is working to help fishermen from the Northeast recover from Hurricane Sandy. The restaurants in Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver are now relying on , an organization that promotes the toil of small-scale fishermen, more than ever.
“We are making every effort to have two or more fish proteins from fishermen who have been impacted by the storm,” said Jason Fitzgerald, a spokesman for , which owns the three Jax joints. Fitzgerald said Sandy devastated many small fishermen, wrecking their boats and destroying their docks. Those who are able to fish are selling to fewer restaurants because of the chaos gripping New York City and New Jersey; so many restaurants shut down, and those that remain in many cases are tough to get to.
“We want to make sure they can keep on doing what they are doing. And we would like other chefs in the area to make this a priority.”
Want to support Northeast fishermen? Downing a plate of Nantucket Bay scallops at Jax is a win-win start.
Meanwhile, the good people over at in Highland, 1961 Central St., will give you a free drink — a Manhattan — if you donate $10 by text message to the effort.
Looking for a pre-show place for nachos and beers before a Bluebird Theater concert, but tired of the same old spots? Check out , a new place at 1515 Madison St. just a toss from the historic venue.
The massive space, about 6,500 square feet, was a French place called Normandy for decades, before it shut down in the early 2000s. For the most part, it’s been vacant ever since. But now a group of partners have transformed it into a neighborhood hangout.
“We have a shuffleboard table, some old-school Nintendo,” said Drew Gottlieb, one of the partners. “We have 13 flat-screen TVs.” Gotlieb said one of the restaurant’s specialties will be nacho platters with hand-cut, fried-to-order tortilla ships. The idea: Cover the nachos with ingredients that are more familiar in sandwiches. There are Phillly cheesesteak nachos, pulled-pork nachos.
Another neighborhood joint is coming to Denver, to replace an old one. The Lancer Lounge, a Capitol Hill dive-bar staple for decades, is now gone. , 233 E. Seventh Ave., from Denver restaurateur Frank Bonanno. He plans to maintain the divey vibe, although he also wants to shellack it with a bit of polish, too. Better bar food. More beers on tap. A gussied-up patio. Bonanno plans to open sometime around Thanksgiving.
Bison? Butchery? Abstract expressionism? You can get the trifecta at the , wherein participants can watch a bison get transformed into so many steaks and roasts. The weekend-long event includes lectures, a movie, a livestock show (in the museum), a kitchen-farm-cannery-brewery tour, and a bison feast, along with live music, at the museum, 1485 Delgany St. Details and tickets at mcadenver.org.
A fan of Top Chef Masters? Then you watched San Francisco chef win it all this year. Wednesday night, you can observe Cosentino, the executive chef at the restaurant Incanto — and meet him, and taste his food — at . At Frasca, 1738 Pearl St., he will cook a four-course meal inspired by his new book, “Beginnings: My Way to Start a Meal.”
Douglas Brown: 303-954-1395, djbrown@denverpost.com or twitter.com/douglasjbrown
