Calling all Colorado foodies, dining enthusiasts and those who glow upon the discovery of a great new ethnic eatery!

Zagat, the diner-rated restaurant guidebooks, long ago produced a Rocky Mountain edition that featured Colorado restaurants. In recent years the state has been relegated to a minor role in the Top American Restaurants guide. Zagat has come to its senses and will release a Colorado Restaurants volume soon.

This is your chance to let the world know what you think about phenomenal local restaurants as well as places to avoid by rating the food, decor, service and cost. You may get a copy of the guide for your efforts. Zagat loves short pithy comments and even gives prizes for the briefest, wittiest blurbs.

To get started, visit zagat.com/rateColorado.

ON THE MENU
A rare rainy afternoon demanded a great bowl of soup. I had heard good things about the broth at Aurora’s Tao Tao Noodle House, 10400 E. Sixth Ave. When I arrived I had dining deja vu moment as I figured out that I had written a rave review years ago of Chef Noodle House at the same table at this location. I skipped my usual hot and sour and chose the pork rib and radish soup. After waiting a few long minutes I asked the waitress if I could get my soup first. “They make this soup to order,” she said, unlike the standard soup which sits premade in quantity.
It was SO worth the wait. I slurped the hot, clear pork-infused broth with green onion and small, soft chunks of boiled daikon radish and chewy bits of deep-fried boneless pork. The perfume was heavenly and the soup highly satisfying. I washed it down with good strong iced oolong tea. Sometime I’ll have to tell you about Tao Tao’s pan-fried and broth-filled dumplings.

COLORADO BEER NEWS
The recent bi-annual World Beer Cup 2012 competition included numerous winners from our Silicon Valley of Craft Brewing including Aurora’s Dry Dock Brewing Co., which earned a gold medal for its Wee Heavy in the Scotch Ale category. Other brewers taking home gold include Golden’s Coors, Denver’s Bull & Bush Brewery, and Rocky Mountain Brewery of Colorado Springs. Other medal winners include Crabtree (Greeley), Crooked Stave (Fort Collins), Dillon DAM Brewery (Dillon) and Rockyard Brewing (Castle Rock) and Telluride Brewing (Telluride).  Try sampling them during Colorado Beer Week May 12-May 19 at restaurants, bars and stores across the state. For instance, Euclid Hall in Denver will tap a new and obscure beer (i.e., Crooked Stave Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Good Glory) daily from May 14 to May 19. More events at cobeerweek.com. … Esquire.com’s recent list of 10 great canned beers is topped by Dale’s Pale Ale from Longmont’s Oskar Blues brewery and includes Fat Tire Amber Ale from New Belgium in Fort Collins. … Coming soon: The Lowry Beer Garden — the first true modern-day beer garden in the metro area — is taking shape as part of the new Hangar 2 project in Lowry. … If you need to get away, the eighth annual Jerusalem Beer Festival is Aug. 22 and 23 in that Israeli city’s train station.

EATERY UPDATE
Colorado cuisine was represented at May 7’s James Beard Foundation awards by Boulder’s Frasca, which lost in the Outstanding Wine Program category to No. 9 Park in Boston, and Jennifer Jasinski, co-owner of Denver’s Rioja, Euclid Hall and Bistro Vendôme, lost to Paul Qui of Austin’s Uchiko in the Best Chef/Southwest category. … Al Bae Nae, a Korean restaurant famous for its whole fried chicken, has closed 2040 Havana St. … Coming soon: Zo Sushi and Thai, in the Iliff Commons shopping center at the corner of Iliff and Peoria.

CULINARY CALENDAR
Based on major media coverage, you might think that November and December are the only times when hunger and food insecurity are problems in the metro area and nationally. In fact, the need only grows during the spring and summer leading to empty shelves at food banks and soup kitchens. You have an easy opportunity to help on May 12 during the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive. Simply fill a bag with nonperishable items and leave it by your mailbox. All food collected will go to local food charities… All over the former British Empire Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee (60 years on the throne) is being celebrated June 2 to 5. At Aurora’s favorite British stronghold, The English Teacup, there will be a special gathering 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 5. Recorded television coverage of all the Jubilee festivities will be shown on flatscreen TVs while guests — including British airmen at Buckley Air Force Base — sample Brit treats ranging from sausage rolls to tea sandwiches. Tickets are $21. Reservations are a must: 303-751-5452. … Plan ahead: Making Hay: A Field Hand’s Supper on June 10 at Aurora’s Plains Conservation Center is a cool culinary benefit feast featuring heirloom and organic ingredients used in traditional recipes cooked on a wood stove and served outside on the prairie. To make reservations: 303-693-3621; plainscenter.org.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” – Dave Barry

Send your culinary questions and comments to: jlehndorff@aurorasentinel.com. Be sure to visit (and like) the Nibbles Facebook page. Listen to John Lehndorff’s Radio Nibbles at 8:25 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU, 88.5 FM, 1390 AM, and kgnu.org.