Restaurant Reviews
Royal Indian dining on the east side
Over the $8.99 lunch buffet at the Royal Clay Oven (formerly India’s Clay Oven) on Arapahoe, British-born friend Andrew and I discussed the differences between Indian restaurants in the U.S. and U.K. He pointed out that more people in the U.K. work in subcontinental ...
Simply satisfying
Perhaps nowhere else in Boulder County is food tied to a place as much as Tibet’s Restaurant & Bar in Louisville is to the country and perspective of its namesake...
Barbecue-topia at KT’s Hickory Pit
Most places, barbecue is unabashedly redneck, just red meat doused in sugar-water and cooked in a manner that actively contributes to climate change. Vegetables are about as popular in this process as Stalin...
Creation Story
Creativity is paramount in the coffee game. Hell, creativity is the coffee game. Now, the folks at Folger’s would have you believe it’s about ease, and the hipsters downtown would have you believe it’s all about Bunsen burners and science bottles. But at its core, ...
Middle Eastern eats and sweets
There’s something inherently enigmatic about a restaurant calling itself Pickled Lemon, as this moniker raises more questions than answers. Is this a venue for citrus-based cocktails? Does the menu focus on fruit? Is this a cryptic reference to a Tina Fey character? ...
Give me home fries or give me death
Boulder Weekly last visited the North Boulder Cafe in 2009. And it’s not hard to understand how we forgot about it. Tucked into a nondescript shopping center on the edge of town, the North Boulder Cafe isn’t really on the way to anywhere, and its signage is pretty ...
Brunch without the wait
Downtown Pearl Street is a sea of wait-lists on weekends between 9 a.m. and noon. The masses of hangover-inflicted students, sleepy 20-somethings, hungry and screaming children and hostile foodies all serve as roadblocks to the end goal: brunch. Luckily, tucked in ...
Fettuccine a la ESPN
Some things I’ll never fully understand, like string theory, the jokes in Lolita or why people pay Michael Bay to make movies. Sitting just below advanced calculus, and just above pickles on that list, is why otherwise nice restaurants insist on installing ambiance-...
A hut with potential
With ith a name like Elephant Hut, it’s initially unclear what’s served up at this Boulder restaurant, housed in 30th Street’s Steelyards development. Those with dark imaginations may envision it as akin to Pizza Hut, except with a certain massive land mammal ...
Classic breakfast, without the rush
College buddy Jeff recently paid a visit, and I figured a dose of semi-rural Colorado hospitality would be a welcome respite from his usual routine as a Vegas casino executive. To meet my friend’s need, my venue of choice was Hygiene’s Crane Hollow Café...
Following the recipe
From the outside, Vina Pho & Grill has that anonymous, unappealing look so many non- Pearl Street located Boulder restaurants have: a plain tan box with a sign of some sort. It is the khaki of architecture...
Rain or shine
The Hungry Toad was built for rainy days. It makes for a cozy pint when you can sit in the corner and watch the wind beat rain into the windows with wooden jambs. The fixtures are natural, from the exposed brick wall to the leather bar chairs to the wooden tabletops...

















