April 2008

Best Shopping

Bargain • CRITICS: Front Range Mercantile, Longmont Even when you travel to one of those gigantic furniture warehouses, you still end up spending a pretty penny for goods of questionable quality. So why not spend less and get more? Front Range Merc is an upscale, year-round, indoor flea market. They have all sorts of cool furniture and other items that will style your house for cheap

Best of the West

It’s been a long few months. We’ve been busy eating at all the best restaurants, checking out the coolest shops, talking to interesting people and spending countless hours at the spa. Our job is terrible, we know. But this is the life of a critic. We let the readers have some fun, too. The following is the best the North Metro* region has to offer as decided by both the Critics and our

Best Drink

Bar • CRITICS AND READERS: Waterloo Icehouse, Louisville There’s just a certain charm you feel when walking into Waterloo on Main Street in Louisville. It’s Austin, Texas, hospitality meets sleepy Louisville for a night out. There’s the obvious musical influence (the Mike Ness autographed guitar near the door is awesome) and a neighborhood buzz that resonates off the brick walls

Best Food — Boulder

Overall • CRITICS: Frasca, Downtown What can you say about Frasca that hasn’t been said already? We’ll try this: Fantastic service (they have computer records of customers so waitstaff can greet regulars appropriately), exceptional food (chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson has been featured in every food and wine publication of note), and the best wine list in town (and perhaps the Rocky

Best Drink — Denver

Bar • CRITICS: Tavern Uptown, Uptown There is now a Tavern Downtown, in Lowry and the Tech Center. None of them pass muster when measured against the original (that’s not a knock on the others as much as it is a testament to the Uptown location). Big leather couches surround a fireplace in the main room that make for the best seats on a cold winter night. But it’s summer now, so bypass

Best Shopping

Bargain • CRITICS: Front Range Mercantile, Longmont Even when you travel to one of those gigantic furniture warehouses, you still end up spending a pretty penny for goods of questionable quality. So why not spend less and get more? Front Range Merc is an upscale, year-round, indoor flea market. They have all sorts of cool furniture and other items that will style your house for cheap. •

A Whole New List of Pet Peeves

I just bought a Blackberry. It may have been the worst decision of my life. It’s sleek and grey and actually pretty darn small. I can email, talk, text, web surf and pay my mortgage with it. To think, after the mail in rebate (which I’ll never return), this phone cost me only $50

The Cheapskate Way to Watch Pro Hoops

I went to my 13th Denver Nuggets’ game the other night. The tickets cost $65. Not $65 per game, $65 total. Welcome to the best deal in pro sports: the Rocky’s Den, named after the Nuggets’ manic mascot, Rocky the mountain lion

April Letters to the Editor

I would definitely say this recipe is a winner—and John's Restaurant should be given a medal of honor for doing a truly great job with the lowly pinto bean! You guys surely have a great sense of humor!

April’s Editor’s Picks

Your ultimate guide to arts & entertainment

French’s 5

In honor of April Fools’ Day, this month’s list: The top 5 pranks in history

Theater

If all 104th North’s a stage, we’ll tell you where to sit

French Connection

Serving your live music needs for Boulder, Denver & beyond

Unforgivable

That’s the word that springs to mind when I think about AT&T’s trigger-happy willingness to hand American’s civil liberties over to the Federal Government

15 Questions with Margaret Cho

You are beautiful. In some way, Margaret Cho believes it to be true, regardless of your size or skin tone

Best of the West

It’s been a long few months. We’ve been busy eating at all the best restaurants, checking out the coolest shops, talking to interesting people and spending countless hours at the spa. Our job is terrible, we know. But this is the life of a critic. We let the readers have some fun, too. The following is the best the North Metro* region has to offer as decided by both the Critics and our

Best Drink

Bar • CRITICS AND READERS: Waterloo Icehouse, Louisville There’s just a certain charm you feel when walking into Waterloo on Main Street in Louisville. It’s Austin, Texas, hospitality meets sleepy Louisville for a night out. There’s the obvious musical influence (the Mike Ness autographed guitar near the door is awesome) and a neighborhood buzz that resonates off the brick walls

Best Food — Boulder

Overall • CRITICS: Frasca, Downtown What can you say about Frasca that hasn’t been said already? We’ll try this: Fantastic service (they have computer records of customers so waitstaff can greet regulars appropriately), exceptional food (chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson has been featured in every food and wine publication of note), and the best wine list in town (and perhaps the Rocky

Best Drink — Denver

Bar • CRITICS: Tavern Uptown, Uptown There is now a Tavern Downtown, in Lowry and the Tech Center. None of them pass muster when measured against the original (that’s not a knock on the others as much as it is a testament to the Uptown location). Big leather couches surround a fireplace in the main room that make for the best seats on a cold winter night. But it’s summer now, so bypass

Challenging Elements: Chevre

While reading our first crack at Challenging Elements last month, Moncia Smetena-Hertrich breathed a sigh of relief. The owner and chef at Longmont’s Praha Restaurant figured she was safe from having to work with pinto beans (March’s ingredient) during this month’s challenge

Prospect in the Raw

In this space I have previously disparaged New Urbanism as a conceit. For the uninitiated, this is the name given to housing developments that are designed with their own town square, “distinctive” houses and apartments, and ample retail space

At Long Last, Louisville Has its Empire

Settled into the space occupied for so long by its predecessor Pasquini’s, Empire is an eclectic and elegant reimagining of a space that has screamed “potential.” Gone is the shabby familiarity that was the pizzeria’s true hallmark and in its place is a groovy bistro accented with soft lighting, a comfortable lounge, and excellent food and drink

Restaurant Rumblings

Tasty tidbits from the dining world

Line Up the Tumblers

Perhaps it’s far from joining wine in elite status among liquor connoisseurs, but absinthe, that prodigal son-of-a-gun made mythical during a near-hundred year absence for making artists lose their ordinary senses, has returned to the United States

A New Place To Drink, Errr, Taste

It took a little while, but the city of Lafayette is finally on the wagon, meaning we all have a new place to grab a free drink before heading out for the night. Last month, city officials formerly approved in-store wine, beer and liquor sampling for customers

We Always Thought Boulder Was Spacey

If you’ve been looking for proof that the city of Boulder is out there, like Pluto out there, look no further than in front of the county court house on Pearl Street. Or, if air conditioning and popcorn are more your speed, the Silver Screen. When the new “Star Trek” movie hits screens in May 2009, it will have a direct, Boulder connection

Out With the Old, In With the New

The thing that makes a suburb stick out from the bland is its identity. In this region, that identity is tied very closely with the historic old towns at the center of many of the North Metro communities

The Cheapskate Way to Watch Pro Hoops

I went to my 13th Denver Nuggets’ game the other night. The tickets cost $65. Not $65 per game, $65 total. Welcome to the best deal in pro sports: the Rocky’s Den, named after the Nuggets’ manic mascot, Rocky the mountain lion

Best of the West

It’s been a long few months. We’ve been busy eating at all the best restaurants, checking out the coolest shops, talking to interesting people and spending countless hours at the spa. Our job is terrible, we know. But this is the life of a critic. We let the readers have some fun, too. The following is the best the North Metro* region has to offer as decided by both the Critics and our

Best Drink — Denver

Bar • CRITICS: Tavern Uptown, Uptown There is now a Tavern Downtown, in Lowry and the Tech Center. None of them pass muster when measured against the original (that’s not a knock on the others as much as it is a testament to the Uptown location). Big leather couches surround a fireplace in the main room that make for the best seats on a cold winter night. But it’s summer now, so bypass

Challenging Elements: Chevre

While reading our first crack at Challenging Elements last month, Moncia Smetena-Hertrich breathed a sigh of relief. The owner and chef at Longmont’s Praha Restaurant figured she was safe from having to work with pinto beans (March’s ingredient) during this month’s challenge

Prospect in the Raw

In this space I have previously disparaged New Urbanism as a conceit. For the uninitiated, this is the name given to housing developments that are designed with their own town square, “distinctive” houses and apartments, and ample retail space

At Long Last, Louisville Has its Empire

Settled into the space occupied for so long by its predecessor Pasquini’s, Empire is an eclectic and elegant reimagining of a space that has screamed “potential.” Gone is the shabby familiarity that was the pizzeria’s true hallmark and in its place is a groovy bistro accented with soft lighting, a comfortable lounge, and excellent food and drink