WHERE ONCE THERE WAS Q’S, NOW THERE IS SPRUCE
First the Hotel Boulderado came for The Catacombs Bar. Then it came for the Corner Bar. And when it finally came for Q’s, there wasn’t much left to come for since the remodeling was complete. Which happened this week.
The historic Boulder hotel has spent the better part of the last year redoing this and that, working to bring out the period craftsmanship and vibe, and this week saw the opening of Spruce, an inhotel restaurant that replaced Q’s, the space’s former occupant. The revamped interior has accented the moldings and original design, while keeping the best of the menu to combine with the new. The fare is heavy on seafood, featuring fresh flown-in wild catches like oysters as well as some locally farm-raised fish.
Managers at Spruce say much of the seafood menu will rotate daily based on what is available. The dessert and cocktail menus should remain just as classy, but a little more consistent.
Some of that menu is also available at the revamped underground Catacombs Bar, now a swanky stone-walled jazz lounge known as License No. 1.
Spruce officially opened on Aug. 11.
BOULDER FOOD PARK CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES
In food news this week, the county’s food truck community is taking another step forward in its efforts to find a way to serve Boulder residents their grub despite city regulations that make such commerce difficult.
Boulder Food Park has launched a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to raise the funds needed to make improvements to a piece of property located near 30th and Foothills Parkway that has already been purchased for a future food-truck park.
The idea is that the park will eventually offer more than just a parking lot with food trucks by including a stage for music, a beer garden, a kid’s play area and more, along with plenty of green space. The space would become similar to permanent food truck pods in other big-time foodie cities like Austin, Texas and Portland, Ore.
ISABELLE FARM DINNER
Zolo Grill and Isabelle Farm are teaming up for a farm dinner on Monday, Aug. 18.
Zolo will be picking up its operation, chefs, servers and silver, schlepping them out to 10029 Isabelle Road in Lafayette and putting them to work on the farm, using produce that is so local the dis- tance from where it was grown to your plate can be measured in yards, to cook up a fivecourse dinner. The menu includes eggplant rattatoulie, heirloom tomato and cucumber gazpacho, Colorado striped bass served with summer squash, califower and a melon chili puree, Colorado beef sirloin, served with marinated fingerlings and a charred corn salsa, pallisades peach crisp with a housemade vanilla ice cream, caramel and more.
The dinner is at 5:30 p.m. and will be preceeded by a tour of the farm at 5 p.m., where you can learn more about its practices, farm stand and CSA program. The dinner costs $85 per person, not including tax and tip.
For reservations, call 303-449-0444.
— Josh Gross
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