Alteño marks another triumph for chef Johnny Curiel
The latest: His first restaurant, Alma Fonda Fina, is a 2025 James Beard Awards finalist for best new restaurant, a distinction earned just months after securing a Michelin star.
And he opened his fourth restaurant, Alteño, in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood March 17.
The vibe: Occupying the ground floor of the Clayton Hotel & Members Club, Alteño is a more frenetic space than Curiel's debut eatery, known for its intimate setting.
What to expect: The food at Alteño is just as delicious and creative, featuring traditional Mexican dishes but elevating them.
Take, for example, the chile rellenos, a staple in most Mexican households and kitchens that Curiel turns into a fun and colorful mixture of ingredients.
Best bites: Start with the guacamole before moving to the aguachile de atun, a savory bluefin tuna plate complete with lemon oil and apples (trust me: it just works).
The lubina rayada (Pacific striped bass) is a phenomenal entree option: Crispy and juicy atop a tangy soup of roasted tomatillos.
What to try: The restaurant has 10 signature cocktails, but I was partial to Mex 75, a cool take on a French 75 that swaps gin for mezcal.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Backstreet's back, all right — and so are millennial girls' night outs. But it'll cost you.
For one night in Vegas, grown-up kids pressed pause on responsibilities, cranked up the memories and let the soundtrack of their youth take center stage. If you see a gaggle of girls in Las Vegas dressed in all white right now, it's because they're ready to turn back the clock. Descending in packs of three, four, sometimes 10, they spill into casino lobbies across the famed Strip, accessorizing their '90s-inspired looks with butterfly clips, body glitter and the unmistakable hum of a chorus so inescapable that you know it the moment you hear it. They're in town to see the Backstreet Boys take the stage at the Sphere, and for two hours, millennial women — moms, professionals, lifelong friends — are ready to reclaim and re-create their youth. 'I want to relive my childhood memories,' Lauren, 33, from Grand Rapids, Mich., tells Yahoo, just hours before the band took the stage on Aug. 8. 'This was the music I grew up on.' Lauren traveled to Nevada with her two best friends: Betsy, 33, from Columbus, Ind., and Megan, 32, also from Grand Rapids. I sat next to them at Casa Playa, a Mexican restaurant at the Wynn Las Vegas, one of at least a dozen tables where girlfriends from all walks of life were catching up before making the trek to the venue. There, the Backstreet Boys would be playing the 13th show of a residency that has likely made its way into the social media feeds of anyone who came of age while the band was in maximum rotation on MTV. For Lauren and her friends, an evening of joy was priceless. But that doesn't mean revisiting the '90s for a weekend came cheap. For each of the women, airfare to Las Vegas was around $700, the Wynn stay was roughly $500 a night and their concert ticket cost totaled $1,337. A budget for merch? Unlimited, they said. The splurge was worth it. "It took a little convincing," Betsy said of her husband, who stayed home to watch their almost-2-year-old. 'He said Vegas was unsafe, and I said, 'It's not unsafe when you go [without me].'' Laughter rippled across the table, one of many echoes in the room of women buzzing for a long-awaited girls' night out. This trip, like so many others that evening, was about millennials carving out a moment for themselves while embracing fun, friendship and pure nostalgia. Moms deserve a '90s kid summer too A big talking point among parents is the '90s kid summer trend, which is about encouraging children to have carefree days reminiscent of mom and dad's own experiences growing up: less screen time, more real-world fun. In Las Vegas, this applied to the caregivers. For the thousands of millennial moms who flocked to the Sphere, experiencing the summers of their youth again meant slipping into their best white outfits — a nod to the 25th anniversary of the Backstreet Boys' Millennium album — moving the group chat to IRL, and singing and dancing the night away… while leaving their offspring at home. 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Haley, 38, from Houston, summed it up best when I asked her why she wanted to travel to Las Vegas for the show: 'Money and availability.' "We have disposable income and no children," said Haley, who made the trip with two of her closest girlfriends. "We have no commitments. We have the flexibility to go on a whim, and we get to spend our money and have fun for ourselves." Haley didn't have to run her finances past anyone but herself. "It's unlimited," she said. "All of our budget, at this point, is unlimited. It's all fun money." For Haley's group, she said flights, hotel and ticket prices clocked in around $500 per person, and anyone who's traveled to Vegas knows that's just the starting line. A single cocktail at the Wynn runs about $17 before tip, and even without alcohol, a meal rarely comes in under $50. For the millennials at the show, the expense wasn't a deterrent; it was part of the experience. A millennium of memories Once the boy band took the stage, all bets were off. The 25-track set kicked off with 'Larger Than Life,' which marked the concert's celebratory tone. Perhaps the biggest difference in watching the Backstreet Boys in 2025 compared to 30 years ago was the sea of iPhones capturing every moment. The group poked fun at that during their performance of "Don't Want You Back" as Nokia phones flashed on the giant screens in a reference to the technology of the era. When the fivesome asked who still had their Backstreet Boys CDs, the Sphere erupted. But the loudest cheers came when they asked the crowd who was there enjoying a ladies' night; there were so many 'Woooooos!' you literally felt the Sphere vibrate with excitement. 'Is this the best night ever? I think this is the best night ever,' two girls in front of us said to each other, before snapping a selfie during 'Everybody.' It wasn't just the music, but how Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson worked the crowd together. At one point, the men threw their hats into the crowd, a sight I hadn't seen since 2005. They even led roughly 20,000 fans in a friendly competition over which side of the audience could scream the loudest. With hits like "As Long As You Love Me" and "I Want It That Way," the group delivered every note, dance move and throwback thrill that fans had been craving. It wasn't lost on the singers that millennials are deliberate in how they spend their hard-earned money, and they were spending it on them. "It's because of each and every one of you showing up that we have a job," Littrell, 50, told the sold-out crowd. Even in the worst section at the Sphere (110, to be exact), it was all worth it for the sing-along I had with some of my closest girlfriends. 'My only complaint? Why did we only do 24 hours in Vegas?' my friend Katie said. (We all agreed.) 'We should have done two nights. I would have gone back again.' Solve the daily Crossword
Business Wire
2 hours ago
- Business Wire
Taco Cabana® President Announces Partnership With Dr Pepper® and Major League Eating® for World Taco Eating Championship
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Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Beacon Hill welcomes nine in the old No. 9 Park space; Anna's Taqueria celebrates a milestone
The restaurant's cocktail bar is known as the Gin Palace, serving a variety of gins from around the world. Visit Wednesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. Advertisement Chestnut Hill Square has a new lab — a hand roll lab, that is. Lab 13 Handroll Bar (210 Boylston St.) serves rolls from an open sushi bar. Get sets of three and up in familiar combinations like yellowtail and eel avocado, or opt for albacore, salmon, or toro sashimi. Visit daily from 11 a.m. or place a takeout order. Lynnfield's MarketStreet gets a healthy option with a location of Oola Bowls (330 Market St.). Pop in for acai bowls and smoothies weekdays from 7 a.m. and weekends from 8 a.m. Mexican pop-up El Barco (50 Dalton St.), formerly Summer Shack Back Bay , will remain there permanently. Starting in September, college students (bring your ID) get lunch for $10; on Tuesdays, stop in for $2 tacos after 4 p.m. Also on the menu: queso, churros, and burritos. Visit from 11:30 a.m. until midnight Sunday through Wednesday, and from 11:30 a.m. until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Advertisement Anna's Taqueria turns 30 in September, with retro-priced burritos. Handout Celebrations: In other Mexican news, Anna's Taqueria celebrates its 30th anniversary on Wednesday, Sept. 10. To celebrate, it'll offer super burritos for the original 1995 Brookline price ($3.50); the first 50 customers at each of its 10 locations also receive a commemorative T-shirt. Kara Baskin can be reached at
