Mark Manger

Taita.

According to CareerCast, my colleagues and I have the worst job in America. Low pay and high stress catapulted newspaper reporter to the top of the job portal's annual worst-of list, ahead of both lumberjacks and meter readers. But how can I complain?

I sat down at the computer this morning to double-check the meaning of the word "taita," because my review this week is of a contemporary Peruvian restaurant named Taita, and I wanted to know what it meant.

See also:
- Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2012
- Photos: Taiti Peruvian Cuisine & Bar opens Friday
- Best Peruvian Desserts 2013: Azucar Bakery

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Mark Manger

Slotted Spoon gets the meatball rolling.

There's a land rush under way in the fast-casual industry, with restaurateurs nationwide frantically trying to grab a piece of this fast-growing segment. Just how fast is it growing? According to Technomic, eight of the ten fastest-growing chains in America (with sales of at least $2 million) are of the order-at-the-counter, wait-a-minute-while-your-food-is-made-fresh variety.

"Fast-casual growth continues to outpace that of quick and full service," the Technomic website reports. "Though it's still a small, emerging segment (comprising six percent of the restaurant industry) its influence is great. With origins in once-innovative concepts such as Fuddruckers and Koo Koo Roo and the 'home meal replacement' trend -- as well as prime development seen in chains like Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panera Bread and Five Guys Burgers and Fries -- the fast-casual sector has evolved and expanded. The old terminology 'adult fast food' is no longer an adequate definition."

See also:
- First look: The Slotted Spoon Meatball Eatery opens
- Denver's five best homegrown, fast-casual chains -- from Noodles to Chipotle
- Is there room for Korean food in the growing fast-casual sector?

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After I've eaten a few times -- sometimes numerous times -- at a restaurant that I plan to review, I find it helpful to talk to the chef so that I understand his or her vision and inspiration. We always chat by phone, to preserve my anonymity, and it's never easy finding a good time to converse without interruptions. But Teri Rippeto, chef-owner of Potager, fit me in on a day packed with more than the usual prep work and staff meetings.

See also:
- Best Restaurant Patio 2013: Potager
- Can Triple M Bar's flock create a Colorado lamb comeback?
- Gretchen Kurtz dishes up a few words on her philosophy

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Mark Manger

Noodle bowls at Pho Lee.

In last week's fantastic ode, former Westword food critic Laura Shunk joined the chorus of raves for Uncle. If you haven't been to this tiny noodle shop in Highland, by all means try it; we named it 2013's Best New Restaurant for a reason.

But on nights when you don't feel like waiting for a table, or days when you want a big bowl of noodles (Uncle is closed at lunch), don't overlook Vietnam's answer to ramen: pho.

See also:
- Denver's Best New Restaurant 2013: Uncle
- With Uncle, Tommy Lee proves he knows how to use the old noodle -- and make it new
- Chef and Tell with Tommy Lee of Uncle

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Mark Manger

Celebrity chef Mario Batali has done some controversial things over the years, some of them humorous (wearing shorts in all seasons), others not so much (comparing bankers to Stalin and Hitler). But his thoughts on how much easier it was to get into the business twenty years ago aren't likely to count as a faux pas -- fashion or otherwise.

Back then, you didn't have to have "a rich daddy or an investor," he said, adding that "it's sad to watch the cost of business push the real individualist entrepreneurs out of the game." Thankfully, his remarks -- played along with those from actors, athletes and other personalities on 5,000 Manhattan pay phones as part of an ad campaign for an exhibit on life in New York in 1993 -- are less true in Denver today than they are on the other side of the Hudson River. And Iain Chisholm, chef-owner of Amerigo Delicatus Restaurant & Market, which opened last summer in the Ballpark neighborhood, is proof of that.

Hungry to know more? Read Gretchen Kurtz's complete review of Amerigo Delicatus here.

See also:
- Amerigo Delicatus: Iain Chisholm woos wows with his new-world Italian cuisine
- Behind the scenes at Amerigo Delicatus
- Denver's ten best new restaurants of 2012

Mark Manger

Housemade pasta at Amerigo Delicatus.

Back at the start of 2013, with holiday parties and distracting indulgences of all kinds, you could easily have missed those lists of food trends likely to be hot in the new year.

If so, look no further than Amerigo Delicatus Restaurant & Market, which wraps up one of the hot new trends in such a neat little package, the tiny Ballpark eatery might as well have a bow on.

See also:
- Denver's best new restaurants of 2012
- First look: An Italian feast at Amerigo
- Photos: Amerigo Delicatus Restaurant & Market opens

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Mark Manger

Pancakes at DJ's 9th Avenue Cafe, minus toads.

While doing research - i.e., eating out a lot - for this week's review of DJ's 9th Avenue Café, I encountered Toad-in-a-Hole pancakes. And ever since, I've had fun thinking of other foods with humorous names.

See also:
- Photos: DJ's 9th Avenue Cafe opens in the Golden Triangle
- Best Eggs Benedict 2012: DJ's Berkeley Cafe
- The birth of DJ's Berkeley Cafe, documented!

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Mark Manger

Lovers lane: Bowling at Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink.

I don't often read writing scrawled outside bathroom walls, but something at Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink caught my eye. In the back of the restaurant, not far from metal racks stocked with ketchup, mustard and packets of sugar, someone had scribbled in pencil "I wanna love you." The words resonated, not because I'm pining for an unrequited love -- my husband might have something to say about that -- but because I want to love PBS.

See also:
- Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink: From bowling to burgers, there's a lot to like
- Behind the scenes at Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink
- Best of Denver 2013 Readers' Poll: Meet the Food & Drink winners

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Mark Manger

The grill next door: Punch Bowl - Social Food & Drink.

The price tag on the burgers at Tom's Urban 24, which I reviewed last week, resulted in a flurry of comments -- a bigger flurry than we've seen in the skies today, in fact. Some readers thought the price was too high -- "$13 for a friggin cheeseburger?" -- while others said it was the going rate for loaded, half-pound burgers, maybe even "a bargain" considering the location.

Is the issue really the burger, or are expectations to blame?

See also:
- Tom's Urban 24: Is this upscale diner ready for prime time?
- Troy Guard's latest gives people what they want: fun on a bun
- Photos: Punch Bowl Social Food & Drink unveils its winter menu

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You might not know the name Tom Ryan, but you've probably heard of Smashburger, the fast-casual concept he founded in Denver in 2007. Smashburger has been a smashing success, expanding to 200 locations worldwide in just a few years and nabbing the Forbes' title of "most promising company" in America in the process. Now this former McDonald's executive and muse behind Pizza Hut's stuffed-crust pizzas is focusing on something that might give him, rather than his brands, that same level of recognition: Tom's Urban 24.

Launched in the sunny, big-windowed, two-story space previously occupied by Samba Room on a prime corner of Larimer Square, Ryan's latest venture isn't fast-food or even fast-casual, but -- as you might expect from someone with his background -- it does have a gimmick. Tom's never closes, serving non-stop comfort food to business lunchers and weekend brunchers, show-goers and late-night bartenders who get off work and aren't ready to head home. With its round-the-clock hours and a menu dotted with dishes like the Midnight Slopper and Colorado Hot Brown, it has the feel of an upscale diner, but Ryan is quick to stress otherwise. "We're Tom's Urban 24," he says. "We're not a diner."

Hungry to know more? Read the rest of Gretchen Kurtz's review of Tom's Urban 24 here.