Restaurant Reviews
The food is the thing
In the clown car kitchen of China Gourmet in Boulder, a dozen cooks are calmly doing two dozen things. Composed but busy, the kitchen is preparing Chinese-American standards like cashew chicken, mu shu pork and Szechwan beef alongside “Shanghai specials” like cold ...
From one home to another
This is different. When I order takeout from the new, small Chinese shop Flower Pepper on Broadway, I’m excited not only to taste what I got, but also to find out what half of it is...
Affordable excellence
There’s no limits!” the staffer at Project Pie barked out to me, like he was cheering a sports team. “That’s what sets us apart...
Indian food, buffet style
Occupying the site of the former Royal Peacock (the restaurant, not an actual bird), India’s Clay Oven continues the decades-long tradition of dishing out subcontinental fare near the intersection of 55th and Arapahoe. With the exception of a brighter paint job and ...
Old reliable May Wah
Outside of Chinatowns and Asian communities, there’s a reassuring predictability to what’s on the menu at what one can categorize as Chinese-American restaurants. These aren’t places to get jellyfish appetizers, preserved duck egg congee or black bean oysters. ...
A taste of Britain in Broomfield
Broomfield`s Wildflowers Restaurant is located off the beaten path in the Hilltop Inn, a guest house situated a stone’s throw from the airport. Inside, you’ll feel you’ve been transported to a homey British inn. Sure, the traditional antique furnishings and old ...
More than a cold remedy
Back in the ’90s, I’d hightail it down to Pearl Street’s New York Deli at the first sign of a cold. Reflexively, I’d order a big bowl of chicken matzo ball soup, sided with bagel chips, as a form of self-medication. The steamy, nutritious liquid would help clear the ...
Southern Indian seasonings
One of my more ill-advised college misadventures involved a midnight competition with a classmate to see who could consume the most Tabasco sauce straight. While I prevailed, I learned a valuable lesson (actually one of several) in that heat for heat’s sake isn’t a ...
Chinese, like mama used to make
For me, a visit to a Chinese restaurant is either an exercise in frustration or dewy-eyed nostalgia. I either feel that the chefs are butchering the favored dishes of my youth, or they should immediately be canonized for their uncanny ability to reproduce the ...
Out there
There is no better conversation about stuffed mountain lions than the conversation about stuffed mountain lions you have at Vern’s. If you’re headed north, it might be your first of many dining conversations about taxidermy; if you’re headed back to Boulder County, ...
Thai a noodle on
Suki Thai Noodle House carries on the proud Asian tradition of serving noodle soup as a satisfying and economical one-dish meal...
Roadside romance
When I went to school in Los Angeles, nearly a third of my meals were eaten at Cactus Taqueria, a tiny orange shack outside my apartment near Vine and Melrose. It had enough exhaust from passing traffic to function as a smokehouse, no shade, no seating, no bathroom, ...