Lori Midson

Jose Guerrero
ViewHouse Eatery, Bar & Rooftop
2015 Market Street
720-878-2015
viewhouseco.com

This is part two of my interview with Jose Guerrero, exec chef of ViewHouse Eatery, Bar & Rooftop; part one of our chat ran yesterday.

Favorite Denver/Boulder restaurant(s) other than your own: Oak at Fourteenth. The pickles, kale salad, flavored spritzers and my son and I sitting at the exhibition kitchen bar: That's a perfect night out for me.

See also:
- Photos: ViewHouse Eatery Bar & Rooftop opens in the Ballpark Neighborhood
- Francois Safieddine purchases the former Mori
- ViewHouse will open in early 2013 in former home of Mori

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Lori Midson

Jose Guerrero
ViewHouse Eatery, Bar & Rooftop
2015 Market Street
720-878-2015
viewhouseco.com

This is part one of my interview with Jose Guerrero, exec chef of ViewHouse Eatery, Bar & Rooftop; part two of our chat will run on Cafe Society tomorrow.

In hindsight, things could have gone very differently for Jose Guerrero. "I grew up in Chicago, in Little Village, the city's epicenter for drug lords," recalls Guerrero, today the executive chef at ViewHouse. Going outside to play wasn't an option, he says: "My mom told me I had to stay inside or find a job -- that I needed to do something where I'd keep my head down and stay focused, and she wanted to know where I was at all times."

See also:
- Photos: ViewHouse Eatery Bar & Rooftop opens in the Ballpark Neighborhood
- Francois Safieddine purchases the former Mori
- ViewHouse will open in early 2013 in former home of Mori

More »

Lori Midson

Jonathan Power
The Populist
3163 Larimer Street
720-432-3163
thepopulistdenver.com

This is part two of my interview with Jonathan Power, executive chef of the Populist. Part one of our chat ran yesterday.

Favorite Denver/Boulder restaurant(s) other than your own: I don't make it up there often enough, but I love Pizzeria Basta in Boulder. The service has always been spot-on, and they bring some beautiful flavors out of that oven.

Favorite cheap eat in Denver: Hands down, the banh mi from Baker's Palace. It's cheap and delicious and just far enough from my house that I haven't burned myself out on them...yet.

See also:
- Jonathan Power, exec chef of the Populist, on fungus, the sea bass bomb and "no salt"
- Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2012
- Exclusive first look: The Populist opens on Wednesday

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Lori Midson

Jonathan Power
The Populist
3163 Larimer Street
720-432-3163
thepopulistdenver.com

This is part one of my interview with Jonathan Power, executive chef of the Populist. In part two of our chat, which runs tomorrow, Power reveals his favorite Denver restaurants, his fantasy splurge and what he looks for when hiring his kitchen staff.

Jonathan Power never wanted to be a chef. In fact, his career ambition was to become a lawyer. Lawyers -- even bad ones -- can make a ton of money. Chefs -- even the best ones -- aren't exactly known for strutting around in Gucci or Armani. And what money they do collect typically feeds their kitchen. But the restaurant industry is like a magnet, and once you're drawn in, it's difficult to escape its pull. That's the story of Power, the executive chef and co-owner of the Populist.

See also:
- Round two with Jonathan Power, exec chef of the Populist
- Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2012
- Exclusive first look: The Populist opens on Wednesday

More »

Danielle Lirette

Garren Teich
1515 Restaurant
1515 Market Street
303-571-0011
www.1515restaurant.com

This is part two of my interview with Garren Teich, exec chef of 1515 Restaurant; part one of our chat ran yesterday.

Most memorable meal you've had: In Pines Point, Maine, there's a little lobster shack where you can buy a lobster roll for eight bucks and a crab roll for seven, and then walk out to the jetty where there's a bench that looks over the ocean. It's a great experience.

See also:
- Garren Teich, exec chef of 1515 Restaurant, on molecular gastronomy, line checks and rooftop gardens
- Round two with TAG Burger Bar chef Drew Archer: "If salt is flavor, then acid is life"
- Drew Archer, chef of TAG Burger Bar, on pointing fingers, Ruffles and bacon

More »

Danielle Lirette

Garren Teich
1515 Restaurant
1515 Market Street
303-571-0011
www.1515restaurant.com

This is part one of my interview with Garren Teich, exec chef of 1515 Restaurant; part two of our chat will run tomorrow.

Twenty-seven acres devoted to chickens, goats and vegetables. That's where Garren Teich grew up, in farm country north of Philadelphia, where his dad, a horticulturist, tended to a plant nursery while his mother cooked supper -- and taught her son to do the same. "My mom made dinner every night, and even at nine or ten, she was encouraging me to cook," recalls Teich, today the thirty-year-old executive chef of 1515 Restaurant.
He started with mass batches of applesauce, and even when they didn't work out, he wasn't deterred. "I took an interest in cooking really early on, and even though I made some pretty bad stuff, I've always been obsessed with the creative aspect of cooking," says Teich, who adds that the "reward of being able to eat what you cook -- even when it's bad -- was always fun for me."

See also:
- Round two with TAG Burger Bar chef Drew Archer: "If salt is flavor, then acid is life"
- Drew Archer, chef of TAG Burger Bar, on pointing fingers, Ruffles and bacon
- 1515 Restaurant has a new executive chef, Garren Teich

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Lori Midson

Drew Archer
TAG Burger Bar
1222 Madison Street
303-736-2260
www.madisonstreetdenver.com

Part one of my interview with Drew Archer, chef of TAG Burger Bar, ran yesterday; this is part two of our chat.

Most memorable meal you've ever had: We never really ate out much growing up, so I don't have many particularly memorable meals from my childhood, but I've had amazing fresh pasta in Italy, fish in Greece and green chile in Santa Fe, although perhaps the most memorable meal I've ever had was in Maine, when I was about twelve. When I was young, all I watched was the Food Network, and one night my mother and I were watching a show on Maine lobsters. Living in Oklahoma, I'd never had lobster and thought it looked like the most amazing thing to eat. Later that year, we actually took a family trip to New England, and while we were there, we drove up to Maine, got a table at a waterfront restaurant, and I ordered my first lobster. It was just as amazing as I had envisioned, except for the fact that the Food Network had edited out all the carnage and guts that come out of whole lobster when you rip the tail off. Needless to say, I wasn't prepared for the real lobster experience, which is what made it so memorable.

See also:
- Drew Archer, chef of TAG Burger Bar, on pointing fingers, Ruffles and bacon
- They may not be French, but TAG Burger Bar's duck-fat fries are definitely decadent
- Noah French, pastry chef at TAG, talks about his new bakery venture with Troy Guard

More »

Lori Midson

Drew Archer
TAG Burger Bar
1222 Madison Street
303-736-2260
www.madisonstreetdenver.com

This is part one of my chef interview with Drew Archer, from TAG Burger Bar. Tune in tomorrow for part two of my interview with Archer.

The first thing that emerges from the kitchen is a heap of french fries: crisp, speckled with salt and far too hard to resist. Then comes a lamb burger paved with Cheez Whiz, followed by macaroni and cheese, requisitely creamy with Velveeta (Oh, stop -- Velveeta has its place!) and crowned with schoolbus-yellow Goldfish. TAG Burger Bar, it should be noted, is not for food snobs, and its chef de cuisine, Drew Archer, is not a culinary highbrow who snubs his nose at Velveeta.

See also:
- Round two with Drew Archer: "If salt is flavor, then acid is life"
- They may not be French, but TAG Burger Bar's duck-fat fries are definitely decadent
- Noah French, pastry chef at TAG, talks about his new bakery venture with Troy Guard

More »

A few weeks ago, when I interviewed Patxi Axpiroz, the chef-owner of Patxi's Pizza, our conversation moved from pizza to balls -- meatballs, of course, which are popping up on menus at several local restaurants, including Cafe Bar, Gaetanos, Slotted Spoon and Spuntino. Some of those meatballs are funky and modern (look to the Slotted Spoon for proof), but the meatballs at Patxi's are nostalgically classic. "Our meatballs are rich, flavorful, satisfying and, well, amazing," says Azpiroz, who was willing to share his recipe. "Treat your sausage and beef with tender care in order to create delicate balls, and be careful not to overwork the mixture, otherwise they'll become tough when they're cooked," he advises.

See also:
- Patxi Azpiroz, chef of Patxi's Pizza, on eating fried worms and pesto pizza proposals
- Round two with Patxi Azpiroz, exec chef of Patxi's Pizza
- First look: Patxi's Pizza will start flipping pies in Cherry Creek on Monday

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Lori Midson

TJ Hobbs
Ghost Plate & Tap
800 18th Street
303-297-1738
www.ghostdenver.com

This is part two of my interview with TJ Hobbs, chef of Ghost Plate & Tap; part one of our interview ran yesterday.

Favorite Denver/Boulder restaurant(s) other than your own: I'm a fan of Bittersweet. Chef Olaf has such inventive and inspired menus, and I like that you get to try something new every time you go in. I like the food, atmosphere and service at Charcoal, too, and you can never go wrong at Ya Ya's for bottomless mimosas and their brunch buffet with prime rib.

See also:
- TJ Hobbs, chef of Ghost Plate & Tap, on portion size, pastry and Pepsi
- Ghost Plate & Tap Cocktail Shakedown stirs the quest of the perfect beer cocktail
- Chef Christopher Cina lands in the kitchen of Ghost Plate & Tap

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