Openings and Endings
The restaurant rapidly taking shape in the location vacated by Boulder's Seven on Pearl now has a name, Circle, and an identity.The food will be primarily American and the prices moderate (mostly under $20), plus a full bar. Steve Abo, whose Abo's Pizza has 17 locations on the Front Range, is branching out with this new enterprise...Meanwhile, just down the street, the Heidi's Brooklyn Deli franchise in Boulder closed quietly at the end of November, but all or most of the 20-odd other locations in Colorado are still open....Elsewhere in downtown Boulder, the b.Side Lounge, a bar, restaurant and 150-seat entertainment venue, is closing after its December 31 New Year's party. Farewell...One of Boulder's most delightful restaurant venues, the long-vacant creekside space at 1724 Broadway (between Arapahoe and Canyon), is slated to re-open as a still-unnamed Australian pub. I hope it's operating by summer, because the site's patio is one of the best in town...Score one for local pizza-holics with the recent opening of a new style of Udi's, a pizza/bar/cafe in Olde Town Arvada. It's a partnership between Udi's bread founder Udi Bar-on and partner/head baker Maurizio Negrini, a third-generation artisan baker from Italy. It's open from 7:30 in the morning till late o'clock in the evening. The specialty is a wet pizza Bianca-style dough that requires a 48 hour fermentation window. Udi's artisanal breads has grown into Udi's Foods, including includes a sandwich catering business, an artisan bread bakery, a pastry shop, five casual restaurants, Udi’s Natural Artisan Granola and the new Udi’s Gluten Free line of baked goods...If Circle is opening fast, the very-long-anticipated Denver gourmet pizzeria called Kaos has finally opened. I think the original place was spring of 2008! Kaos also crafts wood-fired artisanal pies in standard and unusual flavors, plus salads, pasta and panini, and like Boulder's forthcoming Australian pub, it has a great patio.1439 South Pearl Street, Denver; 303-733-5267...Also open and serving pizza, -- East Coast-style, hooray! -- is Ernie's. Actually, I should see it's reopening, because the original Ernie's debuted in 1943. The reborn pizza-plus Ernie's Bar and Pizza at 2915 West 44th Avenue (at Federal) has an extensive, informal menu and also serves 30 beers on tap and 32 beers by the bottle. The phone number is 303-955-5580..Meanwhile, Gelazzi has closed its1411 Larimer Square location, but a sign in the door says that are still open down south at University Boulevard and Highlands Ranch Parkway and up north in Old Town Fort Collins. The sign also promises a new location. Let's hope...Elsewhere, ZG Grill at the base of Aspen Highland has closed....For more such eatery news, go to Westword's November list of "Open and Shut Cases."
Boulder Booze News
Evan Faber, formerly head of the wine program at the nearby St. Julien Hotel (incl;uding Jill's Restaurant and the swank T-Zero lounge), has joined SALT as beverage director. Happily, SALT has extended its happy hour until 6:00 p.m. It originally ended at 5:00. I wondered what that was all about! SALT is at 1047 Pearl Street, Boulder; 303-444-7258....Two local bartenders have co-founded the new Colorado Bartenders Guild, the first statewide chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild. Bryan Dayton of Boulder's Frasca Food and Wine and Mike Henderson of TAG in Denver have launched the Colorado branch, including a three-tier master accreditation program...And if you want to learn to mix your own the way the pros do, check out the monthly classes at the Happy Noodle House's Bitter Bar: December 5, Perfect Holiday Party Cocktails; January 16, El Amor Cocktails; February 20, Classic Cocktails; and March 13, Brunch Cocktails. Mixologists James Lee and Mark Stoddard conduct the classes, which are from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. and cost $25 per person for two cocktails, three recipes and a gift from the bartenders. Reservations at 303-442-3050. The address is 835 Walnut Street, Boulder, but for these classes, use the back door.
Denver's First Gastro-Cart
If you cross-breed gastropubs, a current culinrary rage, with food carts, of which Boulder has quite a number on Pearl Street and downtown Denver has relatively fewer, you come up the Gastro Cart, which rolled out early last month to a location just off the 16th Street Mall on the corner of 18th and Curtis streets. Bryan Hume and Mike Winston, both formerly at Table 6, prepare high-toned street food. Click here for a rundown of some of their dishes from Westword's Kate Kennedy.
Salute to Escoffier at The Broadmoor
The eighth Annual “Salute to Escoffier” Weekend, January 29-31, launches with a “Taste of The Broadmoor” welcome reception Friday night. Saturday is filled with cooking demonstrations by The Broadmoor's award-winning restaurant chefs, a wine luncheon with the dishes guests saw demonstrated and an interactive cocktail class from the dynamic beverage team at Summit restaurant and finally the dazzling Grand Buffet. This gourmet spectacle features a progressive dinner of five separate courses with more than a hundred varied offerings. To truly honor Escoffier, fine wines and champagnes to complement the courses. Broadmoor entertainers Ken Miller and Lila Mori perform, and there's a live auction too. This event, the only one of its kind in America, benefits the Education Fund of the Colorado Restaurant Association and The Broadmoor’s Culinary Apprenticeship Program and Scholarship Fund.
Reservations are now available starting at $449 per person for two nights' lodging and all Salute to Escoffier activities.
Aspen Food & Wine Classic Tickets On Sale
Tickets are on sale now for the 28th annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, June 18-20, 2010. The big kahuna of Colorado food events attracts a who's-who of the culinary community. The star-chef line-up includes veterans Mario Batali, David Chang, Giada De Laurentiis, Thomas Keller and Jacques Pépin along with first-timers Art Smith and Tim Love. It is three days filled with demonstrations by celebrity chefs, seminars with renowned wine experts and the TV-style head-to-head chefs competitions. Then there's the Grand Tasting Pavilion, where attendees can taste scores of wines and talk to winemakers and vintners from around the globe. Tickets are $1,085 before March 15, 2010 and $1,185 thereafter. Keep in mind that this past June, for the first time, the organizers sold $250 tickets for only the Grand Tasting, and it is possible that this might be an option again. The magazine is donating 2 percent of the proceeds from every Classic ticket sold to Grow for Good, its initiative for supporting local farms and encouraging sustainable agriculture. Register online or by calling 877-900-WINE. Use your American Express card and get $35 off.
Junk Junked
I can't say that I'm sorry to learn from EatAspen that developer Scott DeGraff's Las Vegas-style razzle-dazzle of Junk (an unfortunate name for something that was conceived of as a gourmet self-service restauant) and Liquid Sky (a club with the wrong name and the wrong concept) have tanked at Snowmass, and that Junk at the Red Onion in the heart of downtown Aspen won't happen. I still mourn the loss of the iconic Red Onion, which was established in 1892 and closed for good after the 2005-06 ski season. DeGraff started gutting it about two years ago. His legacy to Aspen is one big mess, and this isn't the place to discuss the financial and legal problems that Snowmass Base Village developer Pacific WestPac is in. Its parent company boasts about its award-winning projects elsewhere, but for some reason, does not see fit to put its headquarters address on its website. Let's just hope for better times for the old Red Onion and for Snowmass.