When Chinook Tavern shuttered its longtime home in Cherry Creek North back in the summer of 2008, many regulars were left crying in their one-liter steins, wondering where they would ever find another place to drink German beer and eat veal wiener schnitzel.

Now they have their answer: The new Chinook Tavern that opened last month on South Fiddler's Circle in Englewood (after a doomed attempt to open in the Landmark project). As I sat down at the enormous bar, I overheard the woman next to me say, "I love this new place, it's just so very Colorado." And she was right.

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I'm the first one to bitch and moan about how all the great dives in Denver are disappearing -- but then when someone like Frank Bonanno (Mizuna, Luca D'Italia, Osteria Marco, Bones and Green Russell) comes in and gentrifies the hell out of one of those dives, I can't wait to see what he's done.

And I have to admit that I'm so much happier sitting on one of the 25 seats at the bar at Lou's Food Bar , sipping a fancy-pants cocktail, than I ever would have been downing a PBR at the previous occupant of this address, Ron and Dan's Keg. Especially when the fancy-pants cocktail is as delicious as the Pelee Tamarind ($10) made from Depaz Rhum, Pusser's Rum, tamarind-infused Flor de Cana 7-year Rum, lime and housemade Orgeat, a sweet syrup created with almonds, sugar and rose or orange flower water.

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On Saturday I was in Globeville looking for the White Owl, a bar that took over a sixty-year-old Slavic speakeasy named the Portulaca Cafe in 2008. The Owl had a reputation as a super-friendly, cash-only bar without food but with PBR on tap.

As it turns out, the White Owl has flown the coop -- but we were pleasantly surprised by what's landed in its former home at 321 East 45th Avenue: Crash 45.

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When I was growing up in the suburbs southeast of Denver, my favorite restaurant was Mr. Steak -- which sounds less pathetic when you realize that this was the best chain restaurant in the area at the time. Sadly, the southern 'burbs continue to be an independent restaurant wasteland. If you want to have a Long Island Iced Tea at Applebee's or a Strawberry Margarita at Chili's, you're set. But if you're looking for something you couldn't find in Any Suburb USA, the hunt will be harder.

Which is why I was so eager to visit Vallagio at Inverness, the development at I-25 and Dry Creek that features several joints owned by local restaurateurs, including Street Kitchen Asian Bistro, a sibling to Parallel 17, which was the first to open in January, and Marco's Coal-Fired Pizzeria, brother to the Marco's that opened on Larimer Street three years ago this month.

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I stopped by Row 14 Bistro & Wine Bar, the stylish new restaurant in the Spire whose bar is stashed behind floor-to-ceiling, chain-link drapes, just before the Kentucky Derby -- which was why the bartender's suggestion of a Green Tea Mint Julep ($10) seemed like a sacrilege. Some things, like mint juleps, are sacred: The drink dates back to London in 1803, but since 1938 it has been the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby, traditionally made with just bourbon, simple syrup and mint.

So even though the Green Tea Mint Julep uses Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey as its "bourbon" of choice, it also includes green tea, honey, lemon and mint -- which made me very nervous.

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In Colorado, if you advertise that something is hot, it should be hot. Back east, hot may translate as tepid - but in Colorado, we're tough, dammit. When we order something hot, we expect it to be frickin' hot -- especially at a Mexican restaurant. Last week I dropped by Machete, the new restaurant that Dan Ohlson, who owned Chez Jose for seventeen years before closing that Cherry Creek mainstay last year, has opened in the former home of Q's Worldly BBQ. Already the underground space seems better suited to a Mexican joint than it did to barbecue, with an extremely accommodating staff, an indoor/outdoor bar and stadium seating outside that should be popular with Creekers.

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Driving to the mountains, I'd passed Kermitts Roadhouse, located on exit 244 off I-70, hundreds of times. But I'd never stopped off there -- and then, after a fire broke out in the bar on New Year's Eve and shut down the place, I thought I might have missed my chance. So when Kermitts finally reopened in April, I decided I wasn't going to pass it by again.

In photos, every inch of Kermitts' walls and ceiling were covered in dollar bills -- but apparently that was money to burn, because the cash is kaput. In fact, the place looks like a college bar, with Walmart log-cabin furniture and biker paraphernalia on the walls, but no cash.

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Smashburger is hoping that its milkshakes bring all the boys, and girls, to the yard.

While Smashburger has had beer on its menu since the Denver-based chain got its start, the store that opened last fall in the Tabor Center also serves alcohol-spiked shakes and floats ($5.99) that are the perfect bad-behavior ending to a quick burger and fries.

I love a Guinness Float, and Smashburger's version is fine (really, how could you screw that up?), but both the Top Banana, made with DeKyper Creme de Banana, and the Malibu Shake, made with Malibu Coconut Rum and vanilla, chocolate or strawberry Haagen-Daz, give a nice tropical twist to a burger dinner. There are also versions made with DeKyper Creme de Menthe and Lazzaroni Amaretto, among other alcohols (vodka most definitely predominant).

And ignore the name: "After Hours Shakes" are actually available all day at the Tabor location (and the Tabor location only), so if you're having a bad day at work you can take a quick break, treat yourself to a Mo'Joe Shake made with Kahlua and vanilla or a chocolate Haagen-Daz shake, and go back to work with a little more mojo.

And not that much guilt -- for some reason, it seems a little less questionable to have a milkshake at lunch than slug down a martini.

Want to feel like a big fish in a little pond? Grab a seat at one of the two (!) bars at Ocean Prime, which docked last month in a prime piece of real estate, right on the corner of Larimer Square. The downstairs bar alone is several times the size of any other bar on the block that caters to the over-thirty crowd; for a more intimate feel, try the upstairs space, with its seemingly endless windows and glowing bar.

That's where I ordered a drink called Oxygen ($10), made with Absolut Berri Acai, Plymouth Gin, muddled white grapes, fresh basil and lemon (shown above). It was drinkable, but bland. On a second round, I went for the far more entertaining, delicious Berries and Bubbles ($12), a cauldron of Belvedere Cytrus Vodka, marinated blackberries, homemade sour and Domaine Chandon Brut, with a dry-ice presentation that kept the cocktail bubbling.

Like Ocean Prime itself, this drink is quite a catch.

They say that Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, did not see his shadow in Pennsylvania this morning, which means it will be an early spring. For those of us who've suffered through Denver's sub-zero temperatures these last few days, that's hopeful news -- but we also know from years past that Phil is often less than accurate.

So for now, I'm concentrating on predictions that are guaranteed to come true. Such as this one: Order a Groundhog at ($12) at Luca D'Italia today, and you won't care how cold it is outside. The cocktail has both the edge of winter, thanks to Averna, as well as a sparkling hint of spring added by ginger ale and a squeeze of lemon. This drink combines bitter, sweet and acid in one delicious glass.

As for the name, a customer came in to Luca and ordered Averna and ginger ale; the bartender thought he asked for a Greyhound -- and somehow, the Groundhog was born. I'd be only too happy to celebrate Groundhog Day every day, so long as I'm sitting at Luca's cozy bar and seeing the shadow of another Groundhog coming my way.