Restaurant Reviews

Creativity is paramount in the coffee game. Hell, creativity is the coffee game. Now, the folks at Folger’s would have you believe it’s about ease, and the hipsters downtown would have you believe it’s all about Bunsen burners and science bottles. But at its core, ...

Comfort food’s a tricky concept. When it entered the popular lexicon a couple of decades ago, the term applied mainly to meat loaf, tuna casserole and other suburban midcentury staples; today, reflecting shifts in the American culinary landscape, it could as easily ...

Mara had a bee in her bonnet vis a vis biscuits. Solicitous friend that I am, I proposed a weekend morning’s excursion to Hygiene, where we could sample the rustic charms of the Crane Hollow Cafe. Resembling more of a lived-in cottage than a sleek diner, this homey ...

Just to show that Hollywood doesn’t have a monopoly on contrivance, it’s worth noting how Hong Kong filmmakers dealt with the challenge of making a sequel to the gangster epic A Better Tomorrow. The problem (spoiler alert!) was that the charismatic protagonist Mark, ...

Burgers are a thing nowadays, and a new spot, Boulder’s Drakes Haus, has jumped firmly into the fray, identifying itself as the “Home of the Merlot Burger.” Drakes also sports a logo spotlighting what one presumes is its namesake’s visage, a bespectacled and ...

Intriguing goings-on are afoot in downtown Louisville as summer draws near. Making my way to meet friend Kuvy for a weekend lunch, I picked my way across a criterium bike race like a real-life Frogger. My destination was the modern, minimalistic environs of Lucky Pie...

For me, a visit to a Chinese restaurant is either an exercise in frustration or dewy-eyed nostalgia. I either feel that the chefs are butchering the favored dishes of my youth, or they should immediately be canonized for their uncanny ability to reproduce the ...

When Julia Child anoints you as one of her Great Regional Chefs and James Beard names you one of the five best chefs in the Southwest, it’s safe to say you’re nearing the culinary apex. New York born chef and restaurateur Jim Cohen humbly accepts these accolades, but...

Recently a pal insistently extolled the virtues of Brasserie Ten Ten’s weekend brunch, but I remained skeptical. However, I have been happily satisfied with this French-influenced eatery’s fine happy hour and have splurged on its seafood platters. So friend Wayne and...

The 28th Street Tavern is really good. I would call it underrated, but that would imply that there were people rating it. It is...

Long before Tom Cruise portrayed Jack Reacher on film, I had been reading the popular series of novels featuring this ex-military investigator’s suspense-filled adventures. Reacher, a hulking fellow well over six feet tall, (I had always pictured Viggo Mortensen ...

Outside of Chinatowns and Asian communities, there’s a reassuring predictability to what’s on the menu at what one can categorize as Chinese-American restaurants. These aren’t places to get jellyfish appetizers, preserved duck egg congee or black bean oysters. ...