By John G. Miller, DENVER DAILY NEWS
The Denver Beer Fest kicks off its 10-day-long celebration of all things beer with two long-running festivals and a variety of beer-related events throughout the Denver Metro area and beyond.
Mayor John Hickenlooper Thursday raised a toast to officially open the festivities.
“One of the best things about being mayor is you get to make proclamations,” said Hickenlooper to the assembly at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, of which he was once a partner. “I hereby proclaim Sept. 18-27 as Denver Beer Fest Week.”
The Denver Beer Fest is the brainchild of Rich Grant, Visit Denver’s communications director.
“Anyone with $10 can be a beer connoisseur,” Grant said.
“There are 150 new beer-related events,” Grant continued. “There are fine dining beer-paired dinners available at restaurants throughout Denver. Beer has become a big part of the culinary scene. There are beer tastings, beer tappings, ‘meet the brewers’ nights. One company will take you fly fishing, and then take you to have a beer afterwards.”
“Any city would love to have an event like this,’ said Richard Scharf, president and CEO of Visit Denver, the convention and visitor’s bureau for Denver. “All of the downtown hotels are filled up. It’s a great opportunity to showcase what’s happening in the city.”
Here are some of the more noteworthy beer-related events upcoming:

Oktoberfest
The first is the 40th annual Oktoberfest Denver, being held on September 18-20 and 25-27 on Larimer Street between 20th and 22nd streets. Established in 1969 at Larimer Square by homesick German immigrant Hertha Thomas-Zagari and her husband, Fred Thomas, the event now attracts more than 250,000 to revel in beer, bratwurst and live music.
Besides the thousands of beers and brats ready to be dispensed, Oktoberfest Denver will also feature the annual Long Dog Derby wiener dog race; a Mr. Oktoberfest contest; and a 5k and 10k race dubbed “Das Hustlehoff” in deference to Germany’s favorite ’80s television star David Hasselhoff.
This may be the final year of Oktoberfest Denver, as its organizer, Larimer Associates, has decided to end its production of the event and is attempting to sell it.
“We are a real estate company,” said spokeswoman Margaret Ebeling. “We felt we needed to focus on that. It was a business decision. “There’s a lot of people who feel very passionately about the festival, and we thought it would be best to be as transparent as possible.”

GABF
Another big beer-related event comes at the end of next week — The Great American Beer Festival, which is in its 27th year and has become a Denver staple. More than 450 breweries from all over the country will be represented at the Colorado Convention Center Sept. 24-26, with 1,900 beers on tap in what is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest display of beers on tap in the world.
“It’s an opportunity to convene the brewer’s community and make new friends and share beers,” said Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewer’s Association, a festival sponsor. “And it’s a great way to get Denver’s name out there for national and international recognition.”
The event is a competition to determine the best beers produced by U.S. breweries. The event is sold out for the third year in a row with 31,000 tickets sold. More than 100 of the breweries come from Colorado.
“We already are the Napa Valley of beer,” said Hickenlooper. “It’s the universal meeting place of so many people.”
Richard Scharf, president and CEO of Visit Denver, the convention and visitor’s bureau for Denver, agreed that Denver is a beer Mecca.
“I think to be known as a great craft-beer city adds to our standing as a national and international city,” said “We are known for our outdoors activities, our scenic beauty, our fine restaurants and for the DNC. This is one more cog that people will think of when they think of Denver.”

Among the many events on tap this week:
• Shelby’s Bar and Grill, located at 519 18th St., plans their 10th annual “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day” celebration tonight that includes corned beef and cabbage, a team of bagpipers, $2 green Budweiser and $1 green Jell-O shots. Call 303-295-9597 for more information.
• Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret will have a variety of beers from Avery’s Brewery, brats, and a burlesque and comedy revue Saturday and Sunday. Cost is $25 a person. Call 303-293-0075 for more information.
• Katie Mullen’s Irish Restaurant and Pub is celebrating the 250th anniversary of Arthur Guinness’ birthday. Enjoy authentic Celtic music and $2.50 Guinness 250 Special Brews. This event runs from Sept. 24-27. Call 303-573-0336 for more information.
• Denver Microbrew Tour is a two-hour guided tour of LoDo’s brewpubs, microbreweries and tap houses. There will be plenty of samples offered, of course. Cost is $20 a person, and the event runs Sept. 25-26. Call 303-249-6838 for more information.
• Brown Palace Hotel will serve “Prohibition style beer” in a teapot, the way the hotel used to disguise beer during the Prohibition era. That event runs today through Set. 27. For more information, call 303-297-3111.
For a full listing of events, times and dates, visit www.denverbeerfest.com.

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By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
The smells from some of Denver’s most beloved restaurants, music from instantly recognizable bands and a variety of activities that will put a smile on any kid’s face can only mean one thing — A Taste of Colorado is firing into action this weekend.
The annual celebration is entering its 26th year in Denver. This year’s festivities will feature over 50 of Coloradans’ favorite restaurants offering different sized portions that only have one thing in common — the food is guaranteed to light up some taste buds.
“I think it’s a great showcase of many of the offerings that we have in the Denver area,” said Sarah Neumann, spokeswoman for the Downtown Denver Partnership, which is putting on the event. “I think that having them all in one location at the same time is a lot of fun for people because they can browse through the different offerings, learn about the restaurants and talk to folks who work there. That’s a real asset.”
A Taste of Colorado also has a fine dining area that features higher-end restaurants and a culinary showcase. A couple of celebrity chefs — Hosea Rosenberg, season five winner of Top Chef, and Keegan Gerhard from The Food Network and D-Bar Desserts — will show attendees how to become a professional chef in their own kitchen.
While adults will likely be enthralled with the culinary offerings, kids can have an equally good time with the interactive activities. Clowns, magicians and educational options are free and available for the littler ones.
“We pride ourselves on being a very family-friendly affair,” said Neumann.
This year’s festival also features a great music lineup. Grand Funk Rail Road is playing on Friday, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and The Robert Cray Band are playing on Saturday, Poco and The Spinners are playing on Sunday and Love and Theft and Foghat are playing on Monday.
“From soul all the way to classic rock and beyond, we try to offer a variety of bands every year,” said Neumann. “I think we succeeded with that this year.”
The Downtown Denver Partnership held the inaugural A Taste of Colorado on the 16th Street Mall in 1984. The event was such a success that the organizers realized they needed to move it to a much larger space in the future.
Ever since then, Coloradans have been getting a taste of their own state in Civic Center Park over the holiday weekend.
Neumann attributed the festival’s longevity to its convenient location, there being no cover charge to get in and its consistently strong content, whether it be the food, activities or music.
The Downtown Denver Partnership hasn’t been resting on their laurels, though. They have reliably been tweaking the recipe by adding new features such as free supervised bicycle parking and an interactive map that is available this year on the event’s Web site under the FYI section.
“A lot of what the festival speaks to is the history and culture of this region,” said Neumann. “And we always want to give a reason a people to come back.”

A Taste of Colorado
Where: Civic Center Park
When: Through Monday
Cost: Admission is free
Information: ATasteOfColorado.com

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Source: Boulder Daily Camera

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By Joshua Wolpe, DENVER DAILY NEWS
As part of its 10th anniversary celebration, the Cook Street School of Culinary Arts is giving those of you who think you know Denver’s food scene a unique chance to prove it with the Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt. The contest started this week, and runs through Aug. 29.
Here’s the idea: embark on a culinary adventure, take some cool photos of your adventure and get a chance to win prizes including a scholarship to Cook Street or a package of recreational classes and cooking gear.
Participants will be given a list of various food-related tasks to be performed around Denver, each of which are assigned a point value. There is a bit of secrecy involved in the competition — participants won’t know how many points others have in the hunt until all is said and done.
After participants complete a set of food-oriented photo tasks, they will upload photos to Flickr or Facebook and forward their albums to Cook Street for judging.
“We want people to get reacquainted with Cook Street and who we’re affiliated with, as well as give people a chance to discover the great little neighborhood places all around town,” said Cook Street COO Terry Freeman. “Denver has all of these little unique areas.”

Evolving taste
Cook Street is located downtown at 19th and Market Streets. Their 10 years of existence has coincided with a flurry of restaurant development in Denver.
Freeman has seen a rising level of food knowledge and interest in Denver as new restaurants have taken hold.
“I think our base is getting more and more educated,” she said. “I attribute that to The Food Network and people wanting to try new things. The Denver palate is getting increasingly diverse.”
In an effort to refine that palate, Cook Street offers “Local Bounty Classes,” which include upcoming lessons in Colorado artisan cheese, Colorado grilling and Front Range mushrooms.
The scavenger hunt’s top prize is a $3,200 scholarship to the Cook Street 180 Professional Culinary Program. Do you think you have what it takes?
“We want people to go out there, have some fun and do something different,” said Freeman.
Visit cookstreet.com/anniversary for a complete list of rules.

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By Gene Davis, DENVER DAILY NEWS
With the countless colorful characters that have made their mark on Colfax Avenue over the years, an invitation to taste the storied street might not sound appetizing at first glance.
However, a group of restaurants on the legendary avenue have teamed together to do just that for Tasty Colfax — Eats on The Beat! But instead of having to taste the concrete, attendees get the opportunity to try tasty selections from 15 participating restaurants.
“We’re excited this is finally happening,” said Steve Ballas, owner of Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs. “I think we’ve got this little Bluebird district here that’s such a cool little jewel on Colfax.”
Tasty Colfax is the brainchild of Don Novak, marketing coordinator for MyColfax.org. Novak told the Denver Daily News that everybody in the Bluebird district — the stretch on Colfax between York and Colorado — is eager to work together.
The event aims to raise money for an improvement district that would benefit the area, according to Novak.
“We really hope to reintroduce and refresh people’s thoughts around here that, yes, we’ve got a bunch of restaurants around here and everything is good,” he said. “We want everybody to come back over here and taste it or try new places.”
Because this is the inaugural year of Tasty Colfax, the participating restaurants aren’t sure what to expect, said Ballas.
However, because of the insanely low price for the event — $20 per ticket — the event shouldn’t have trouble attracting attendees.
“We’re excited about it,” said Ballas. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The participating restaurants are:
• Encore Restaurant
• Senger’s on the Fax
• Tattered Cover Coffee and Tea
• Rock Bar
• Mezcal
• Atomic Cowboy
• Fat Sullys
• Hooked on Colfax
• Goosetown Tavern
• The Shoppe
• Lovely Confections
• Stella’s on Colfax
• Tommy’s Thai
• Annie’s
• Pie Piper

Where: Colfax Avenue between York Street and Colorado Boulevard
When: Today (July 28), 5:30-9 p.m.
Cost: $20
Information: MyColfax.org

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By Wesley Reyna, DENVER DAILY NEWS
Brazilian steakhouse Fogo De Chao will bring the churrasco style of barbecuing to Denver when it opens Thursday.
Using a traditional cooking method based in a centuries-old culture, “Gaucho” chefs serve 15 different styles of slow-roasted succulent meats at the pace of the patron’s appetite.
In the mid 1970s, two brothers left their home in the mountainside of southern Brazil to train as traditional churrasqueiro chefs. In 1979 the first Fogo De Chao opened in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
After several successful expansions, the restaurant opened its first American location in Texas in 1997. Fogo De Chao has had Denver in its sights for the past 11 years, and after the long search they finally found the perfect location at 15th and Wynkoop.

Ambiance
The location is 14,000 square feet of beautiful dark woods, offset by large murals depicting the cultures and history of the southern Brazil Gaucho lifestyle.
Under the direction of General Manager Nelson Piccini, the staff operates with the motto of espito corrido, or continuous service. The passion for the churrasco way of cooking and the family atmosphere is present among the employees, many of whom are from Brazil.
Piccini himself is a perfect example of the passion and family atmosphere that Fogo De Chao embodies.
“ I feel like a part of the family,” Piccini said. “I’m very glad to work with Fogo. I had the opportunity to work my way up from a dishwasher.
“I love what I do, you know. I love working for Fogo. That’s why I’m still here, almost 20 years working with the company.”

Well-trained chefs
All Fogo De Chao chefs are methodically trained in the churrasco style of grilling — a detailed process that takes a year of learning. Through this training chefs pass on the Gaucho tradition from one generation to another, just as it has been done for centuries.
Piccini explained why the chefs must be meticulously trained:
“The chef is the most important thing, because it doesn’t mater if you’ve got a very good filet mignon, a very good rib eye, and you don’t know how to render it, you don’t know how to skewer and how to cook,” Piccini said. “That won’t taste good. The secret is the chefs. The way we do it, the way we prepare it, and the way we marinate it, that is the secret.”
The succulent cuts of steak, lamb, pork and chicken are brought to the table at the guests’ pace. The customer can turn over a disk with either green or red sides, allowing the server to know exactly when to bring the guests another round of expertly prepared meats.
Fogo De Chao is likely to become a Denver staple. The open floor plan and style of service are perfect for both business meetings and great diner conversation. With their prix-fixe menu, guests can sample everything Fogo De Chao has to offer, or stick to their favorite cuts of meat.
For more information on the opening of Fogo De Chao, or to make a reservation, contact them via phone at 303-623-9600 or visit Web site at www.fogodechao.com.

Fogo De Chao
WHERE: 1513 Wynkoop St.
PHONE: 303-623-9600
WEB: www.fogodechao.com

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