushi Sasa, Wayne Conwell's hip temple of Japanese cuisine at 2401 15th Street, is adding late-night hours to its lineup. "Over the past few months, we've had numerous customers showing up at our doors after 10:30 wanting to eat sushi, so we thought, hey, let's stay open later," says general manager Joey Oliver. "Since we're so close to downtown, it just makes sense to go late-night so that people who don't want to eat diner food or just aren't ready to go home, have a new option in their dining quest," he explains.

Sushi Sasa's new hours are as follows:

Tuesday through Saturday, from 5 p.m. to midnight with a late night happy hour drink special. Then, from 10:30 p.m. to midnight, anything and everything with alcohol is half-price. Hours on Sunday and Monday will remain the same: 5 to 10 p.m. For more info, or to make reservations, call 303-433-7272.

David Sax talks deli.

​David Sax traveled the world in search of an authentic deli, examining the cuisine that was once at the center of Jewish culture. Did he find one? Learn whether his search was successful today at the Mizel Center for Arts and Culture, 350 South Dahlia Street, at a special deli lunch with Sax, where he'll discuss his new book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. Admission is $20 and the luncheon starts at noon. Call 303-316-6360 or visit http://maccjcc.org.

To read Lori Midson's take on Sax's blog -- including local delis that Sax included in his book -- see her Cafe Society story from October.

For information on dozens of culinary events around Colorado, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​
Does reading this blog make you hunger to write?

Westword is expanding its Cafe Society coverage, and we're looking for a great freelance writer with a passion for food and restaurants, as well as the ability to produce stylish and knowledgeable news and opinion pieces about the Denver dining scene. This is not a restaurant critic position. We have one of those already, and Jason Sheehan's not going anywhere. A background in reporting is highly desirable. So are interviewing skills. And if you're a master of compiling witty "Top 10" lists, all the better.

E-mail a cover letter that includes why you're a good fit for the job -- which is definitely part-time -- along with a resume and clips (or writing samples), to lori.midson@westword.com. If you've previously applied for this position, we still have your resume and clips on file. Trust us on this.

​Nothing can take the place of an actual trip to Italy to explore the language, culture and cuisine -- but this is probably the next-best thing. Trattoria on Pearl, 1430 Pearl Street in Boulder, is hosting an Italian class tonight on the region of Sardegna. The syllabus includes a three-course dinner -- one of which is prepared table-side, with the recipe included -- plus Italian language and culture lessons.

Admission is $35 -- much cheaper than a plane ticket across the pond -- and you can make reservations at 303-544-0008. Another Sardegna-centric class will take place on Tuesday, November 17, and classes on the regions of Lazio/Roma are scheduled for November 19 and 24.

For information on dozens of culinary events around Colorado, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​As I reported here yesterday, Arizona restaurateur Mark Tarbell is just a few weeks away from opening Home, a comfort food restaurant that will join The Oven, another Tarbell restaurant, at the Streets of SouthGlenn in late November.

And while that's good news for the foodniks who hang in those parts, I'm wetting my pants over the very real possibility that a certain Vietnamese joint on Federal, whose pho bowls me over every time, and whose affable host and owner is one of the greatest guys in the biz, might -- just might -- be turning out mo' pho right around the corner from Home.

When I know pho sure, so will you.

​Know why we're awesome? Because we have two tickets to attend the exclusive meet-and-greet with Anthony Bourdain, Mr. Kitchen Confidential himself, Anthony Bourdain, when he comes to town to talk food and travel on Wednesday, November 18 at the Buell Theatre.

Know why we're double awesome? Because we're just giving those motherfuckers away.

Of course, there's a catch. We're gonna make you work for 'em. My original thought? An essay contest whereby you clever readers would, in the guise of Senor Bourdain, write an apology to the city of Denver for certain assurances that Tony made on his TV show, No Reservations, about never, ever coming back to the Mile High City and having no interest whatsoever in our little corner of the Rocky Mountain West.

​Every month, Colfax on the Hill hosts a "Happy on the Hill" social, a chance for the public to learn more about businesses on Colfax Avenue and those business owners to network a bit. This month's featured business: Mulberries Cake Shop, which recently moved from South Pearl Street to 2027 East Colfax Avenue.

At Mulberries, you can order totally sweet, custom-made cakes (white, yellow, chocolate, marble, lemon, spice, carrot, lemon poppyseed, spice swirl and butter pecan), with a variety of fillings (raspberry, strawberry, lemon, chocolate pudding, German chocolate, Bavarian cream, fresh fruit) and icings (buttercream and cream cheese) for any event in your life -- whether it's a wedding or just another Wednesday.

On this Wednesday, November 11, head to Mulberries at 5:30 p.m. for good conversation and cake, of course.

For information on dozens of culinary events around Colorado, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

Sergio Romero will not be cooking dinner at Chefs for the Cause -- and neither will anyone else.

​Chefs for the Cause sounded like a philanthropic foodie's delight -- six of Denver's top chefs creating delicious food to help raise money for the Denver affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. James Mazzio (of Cucina Colore and Via fame, now executive chef of Le Chateau), Justin Cucci (Root Down), Jeromy Krug (Ling & Louie's Asian Bistro), Sergio Romero (Argyll Gastropub), Bill Osoolund (Boulder Chophouse & Tavern) and Michael Bortz (City Bakery) were scheduled to help out at the November 12 event, co-hosted by the Gabby Gourmet and Roth Distributing ... but it's no longer happening; they're just going to have to cook it up to fight breast cancer some other time.

​"I made a decision, I'm doing it and it's happening this weekend." That's Mark Dym, owner/chef of Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria, 2129 Larimer Street, talking about his new brunch, which starts this Saturday, November 14. "We're keeping it simple, with just a few breakfast pizzas, bottomless mimosas for eight bucks or so and Bloody Marys for $3," he says.

"We've been talking about it for a while, and I want to drive some brunch business to the restaurant, and so far as I know, no other restaurant is doing breakfast pizzas, so we decided to go ahead and do it," he explains. "A little ham, a little cheese and some egg and you've got a great breakfast pizza, right?"

From this weekend on, brunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more info, dial 303-296-7000 or visit www.marcoscoalfiredpizza.com/.

​Once upon a time, a man named Noah Alper created a little bagel company called Noah's New York Bagels; it grew up to become Einstein's Bagels. The man behind Einstein's is also an author who wrote Business Mensch, and Alper will be speaking at 7:30 a.m. today at a breakfast that's part of the JAAMM Festival at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, 350 South Dahlia Street. Admission is $10; visit http://maccjcc.org.

For information on dozens of culinary events around calendar, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​If you've been anywhere near the Denver Pavilions recently, then you know what an utter and complete construction zone clusterfuck it's been. But it appears that the cone zones, yellow tape and dust bowls are finally coming to an end. And to celebrate that milestone -- or as some would call it, the re-introduction of the Pavilions -- Maggiano's Little Italy is hosting a whole slew of events that kick off Tuesday, November 10 and continue through Tuesday November 17.

At noon on November 10, Maggiano's executive chef, Eric Kolk, struts his stuff up and down the escalator as part of a fashion show to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Colorado, and at 12:45 p.m., Kolk will re-create his mushroom ravioli al forno during a chef demo. Throughout the week, Maggiano's will also be offering specials and a "today and tomorrow" menu, which allows noodle rockers to choose one dish from the menu and go home with another dish of their choice to grub on the next day.

For more info, visit the website or call 303-260-7707.

​It's not too late to make a reservation for tonight's food and wine dinner at Frasca, the Boulder food shrine to all things brilliant.

Tonight's dinner, hosted by Kevin Pike of Terry Theise Estate Selections, is all about grower champagnes, often referred to as "farmer fizz," according to Bobby Stuckey, the master sommelier of Frasca. "These are the ultimate expression of terroir-driven wines in the region of Champagne, France," says Stuckey. "They're wines that have been nurtured from the vine to the bottle by a single person with a true connection to their land and the wines they produce. Each wine is expressive of a place and the family that grew it as well as a diversity that is often overshadowed by the larger houses and conglomerates," he explains.

​To mark the fifth annual Denver International Wine Festival, set for November 12 and 13, Mayor John Hickenlooper has pronounced this Denver Wine Week. The festivities kick off today at Cilantro Fusion, the new restaurant at 1531 Stout Street, at an event sponsored by Loire Valley. The big tasting is Thursday, but there's also a tour of local wineries on Friday. To get details on all the festival happenings, call 303-664-6700 or visit www.denverwinefest.com.

For news of dozens of culinary events in our online culinary calendar, Food & Drink listings.

​Talk about an ideal pairing: classic cars and beer from some of Colorado's best breweries. Making the match even better is the fact that tonight's Hops for Hopes at the Lemay Auto Museum (11100 West Eighth Avenue in Lakewood) benefits the SCI Recovery Project, which provides exercise-based recovery programs for people with spinal injuries.

Dr. Stephen Davies, a researcher at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, will speak at the event, which will also feature a silent auction with such items as skis, mountain condo rentals, golf packages, sports memorabilia and more. And, of course, there's the collector car show, which you can enjoy while munching appetizers and swigging beer. Tickets are $50 and are available at www.scirecoveryproject.com.

For dozens more events, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

Tatjana Krizmanic's "Saturday Market."

​Have you ever had a meal where the food and the atmosphere meld so perfectly that you experience culinary epiphany? That's what tonight's Local Color, Local Flavor event at Bacaro, 921 Pearl Street in Boulder, is aiming for.

Bacaro's new chef, Fabio Flagiello, has created a four-course menu to complement Tatjana Krizmanic's artwork, which will be on sale for one night only, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Global Greengrants Fund. The evening is $30 per person and seating is limited, so call 303-444-4888 to see if there's still room left.

For dozens more events, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​Things are looking up Down Under, judging from the array of Australian wines you'll be tasting at tonight's Innocent Bystander Wine Dinner at Restaurant 4580, at 4580 Broadway in Boulder. The four-course dinner is paired with wines from Innocent Bystander Winery, and includes vegetarian and gluten-free options for each course.

Make reservations, $55, at www.restaurant4580.com or call 303-448-1500.

For information on dozens of culinary events, visit our online Food & Drink listings.

​Of the 42,000 runners who killed themselves finished the New York City Marathon -- the world's largest -- this past Sunday, Bobby Stuckey, the master sommelier at Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, placed 283rd with a time of 2:47:23. That's right: the guy who drinks, pours, studies and explains wine for a living kicked the butts of 41,717 fellow marathoners. Damn, that's good.

But while Stuckey clearly ran his ass off, averaging a 6:24 minute mile (and placing twelfth among Colorado runners), he also got a taste of several New York restaurants, including Eleven Madison Park, Marea, Locanda Verde , Motorino and Babbo. "I celebrated my marathon finish at Babbo with my wife and chef Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison Park over a bottle of Barolo. It was the perfect cap to a wonderful accomplishment," says Stuckey. "Marathon weekend is about being done with the whole journey of the marathon training. Also, running the New York City Marathon is a great time to give back to my wife by taking her to great dinners in return for all the time I missed out with her."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Congratulations.

Would you eat this?

​If you think you have the ingredients to make food hustler Tony Bourdain a memorable dinner, then Tony's Market wants to hear from you.

Bourdain, as you may recall, is cruising around the country, stupefying audiences with his real-life tales of eating warthog ass, fermented shark and lutefisk. And he's coming to Denver on Wednesday, November 18 for an appearance at the Buell Theatre -- and Tony's is giving away tickets to a half dozen people who have the balls to participate in the market's essay competition.

Here's how it's going to work: