What’s better than drinking and listening to funk music at a cool, historic hotel? Sticking to your exes while doing so!

Love and hate are in the air. Valentine’s Day must be near. Everyone’s favorite — or most un-favorite — holiday brings out the best in party people. If you’re attached, chances are you’ll be spending the next couple of days finalizing plans and anticipating a night with the significant other. If you’re single, you might be dreading the big day, but also planning fun times with friends. Valentine, schmalentine.

No matter your relationship status, there will be plenty to do around Denver. There’s strong anti-Valentine sentiment out there, but let’s face it: People are going to these parties to hook up.

On Friday, Cupid will be shooting arrows, and possibly slinging drinks, at Slacker and Steve’s Bitter Ball 2010. Presented by local radio station Alice 105.9, the party at Casselman’s (2620 Walnut St.) aims for a half-girls, half-guys crowd.

(more…)

Da Lat, the capital of Vietnam’s Lâm Đồng Province, is the inspiration for South Federal Boulevard’s excellent restaurant of the same name.

Jonesing for an authentic Vietnamese restaurant, one where the menu’s beef and shrimp dishes sit alongside sections reserved for goat, venison, bass and eel? Head to Da Lat, a spiffy outpost on South Federal Boulevard that is packed with transcendent dishes, thanks to chef-owner Ha Tran.

Da Lat, named for a scenic, waterfall-laced spot in Vietnam’s highlands, is a smallish room done in dark wood and deep tangerine. There is a gurgling fountain and a ceiling-slung TV set that on a recent Sunday was tuned to the Nuggets basketball game.

But you are here for the food.

(more…)

You’re not rich and you’re not going to Miami for the Super Bowl. But don’t despair: Denver’s bringing the serious Super Bowl parties to you.

The Super Bowl functions as a kind of comedown from the holiday season. Those weeks of parties and drinks and rich food are lots of fun, and the end of the season is satisfying — at least until the reality of normal, non-holiday life sets in.

That’s just about when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around to save the day. It’s a reminder of happier times, when days off were plentiful and there was no New Year’s diet to worry about. Crack a beer, have a seat and munch on snacks while large men smash one another for the nation’s amusement.

And just like during the holidays, clubs and bars are rolling out the red carpet for the day. If your Super Bowl routine needs a shakeup — how many fistfuls of Chex Mix can you watch Uncle Carl eat, anyway? — this might be the year to get off the couch and get out of the house party.

(more…)

Slick, electronic retail center or restaurant? Let’s allow the food to decide.

It’s metal and wood inside, spartan and modern, the menu a mix of flatbreads and salads. It’s the kind of place that began as a “concept,” from the decor that should please Bjorn Borg or Elin Nordegren (Swedes!) to the pliant shingles of grains slicked with balsamic pomegranate glaze or spangled with crumbled blue cheese or dressed with a chipotle-lime vinaigrette.

Modmarket in Boulder feels like an Apple store. Fortunately, it does not taste like an Apple store.

The flatbreads, all of them larded with whole grains and fired in a stone hearth, are stiff enough to hold, without wilting when lifted, sliced tri-tip steak and chunks of free-range chicken and hillocks of goat cheese. Yet they have give, and chew, and they taste like wheat instead of white flour.

(more…)