Try to restrain yourself with the tequila during Cinco de Mayo — at least a little.

It’s always a little disappointing when Cinco de Mayo falls on a weekday. This year, it’s on Tuesday — not exactly a day to party, unless you can be a bit unproductive on Wednesday.

On the bright side, there are two weekends to mark the occasion: Have a little something this weekend — a little tequila, a Negro Modelo — and cut loose next weekend, when the city celebration goes down in Civic Center.

For now, the Denver Green Festival is the big thing as it takes over the Colorado Convention Center on Saturday and Sunday. Appropriately, there’s a party on Saturday to divide up the days. Hosted by Blue and Yellow Logic, a local sustainability organization, the party features music by Stic.man of hip-hop duo Dead Prez, plus Yorubawoman and DJ Cavem.

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Cancel the costumes and save the songs: “Unwigged & Unplugged” with (from left to right) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean hits the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday.

Why are all the best bands fake? Spinal Tap, Tenacious D, Flight of the Conchords, even Neil Hamburger — all comedy-music acts that are about as legitimate and earnest as a Halloween costume. Sure, these guys know how to play their instruments. They record and release CDs and DVDs. They tour the country and draw thousands to their live shows. But they’re not out there to make us marvel at their sweet riffs and melodies, they’re just trying to make us laugh.

Of course, the minds behind mockumentaries like “This Is Spinal Tap” and “A Mighty Wind” also know actual musical talent goes a long way toward selling the joke. They’re hitting the road — including a Denver date at the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday — to display their own. Comedy veterans Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will ditch the costumes and accents when revisiting songs from the aforementioned movies in their “Unwigged and Unplugged” tour.

We spoke via phone with McKean a couple weeks ago about the tour, the 25th anniversary of “This Is Spinal Tap,” the risks of a tour like this and the benefits of picking up the guitar early on.

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Looking for traditional, grandiose German environment? Sorry, Black Forest Deli doesn’t have it — but the food’s killer.

Sitting down for a sandwich at Black Forest Deli in Arvada will not transport you to Hamburg or Munich.

The Black Forest Deli has posters of German castles on the walls, and the shelves groan with boxes of spaetzle mix and pickles, but it sits next to a neon-bright liquor store in a strip mall beside a busy road that is like a tunnel of strip malls. Lace curtains on the inside do not shield diners from the fluorescent words scrawled on the outside of the windows that advertise specials. This is no mile-high Little Bavaria.

But they are doing something right. Exhibit A? They have been around for more than 30 years.

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“America’s favorite house DJ” Bad Boy Bill will bring a little Chicago love to the dance floor at Beta on Saturday.

The stretch of South Broadway near the Mayan Theatre — say, between Second and Alameda avenues — has been blooming for years now. But new, hip restaurants still pop up, art galleries open, bars stay full.

It’s always had a seedier element, with homeless people and hustlers passing through, but the borderland between north and south Broadway is always changing.

One of the latest additions — along with the definitely not-seedy Sweet Action Ice Cream (52 S. Broadway) — is Sketch (101 S. Broadway, entrance around the corner on First Avenue). A refreshingly simple wine bar, Sketch is another member of the M Inc. family, along with Colfax Avenue haunts Mezcal (3230 E. Colfax Ave.) and Rockbar (3015 E. Colfax Ave.).

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Aytan Evans, who graduated from Work Options two years ago, thanks Work Options for teaching not just kitchen skills, but helping her confidence. “They build your esteem up; they make you feel you’re ready,” she says as she cleans the espresso machine and jokes with fellow grad Billie Conner. (Kristen Browning-Blas, The Denver Post)

Work Options for Women helps its students aim higher. Now, the nonprofit that trains women in culinary arts is raising the bar on lunch downtown with its new restaurant, Cafe Options.

Not only does the soup-and-sandwich eatery give graduates a great place to work, it gives downtown workers a new choice for lunch. And it’s challenging the other sandwich-makers in town with house-roasted pork, chicken and beef, from-scratch soups and even homemade pickles. Developed by Denver restaurant veterans Max McKissock and Craig Dixon, the menu emphasizes clean, pure flavors, and teaches culinary skills that graduates of the welfare-to-work program can take to other jobs.

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