lifestyle

It has been tough for breweries in central Denver over the past year as at least half a dozen have closed, including Mockery, MobCraft, Wah Gwaan, Dos Luces, Counter Culture and Lowdown. Alpine Dog Brewing, at 1308 E. 17th Ave., will join that list when it shuts its doors on March 31. “After nearly 10 years of great beer, great friends and the most fun and epic of times, Alpine Dog will be selling or otherwise closing the brewery,” the business wrote on social media. “It’s a bittersweet moment to leave behind what we…

For 50 years, a Pepto Bismol-pink tower has loomed large over the Lakewood shopping center marking the spot of the legendary Casa Bonita. The tower is something of a beacon, calling to longtime fans and would-be diners with the promise of mariachi music, cliff divers, crispy sopapillas and the kind of fun that inspires childlike joy. Next week will mark the 50th anniversary the day that Oklahoma City entrepreneur Bill Waugh opened Denver’s Casa Bonita in a former Joslin’s department store. The restaurant was part of a…

Four years of waiting. Four years of questions. Denver’s Vine Street Pub & Brewery, which closed because of the pandemic on March 17, 2020, along with every other restaurant, bar and brewery in Colorado, said Thursday that it had made plans to finally reopen this spring. Vine Street Pub & Brewery is opening on May 15th,” the business wrote on its Facebook page. “We are currently hiring for all positions.” Three other pubs that are part of the Boulder-based Mountain Sun group were able to open in 2021, while a…

As ski passes for the 2024-25 season go on sale this month, one small Colorado resort has decided it will not open for at least the next year. Hesperus Ski Area near Durango said it “will not operate for the 2024/2025 season. … Both downhill and uphill skiing as well as winter tubing will not be available.” That means Hesperus will be closed for two consecutive seasons after a mechanical failure with its sole chairlift prevented the ski area from opening this winter. While Hesperus’ Bighorn Lift is still in disrepair,…

A new LoHi restaurant is feeling the heat from one of the city’s most prominent restaurateurs. My Neighbor Felix, the casual Mexican restaurant at 1801 Central St., sued its former executive general manager Kasie Curiel and her business Alma Fonda Fina on March 11 and requested a temporary restraining order. If approved, the restraining order would close Alma Fonda Fina for an undetermined period of time. A hearing will be held this Friday. Curiel worked at My Neighbor Felix for three years before she was terminated in…

Sure, you can hit up a Dunkin Donuts, a Starbucks or a McDonald’s at Denver International Airport — and sometimes it’s traveling that gives us license to be bad like that — but a better option is to try some of Denver’s homegrown food and beverages from local businesses. While these restaurants, coffee shops and breweries don’t actually own or run their airport branches — that is done by large concessionaires — many of them do take an active role in maintaining the quality and consistency of their offerings. Here’s a…

When Justin Cucci would fly out of Denver International Airport more than 10 years ago, he’d usually pack his own food. “As a traveler, I was always let down by the food and the lack of Denver representation,” he said. So when an airport concessionaire approached him about opening a branch of Root Down — his eclectic, farm-to-table restaurant — as part of a major retail overhaul at DIA in 2013, he decided to take the risk. “I thought it would be cool to make a statement about accessibility to craft food that’s…

A Denver distillery is relocating operations to the suburbs, and when it does it will close its taproom and restaurant in the city. Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse, which opened in the River North Arts District in 2018, will soon break ground on a brand new production facility located at 1303 Empire Rd. in Louisville. According to an announcement Wednesday, the new spot will enable the company to bring its distillery and barrel-aging program under one roof and to provide a new drink-centric destination for locals.…

The fires are out at Tilford’s Wood Fired Pizza. The business, one of the original concepts in Edgewater Public Market, closed its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as Tilford’s Edgewater LLC on March 1. Chapter 7 bankruptcies are typically a liquidation process, where a trustee is appointed to oversee a selloff of the debtor’s assets. Tilford’s owes $605,939 to 14 creditors, according to court filings, and has assets worth $18,326. Burton and his wife opened Tilford’s Wood Fired Pizza as a food truck in 2016…

A Portillo's Beef Bus in Kissimmee, Florida.Source: Portillo'sWhen Chicago-based Portillo's enters a new market, it sends its "Beef Bus" ahead of time, slinging its hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches to new customers for weeks, introducing them to the brand and whetting their appetites before a new restaurant finally opens.Recently, the Beef Bus has been making a lot of trips to the Sun Belt."Texas, by itself, has grown more people in the last decade than eight midwestern states that we have a presence in combined,"…