![]() ![]() From Ballpark’s seductive “gastro-brothel” to LoHi’s Linger, a slightly macabre and persistently popular bar and restaurant, Cucci and his team consistently churn out hits.Įl Five, the sixth Edible Beats much-anticipated venture, opened in April to the culinary community’s delight. Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox boasts the edge and entertainment factor of a brothel, the building’s former purpose. Backed by fourteen years of experience at New York’s Ye Waverly Inn, Cucci is the force behind the Edible Beats concept group that has opened five stunning restaurants in Denver, plus one at the airport. You don’t even have to pack.Restaurateur Justin Cucci can transform eclectic spaces in Denver into creative culinary experiences. If so, prepare for your mini–Mediterranean vacation right here in Denver. What’s the real-real on why we’re coming here? Amid the swirl of hot dates, birthday parties, and anniversary celebrations, there’s one good question to ask yourself before booking a reservation with anyone: Would you go on a vacation with them? If not, consider somewhere a little less titillating. Delays are infrequent and minor-which is frankly to the staff’s credit, given the crowds. Decorous little desserts fragrant with tahini or cardamom follow.Īnd how did the front-of-house folks treat you? With high expectations come special requests, and the servers generally field them like champs, doing their utmost to seat you where you want to be seated and giving you as much of their time as they can in the whirlwind of bodies. A few paellas round out the menu, including the truly decadent carne paella, chock-full of numerous types of sausage beneath swirls of salsa verde and aioli-but the seasonal vegetarian version often warrants consideration even by carnivores. ![]() And don’t skip signatures like the delicately aromatic matzo-ball soup dumplings or the harissa-spiced, honey-glazed eggplant fries if you can help it. In a group, consider the Meds of Spread platter with a variety of dips-muhammara, charred carrot–peanut hummus, creamed feta with red peppers, and so on-accompanied by fresh pita. Culinary director Jeremy Kittelson’s tapas and meze selection is about evenly split between traditional and contemporary items, and you’re well advised to mix and match. Give us the lowdown-especially what not to miss. Meanwhile, the wine list also takes you places that might surprise you, going far beyond Spain and Portugal to Greece, Morocco, Armenia, and Israel at prices that don’t often break the $60 mark. Tinged with ingredients like orange flower water, Turkish coffee bitters, and the occasional edible orchid, the cocktails here whisk you far away to ancient, sunburnt lands among the most popular is the Pineapple Mint Collins, which also contains sekanjabin, a sort of Persian mint-vinegar syrup. What should we be drinking? Start with something flamboyant. They’re toasting, gabbing with one another and sometimes their patrons in adjacent seats, weaving around the bustling servers to snap photos of the sunset over the mountains in the (slightly quieter) back room-it’s like a dinner party the whole city came to. What was the crowd like? Set to live it up, everyone’s decked out in little black sheaths and dress shirts, even the occasional jacket. And the house is packed with party people-along the bar, in rows of booths and tables, on the balcony-to soak up every last drop of atmosphere. Plastered with retro Turkish and Egyptian movie posters illustrating what appear to be torrid affairs, glittering all over with hexagonal mirrors on the one hand and dramatic views of the city from its fifth-floor windows on the other, Justin Cucci’s pan-Mediterranean tapas lounge is as sexy as they come in Denver. If you crossed a midcentury cinema with a souk, what would that look like? Probably something like El Five.
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