​We've followed Benny Armas since he was cooking up Mexican food in the kitchen of the old Oak Alley (that building is now home to Hanson's). In the '80s, he finally opened his own place at 225 East Seventh Avenue (now Mizuna), then moved across the street to a bigger space, once home to Chef Henri, where Benny's Restaurant y Tequila Bar has been packing in fans for two decades now.

But not today. Benny's was closed on Super Bowl Sunday, and will remain closed today.

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​"I think for any business, five years is a big deal," Andrea Frizzi, chef-owner of Il Posto, says. "For a restaurant, though, five years is a super big deal."

And that's why today is "a super big deal" for the chef -- on this day in 2007, Frizzi, a native of Italy who came to Denver by way of New York and Washington D.C., opened the doors of his trattoria, giving this city a new neighborhood Italian restaurant, where dishes inked on a chalkboard change daily, the energy of a perpetually packed dining room mixes with the rhythm of the open kitchen and every meal is kicked off with a shot glass full of sweet, fizzy lambrusco, a gift from the chef to thank diners for coming in.

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courtesy of Ginger Johnson

​What do women want from beer?

That's a question Ginger Johnson, owner of Women Enjoying Beer, has been pursuing for three years as she researches and educates consumers and producers around the country.

"I was invited to speak at the Craft Brewers Conference in 2009, and that's what really launched it," she recalls. Preparing to tackle the subject of marketing beer to women, she dove headlong into a series of focus groups. After uncovering some surprising sentiments -- and realizing there wasn't anyone addressing the topic -- Johnson launched her project, which works to "encourage female beer enthusiasm," according to her website, by not just educating women about beer, but also by helping brewers market more effectively to women.

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Lori Midson

​Frank Bonanno is one of the most successful chefs and restaurateurs in Denver, presiding over a commonwealth of food temples (and one speakeasy) that, for the most part, generate positive reviews and comments from professional restaurant critics and amateur key strokers alike. But even the best restaurants make mistakes, and Bonanno's restaurants -- Mizuna, Luca d'Italia, Bones, Osteria Marco, Russell's Smokehouse, Green Russell and Lou's Food Bar -- aren't immune from the occasional slip-ups.

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Highland's Garden Cafe

Highland's Garden Cafe will soon take a sabbatical.

​Pat Perry opened the Highland's Garden Cafe in a Victorian house on West 32nd Avenue eighteen years ago. The restaurant quickly became a Highland landmark, drawing diners from all over the city for romantic meals in the cozy, eclectic dining rooms or long nights one one of the best patios in the city, surrounded by plants that might be featured in the next night's dishes.

But in a few short weeks, Perry's restaurant will go on hiatus until June, giving her time to refresh the place and retool the menu with more seasonal offerings.

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Colorado Cottage Food

​ Home cooks are rallying at the State Capitol today in support of a bill that would make it legal for bakers and cake-makers to sell their goods directly to consumers. The bill would require certain information to be printed on the products' labels -- and would exclude baked goods of the "medical" variety. Cooks would have to register with their county or public health agency and pay a fee of no more than $100. Read more on Latest Word.

Shelby Grebenc with one of her hens.

​Shelby Grebenc wakes up at 6:15 each morning to give the chickens on her Broomfield farm food and water, and to collect and wash the hens' eggs. Shelby isn't a typical farmer whose work feeds and supports her family, though: She's a twelve-year-old who simply loves farming and chickens. And she's the youngest farmer in the country to become Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) -- one of the most stringent food labels signifying that an operation that emphasizes the humane treatment of animals.

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​For anyone who has ever spent too much time in the grocery store, wrinkling their foreheads while reading ingredient lists and pondering the nutritional benefits of calcium sorbate or xanthan gum, NuVal is designed to help. The nutritional rating system scores most food on a 1-100 scale -- and the higher the score, the more nutritious the food. The NuVal system, introduced in January 2009, was rolled out at King Soopers stores last year.

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​Twenty-seven years ago today, Rosa Linda's Mexican Cafe opened its doors at 2005 West 33rd Avenue.

The area has changed a lot since then -- this part of Highland is now the best restaurant neighborhood in the city -- but the Aguirre family still runs Rosa Linda's. Here's an e-mail from oldest son Oscar remembering those early days...and offering a birthday deal to customers:

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​As an end-of-the-year public service to those who were going to need hot, hot green chile to cure their hangovers on January 1, Lori Midson offered her list of "Denver's ten best green chiles."

Any discussion of green chile always stirs the pot. Fans of those that didn't make the list complain -- where was former Best of Denver winner Santiagoextra hot? -- and there's usually a quibble from a New Mexico native, who disdains the gravy-like consistency that green chile acquired as it moved north. And then there's the wonky tangent on the official spelling of "chile," which came up again this time.

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