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Over the next few days, you can get tipsy and eat pretzels, eat cheese, spell words, go shopping, make more drinks. And don’t forget that Denver Restaurant Week deals are in place all week at more than 200 participating restaurants, and Dining Out for Life is making it easy to chip in for a good cause.
After filling in your schedule for the next few days, keep reading for more food and drink events to add to your culinary calendar through the end of May.
Wednesday, April 28
Monday, April 26, is not just the 406th day of Ye Olde Plague Year; it’s also National Pretzel Day. To mark the momentous occasion — albeit two days late — Rhein Haus, at 1415 Market Street, is selling its giant pretzels for $5 all day on Wednesday, April 28 (since it’s not currently open on Monday or Tuesday). Get the salty twists served with horseradish cream cheese, honey mustard, cheddar fondue or obatzda (a Bavarian spread made of soft cheese, butter and beer). Bonus: You’ll build some muscle in your stein-lifting arm at the bar. Prost!
On Wednesday, April 28, Bruz Off Fax, 1495 York Street, is teaming up with the Truffle Cheese Shop for a beer-and-cheese pairing. While all the dairy will be Belgian (some selections hail from the country’s Trappist monasteries), the beer will be Belgian-style; Bruz will be serving its own non-Trappist versions of famed abbey beers (single, dubbel, tripel and quadrupel). Reps from the cheesemonger and the brewery will be on hand to talk flavor profiles and pairings for the 6 p.m. tasting. Purchase tickets, $30, on Eventbrite.
If you can actually dredge any words you studied for your weekly elementary school spelling tests from the recesses of your mind, if your alcohol tolerance has gone way, way up in the past fourteen months, and if your brain hasn’t liquefied (L-I-Q-U-E-F-I-E-D) in the same period, you might be able to clean up at a drunken spelling bee on Wednesday, April 28. The showdown takes place at Kyu Ramen, 600 East Colfax Avenue, from 6 to 8 p.m. Just $10 gets you into the competition and started with one free drink. After five rounds of both words and drinks, the winner ambulates (A-M-B-U-L-A-T-E-S) away with $100. Purchase tickets on Eventbrite, and have a felicitous (F-E-L-I-C-I-T-O-U-S) evening.
Thursday, April 29
In cocktailing, the bottle shot is the money shot. Admit it: Who among us hasn’t plucked a bottle off the shelf based solely on the strength of the label? And no one in town has prettier bottles than Deviation Distilling, 900 West First Avenue. Its monthly cocktail class on Thursday, April 29, will have you making drinks as dressed-up as those bottles — three of them, in fact. The $40 price tag includes a trio of drinks, a charcuterie plate and recipes to take home. Book your slot at the 6:30 p.m. class on Tock.
Courtesy of Denver Bazaar
Friday, April 30
Denver Bazaar is slowly returning to its roots as an IRL shopping experience after the chaos and online everything that marked last year. Every Friday through August 27, the roving market, bar and food truck rally will set up at 2424 Larimer Street (near the Ramble Hotel) from 4 to 9 p.m. Entry is free, furry friends are welcome, and reservations aren’t even a thing — just show up. The food truck lineup will rotate, but last week’s vendor included the Ethiopian Food Truck, Barbed Wire Reef, the Crêpe Outdoors, Kids Table (vegan) and Snacktacular. Visit Denver Bazaar’s Facebook page for details (including happy hour specials) and its Instagram page for full vendor lineups.
Keep reading for future food and drink events.
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Barbacoa from Jose Avila of X’tabait Yucateco, which will be at Westwood’s Peace and Pride Cinco de Mayo celebration.
Mark Antonation
Saturday, May 1
Now for something completely different: A Cinco de Mayo celebration that’s not run by gringos in fake mustaches and pink sombreros. For the first time, the predominantly Latino Westwood neighborhood is hosting Peace and Pride, a celebration of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, on Saturday, May 1. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., show up at Morrison Road between South Meade and South Osceola streets for a car show and hopping contest, dancing, live music and art (including live graffiti). Of course, there will also be food and drinks from Cultura Craft Chocolate, X’tabai Yucateco (serving Mayan street food), Cholo Ass Vegan, Combi Taco and Molino de Westwood (which makes heirloom nixtamal masa). Admission is free; visit Rise Westwood Collective’s website for details.
Tuesday, May 4
No one is neutral about Star Wars. Whether you’re a casual fan, one of the racist jackwagons who drove poor Rose Tico off social media and out of the last cinematic exercise in fan service, or just someone who wants to cuddle Baby Yoda, we guarantee that you have at least one opinion about the franchise. What better way to express it than on Tuesday, May 4, at Baere Brewing, 320 Broadway, over a pint of C-3(i)PA and a plate of tauntaun tacos? The brewery is releasing its West Coast IPA in a Star Wars-themed can (themed glassware will also be available), and from 3 to 9 p.m., Snacktacular will be serving up tauntaun (pork belly) tacos, That’s No Moon (a jumbo cheeseburger) and the Sando Calrissian (grilled cheese). Reservations aren’t required; just show up. And may the fork be with you.
Thursday, May 13
For years, Westword celebrated the Denver dining scene at Feast, an annual eating extravaganza that filled the McNichols Building with tables hosted by local restaurants sampling their best dishes. Given the pandemic, Feast has pivoted and turned into Feast To-Go, a drive-thru event at Stanley Marketplace (2501 Dallas Street in Aurora) on May 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. that will again celebrate the city’s resilient restaurants. At Feast To-Go, you’ll be able to try food from a dozen restaurants and trucks that we’ve honored with Best of Denver awards over the past few years, along with beverages; you can enjoy your goodie bags and restaurant samples at an impromptu picnic or simply take them home…without ever leaving your car. Tickets are now on sale here.
Saturday, May 22
The love affair with adding bacon to everything seems awfully 2012, but we’re including this year’s Bacon and Beer Classic both because literally everything that happened before March 17, 2020, seems like it was a million years ago (we stand by our use of the word “literally”), and also because the event is one of the first summer food fests we’ve seen return to a fourth wave/post-COVID/mid- to late-apocalyptic landscape. Guests will be ushered along a path at Kennedy Golf Course, 10500 East Hampden Avenue, where they’ll pause at stations to throw back beer, cider and pork products. The Classic touts full-sized bacon-based dishes instead of sample sizes this year. Purchase tickets ($79 or $59) on Eventbrite, where — like any bacon-munching, beer-swilling golfer — you’ll need to pick your “b” time (11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) to start your beer and bacon death march. Visit the event website for details.
Know of an event that belongs on this calendar? Send information to [email protected].
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