While I was gone this summer, there was a blitz of restaurant activity.

The upscale Oceanaire Seafood Room opened in the Curtis Hotel, 1400 Arapahoe St., where the three-meal-a-day Corner Office had debuted earlier.

Nearby, a second Elway's will open soon at Denver's under-construction Ritz-Carlton hotel, 1881 Curtis St. Meanwhile, an outlet of Wolfgang Puck's Spago is coming to Avon's Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch.

Jesse Morreale and Sean Yontz closed the well-regarded (but under-busy) Sketch Food & Wine and filled the space at 250 Steele St. with Tambien, a cross between two of their other eateries, Mezcal and Chama.

French 250 Restaurant, purveying haute items such as escargots en papillotes and coquilles St. Jacques au champignons, opened last week a few doors down from Tambien in the legendary Bistro Adde Brewster space.

After a legal wrangle, the ritzy restaurant that opened recently at 1920 Market St. has changed its name from The Abbey to Theorie. In another name-calling dispute, Pi Kitchen and Bar is open in the new Hilton Garden Inn, 1400 Welton St. However, Pi, a pizza lounge, is getting set to open in Larimer Square in the basement courtyard near Bistro Vendome.

Highland's Garden Cafe will discontinue its daily lunch and brunch (except for special events) on Sept. 3. The restaurant continues serving dinner nightly. However, Udi's Bread Café, 7357 E. 29th Ave., is again dishing weekday breakfast, including fresh-baked pastries and that great, crunchy Udi's granola. Everything's discontinued at BB's on Pearl, 1475 S. Pearl St., which closed this summer. The location was previously home to LoLa and Micole. (BB's Bistro remains open in Parker.)

Eric Roeder, who wowed us at Micole and Bistro Vendome, has opened Table Mesa, serving classy Mexican cuisine at 7301 S. Santa Fe Drive in Littleton, briefly home to Kyoto. For the moment, Kyoto's former chef, Duy Pham, is in charge of the fare at Aqua, 925 Lincoln St.

Also open now is Izakaya Den, 1518 S. Pearl St., from Toshi Kizaki, owner of Sushi Den. The new place is across the street from the busy raw fish palace, but is a Japanese-style tavern offering sashimi, some sushi rolls and small plates.

Coming soon: a second Mona's neighborhood bistro at 141 S. Broadway; and Maloney's Tavern, 1432 Market St., in the space formerly occupied by Bara Sushi, Tom Tom Room and Tommy Tsunami.

Eatery update

Chris Douglas of Tula and Sean Yontz of Mezcal, Chama and Tambien cooked Wednes- day at New York's James Beard House, where Oceanaire Seafood Room chef Matt Mine joins top toques from other eateries in the Oceanaire chain at the showcase on Sept. 5. . . . A July USA Today feature touted the food at Fruition, Sushi Sasa and Deluxe, as well as Frasca and Radda in Boulder . . . Bon Appétit's September issue includes recipes for pan-seared veal chops with farro ragout from Kelly Liken restaurant in Vail and plum tarte tatin from Fruition chef Alex Seidel. . . . A full-page photo of Noel Cunningham adorns the inside cover of Food Arts' July/August issue. The owner of Denver's Strings Restaurant appears in an Illy Coffee ad that speaks to the efforts that he and the company are engaged in separately to alleviate suffering in Ethiopia, the place where coffee originated.

Eat my words

"Whenever I was called a gourmet, I suspected I was being accused of something at least slightly unpleasant. But that was before I heard the term 'foodie.' I am still not sure that a gourmet is a good thing to be, but it must be better than a foodie." - Mark Kurlansky, author of Salt: A World History, and Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World.