'Follow That Story' Archives

Meatballs on salads might sound odd -- but iced coffee once was, too

By Gretchen Kurtz Fri., May 17 2013 at 11:01 AM

Mark Manger

Tuscan pasta at Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery.

As fast-casual concepts go, meatballs make sense. They can be prepared ahead and finished to order, they're bite-sized, and they travel well. The part that takes explaining, as I say in this week's review of Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery, is what this new place puts meatballs on. Bread makes sense. Pasta is to be expected. But salads?

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Black Star Chocolates tweaks truffle recipe for a win at the 2013 Colorado Chocolate Festival

By Jenn Wohletz Thu., May 16 2013 at 7:57 AM

Categories: Follow That Story

Jenna Noelle Photography

Chocolatiers Andrew Starr and Jennifer Spielman of Colorado-based Black Star Chocolates weren't satisfied with the first version of their lemongrass-kaffir lime-coconut truffle -- specifically, how the chocolate overpowered the filling flavors -- so they made some changes in time for the 2013 Colorado Chocolate Festival. And the revamped truffle took the Grand Champion Truffle award at the show.

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Andrew Starr, Black Star Chocolates, Colorado Chocolate Festival, Jennifer Spielman, lemongrass-Kaffir lime-coconut truffle

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Red Star Deli and Studio F shutter in the Icehouse

By Lori Midson Wed., May 15 2013 at 10:06 AM

Categories: Follow That Story, Midson: Gastronaughty, Open and Shut Cases

Lori Midson

A "rising star." That's how Westword restaurant critic Gretchen Kurtz described Red Star Deli, a smashing sandwich joint that opened in the Icehouse, along with Studio F, a spacious culinary stage -- and pop- up venue -- for local and visiting chefs to shine in front of captive audiences, in March of last year. The deli, which was initially overseen by James Mazzio, who departed late in October -- and is now cooking in Aspen -- soon tapped Glenn Smith to take his place, but now Smith is gone. And so is Red Star Deli, which shuttered after lunch on Friday of last week.

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Jen Jasinski's James Beard win felt like a lifetime achievement -- although her career is cooking

By Patricia Calhoun Tue., May 14 2013 at 3:00 PM

Categories: Follow That Story

Lori Midson

Jen Jasinski, winner of Best Chef Southwest from the James Beard Foundation.

Prince Harry might have stopped by The Market on Monday, but the real royalty was right down the street, at Rioja. Just a week before, Jennifer Jasinski, the chef who opened that Larimer Square restaurant with business partner Beth Gruitch almost a decade ago, was named Best Chef Southwest at the James Beard Foundation Awards -- the first Denver chef to win the honor.

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Fooducopia's Corner Store and Cafe has a liquor-license hearing tonight -- and a fight

By Lori Midson Mon., May 13 2013 at 1:26 PM

Categories: Booze News, Follow That Story, Liquor license applications

Lori Midson

Tonight, at 6 p.m., Fooducopia's Corner Store and Cafe, a charming market that sells a huge array of local products -- and serves many of those products in its adjoining little restaurant, will appear in front of a hearings officer at 6 p.m. in the Wellington Webb building to plead its case for a liquor license.

In the majority of cases, obtaining a liquor license goes relatively smoothly...unless you're a restaurant or bar in west Washington Park, in which case, there's bound to be opposition.

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Spuntino closes for a renovation and will reopen later this week

By Lori Midson Mon., May 13 2013 at 10:15 AM

Categories: Follow That Story, Midson: Gastronaughty, Open and Shut Cases

Back in December, we broke the news that Spuntino, chef John Broening and pastry chef Yasmin Lozada-Hissom's neighborhood restaurant in Highland -- a restaurant that turns out everything from unassailable gelato to equally unparalleled porchetta -- would temporarily shutter sometime this February to undergo a significant renovation. Timing, of course, is relative, and Broening and Hissom stretched the planned closing a few more months, locking the doors yesterday after Mother's Day brunch.

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First Avenue Hotel now a blight, rather than a bright light, on Broadway

By Cafe Society Fri., May 10 2013 at 2:54 PM

Categories: Follow That Story

Danielle Lirette

Looks like El Diablo is really gone for good. The restaurant and its sibling, Sketch, held a final bash on May 2, then closed after last call -- right before the city's most recent notice to vacate the First Avenue Hotel was set to take effect on May 3. Earlier today, a crew was out covering the windows of the building with plywood -- just as workers had done at Jesse Morreale's All-Inn, former home of Rockbar, last fall.

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Seasons eatings: Abundance has its own challenges, especially with asparagus

By Gretchen Kurtz Thu., May 9 2013 at 12:05 PM

Categories: Follow That Story

It's easy to eat seasonally when the fields are full of tomatoes and the trees are heavy with peaches, as I write in this week's review of Potager. But abundance, whether in August or May, brings its own challenges.

This counter-intuitive lesson is one I learned first-hand when I was a part of a CSA.

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Midson: Gastronaughty

Agave Taco Bar will take the place of The Local in Washington Park

By Lori Midson Thu., May 9 2013 at 10:00 AM

Categories: Follow That Story, Midson: Gastronaughty, Open and Shut Cases

Lori Midson

For years -- YEARS! -- I've prayed to the Mexican food gods that someone in my Wash Park 'hood would open a taqueria, or at least a taco joint, saving me from hiking to Federal Boulevard when I want my al pastor fix.

And, now, it looks like I'm finally going to get my wish.

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Andrew Zimmern says Den-Mex defines Denver

By Cafe Society Wed., May 8 2013 at 4:00 PM

Categories: Follow That Story

Courtesy of El Taco de Mexico

Andrew Zimmern with the grandmoms at El Taco de Mexico.

Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods, just published his list of the "Best Ethnic Food in the U.S." on the Food & Wine website, and Denver rates high for its "Den-Mex" -- a term coined, as far as we can tell, by Gustavo Arellano, the Ask a Mexican columnist who praised this city's Mexican food in Taco USA. That 2012 book lavished lots of praise on Chubby's, and Zimmern does, too; he also loves El Taco de Mexico.

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