|
|
|
|
|
"As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it." - Buddy Hackett LOTSA HAPPENINGS WHILE I WAS NOT WRITING so I thought I'd bring you up to date. G and I found some new eateries, some new places have opened, and some old places have closed. ON OPENINGS. The big news as far as I am concerned, is the arrival (November 10th) of Capital Grille (1450 Larimer St, 303/539-2500) at Larimer Square, directly across from Ruths' Chris (bye Ruth!). This Atlanta-based, 16-eatery chain is gonna kick butt Big Time! Those of you that have dined at The Palm (1201 16th St, 303/825-7256 in the Westin Hotel) cuz you want to pay too much money for a great steak and paid the money but didn't get the great steak, are gonna dine here. And I mean "dine". I've been to The Cap in Providence, RI. Four of us had the single-best steak dinner we've ever had. It was all there: the ambiance, the service and of course, the food. Even the side dishes and desserts were outstanding. The best news of all? They WILL be serving lunch. I expect many of the see-and-be-seen crowds will leave The Palm for a place with great food, the kind you don't mind paying top dollar for. Ceptin' Joey's Backyard Chili is available only at the Palm. As for the "ignored" service most of us get, unless you're a mucky-muck (that's The Palm's Modus Operandi; always has been), maybe new GM Dan Foster will fix the "attitude". You know I'm gonna be a regular at the Capital Grille. But I will have to get my periodic "Joey's fix" at the Palm. "The Cap" will be serving lunch Monday thru Friday from 11:30 - 2:30. Dinner will be served seven days: Monday thru Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 'til 11 p.m. and Sunday from 4 p.m. 'til 9 p.m. Reservs can be made for lunch or dinner at 303/539-2500. The first day for lunch will be November 11th. The steaks here are all dry-aged. Variety is another distinguishing factor of The Capital Grille's menu. Accounting for tastes and appetites, The Capital Grille offers a selection of chilled seafood appetizers such as blue point oysters, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and cold baby lobsters. Grilled seafood entrées include Norwegian Salmon, Fresh Swordfish, Tuna Steak and Large North Atlantic Lobsters. Other openings include Asian Bistro (9232 Park Meadows Dr, 303/). This place is a cuz of the popular Little Ollie's (2364 E. 3 Ave, 303/355-8885) in Cherry Creek. Speaking of cuz, P.F. Chang has opened a semi fast- food relative, Pei Wei Asian Diner (200 Quebec St, 720/532-5999). The Denver Bread Company, Denver's Best Bread Bakery, has opened a retail store (4100 Tennyson St, 303/433-5599). Open 10-6, Monday to Friday, 9-5 on Saturday. Finally, Sam's Bar, Grill, Fine Eatery and Vomitorium has opened (10051 I-70 Frontage Road, Wheat Ridge). AND THE CLOSINGS. I'm saddened to report that Cafe Evangeline, the best of the New Orleans style cuisine has shuttered. The owners are still doing catering, but the store at 30 S. Broadway is history. I'm even more saddened to report that the DTC Broker (5111 DTC Parkway) will close November 2nd. Oh well, there can be good news even in bad news. Owner Ed Novak can use the rest. Along with the mega bucks he hopefully got to sell the property. Other closings include Bella Ristorante (8770 E. Arapahoe Rd), Sweet Bob's BBQ (1 South Broadway); Beehive (609 Corona St); The great Boulder eatery Antica Roma (1302 Pearl St); and Geisha Steak House (7950 E. Mississippi Ave). WHAT'S HOT IN DENVER. Nation's Restaurant News, an industry weekly magazine, reports the following five eateries are the Hot Spots in Denver: Bistro Vendome (1424 Larimer St, 303/825-3232); Brasserie Rouge (1801 Wynkoop St, 303/991-2242); Cielo (1109 Lincoln St, 303/597-2435); Luca d' Italia (711 Grant St, 303/832-6600); and Max Burgerworks (1512 Larimer St, 303/434-0944). Congratulations to all these fine restaurants. I can't remember a time when I ever agreed with recommendations from a national magazine, but with local writer Dina Berta providing the info, this national journalistic gem has finally done something right. I agree with the list. Visit any or all of them and have a fantastic meal. I am working on an article about dining in San Francisco, considered by many to be the nation's Best of the Best for dining, and I will put this NRN list against any and all of San Francisco's best. Note that these are all new restaurants, every one having opened in 2003. All do lunch except Cielo. Awe, why should a Mexican restaurant bother doing lunch? Not so fast, there's more good news. The October issue of Hispanic magazine lists the Top 50 Best Hispanic Restaurants in America. Three of the 50 are in Denver. They are: Armida's Restaurant (840 Lincoln St., 303/837-8921); Cuba Cuba (1173 Delaware St, 303/605-2822), known for its (duh) Cuban cuisine; and one of muh favs, Jack-N-Grill (2524 Federal Blvd, 303/964-9544), where "New Mexican fare never tasted better outside its native state." But you gotta try the buggers. NEW EATS: G and I discovered several great eateries the past few months. First, the aforementioned Jack 'N' Grill (2524 Federal Blvd, 303/964-9544), the great New Mexico Mexican eatery with fab buggers. Both John Lehndorff in the Rocky and I included it in our Top Ten despite the fact the buggers were vastly over-cooked but were still outstanding. Then there's Little Olive (1050 S. Wadsworth, 303/922-0880), a maavelous Chinese eatery with unfortunately few customers. You gotta go. The menu is different from any other Chinese eatery; the Peking Duck is 2-die-4 (I eat a double order of meat). They ain't going to stay unbusy very long. G and I are there every week. BUBBLE AND SQUEAK
Cya!
|
