Denver, CO
Restaurant Week offers chance to explore Denver culinary scene
Denver Restaurant Week runs from March 1 to March 10, 2024. It’s an opportunity to explore Denver’s culinary scene at discount prices. This year, there are even some Michelin recognized restaurants that are serving up Restaurant Week menus.
Ash’Kara in Denver is one of those restaurants. Executive chef Reggie Dotson whips up Middle Eastern and Mediterranean favorites.
“I always say it takes time to really master a flavor,” Dotson said.
The flavor of Ash’Kara is centered around it’s wood burning hearth. Handmade pitas are a specialty.
“Everyone always wants pita and hummus to start out with so I think that’s what gets people in the door,” Dotson explained.
The hummus may get them in the door, but it’s the braised lamb that keeps them coming back. Ash’Kara locally sources its ingredients. The lamb comes from Superior Farms of Denver.
“Locally sourced ingredients always bring a little bit of home back home. You don’t really have to travel that far. Things are familiar, and it helps support all of us in the same economy,” Dotson said.
This is the second year Ash’Kara has participated in Denver Restaurant Week. Dotson has created a special menu for $55.
“It’s a combination of wanting to be creative and wanting to know what we can make people happy with, so just a balance of that,” Dotson said.
He welcomes the spotlight that Restaurant Week puts on Denver’s cuisine. He’s hoping to draw new foodies to his fare.
“The biggest thing for me is creating memory. Nostalgic things for me are always what I think about when creating a dish, so trying to think when…where I was when I tasted this flavor,” he said.
LINK: Denver Restaurant Week
Denver Restaurant Week runs March 1 to March 10, 2024. There are more than 200 restaurants participating from across the Metro Area.
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Denverites looking for a stellar cup of Joe don’t need to travel far to savor the flavor of excellent coffee.
That’s according to The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops, a website that rates global hospitality establishments where coffee lovers can find better brew. The website recently announced its 2026 list of the best coffee shops in North America, Central America and the Caribbean and two local companies made the list.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters came in at No. 43, while Queen City Collective Coffee ranked No. 61. Not bad for a list that includes must-hit destinations in places like Guatemala and Costa Rica, which are known for their exports of coffee beans.
The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops decided the ranking through a mix of nominations and voting by both the public and experts. Places were evaluated based on the quality of coffee served, barista expertise, ambiance, sustainability practices, and innovation among other criteria, according to the website.
Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters, which came on the scene in 2013, helped usher the so-called fourth wave of coffee locally, which focuses on honoring the beans’ agricultural roots and using techniques like pour-over to extract more flavor from each brew. The company started with a wholesale roastery and retail shop in Lakewood before expanding to Arvada through a merger with another company called Two Rivers, and later to Westminster. In 2022, Food and Wine magazine named Sweet Bloom’s Westminster locale the best coffee shop in Colorado.
Queen City Collective has certainly earned the popular vote among Mile High City coffee drinkers if the company’s expansion is an indication. Since opening its first retail location in 2018, in a spot shared with Novel Strand Brewing Co., Queen City has expanded to seven locations between Denver and surrounding suburbs, including Wheat Ridge and Aurora.
To see the full list of must-hit coffee shops across the globe, visit theworlds100bestcoffeeshops.com. For additional recommendations, check out our list of Colorado’s best coffee shops with picturesque patios and views.
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DENVER (KDVR) — With the mild winter and warm start to spring, beekeepers are seeing swarms earlier in the year and expect the season to be longer than usual.
Gregg McMahan is a dispatcher for the Colorado Swarm Hotline. It’s usually his job to send a beekeeper to collect a swarm when someone calls, but on Sunday afternoon, he decided to handle one himself.
“Nice little swarm,” McMahan said. “It’s tricky, though, because it’s hanging on a fence.”
A warm winter and spring mean swarm season has begun four weeks early.
“Never seen it like this ever,” McMahan said.
This call is to a house on Denver’s east side. When McMahan arrived, he saw a swarm had taken up residence on the fence.
“Absolutely typical, it is on the small side,” McMahan said.
He got to work, first luring them into a box when he spotted a good sign.
“See all these girls, they got their butts up, they’re fanning their wings. That’s telling us the queens in here,” McMahan said.
With the queen in hand, the rest began to follow her into the box.
McMahan said two years ago, he had 400 calls like this. Last year, only 100, the Swarm Hotline was as unpredictable as the weather, which has caused bee activity earlier in the year than ever.
“It makes it hard on the bees, you know? Two days ago, I’m collecting swarms in the snow,” McMahan said.
Rescuing them is integral to Colorado’s ecosystem. McMahan hopes people give a beekeeper a call instead of spraying them or harming them in any other way.
“They do a phenomenal amount of pollination within this state. Not only our native flowers but all the other flowers that people bring in,” McMahan said.
Slowly but surely, the swarm left the fence and moved into the box. McMahan loaded them into his truck to deliver them to their new home.
“Westminster to the Stanley Lake Wildlife Refuge, so these girls will have lakefront property tonight,” he said.
As he wrapped up, McMahan’s phone was buzzing more than the bees. Just another call to start a swarm season, he thinks, could be a long one.
“This year I’m already 20 swarms deep, so I’m expecting way more than 100 this year,” McMahan said.
To have a bee swarm removed for free from your property anywhere statewide, the Swarm Hotline number is 1-844-SPY-BEES.
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