Restaurant Reviews

One of the enduring institutions of Japanese working life is the bento. Bento means "meal in a box" and can refer to anything from a homemade aggregation of fish, rice and preserved plum to ekiben, the pre-made meals encountered in train stations. In the U.S., it's ...

With my Italian family, the kitchen is the focal point of our lives. Gathering around the kitchen table is where we find ourselves as we sit through laughter, joy, sadness and loss. It is our common denominator and of course there is always endless food to fill our ...

It’s hard to get excited about juice. They serve juice in little plastic cups with foil tops at hospitals and blood drives. At diners, orange juice costs $4 per thimble for some reason. Rare is a time when I find myself saying, “You know what I could really go for ...

It recently dawned on me that location doesn’t seem to be a predictor of the quality of Boulder County Japanese restaurants. Sure, I’ve had fine Asian meals at the high-end downtown Boulder stalwarts. But I’ve also enjoyed equally satisfying repasts in strip mall ...

There’s a surprising amount of room onboard Louise. Chef Michael DeBoer and his wife Lori bought the old and deteriorating truck, which had lived a life as the famed Cheese Louise mobile restaurant. It died of having a hole in the floor underneath the driver’s seat, ...

The word “riff” implies improvisation and excitement. It instantly brings to mind a memorable guitar solo, and applied to food, the expectation for something inspiring. Unfortunately, in the case of Riffs Urban Fare, there is such a thing as too much riffing...

Nowadays, you can stop in at a national sandwich chain and choke down the exact same Italian sub whether you're outside Denver or Duluth. Consistent with this alarming trend, the local sandwich shop in Boulder County is increasingly rare especially those that offer ...

Winter had finally arrived with a vengeance, and single-digit temperatures prompted me to investigate eateries offering warming soups that could serve as a satisfying one-dish meal. It was Sunday, and I remembered this is the day that Sachi Sushi, nestled in the ...

I fed Mara donuts until she wept. Well, not really, although we certainly did a fine job of indulging ourselves at Dizzy’s Donuts, Boulder’s newest venue serving fresh takes on old-school baked goods. Donuts are big nowadays, akin to where cupcakes were a few years ...

Cheese Importers’ warehouse was a huge hit from the beginning, because, well, cheese. But the bulk of the 35 years it’s been in business were spent in a literal warehouse in Longmont. It was a wonderland of cheese, though not as warm and inviting an environment as ...

When Julia Child anoints you as one of her Great Regional Chefs and James Beard names you one of the five best chefs in the Southwest, it’s safe to say you’re nearing the culinary apex. New York born chef and restaurateur Jim Cohen humbly accepts these accolades, but...

If I’ve learned anything from the recent proliferation of high-end pizza eateries in Boulder, it’s that these aren’t the cheesy parlors of my childhood. No straw hat-doffing servers or coin-operated mechanical pony rides here. You won’t find either at the new ...