Restaurant Reviews

In the late 1990s, I worked on west Walnut Street, a stone’s throw from the Pearl Street Mall. For lunch, I’d patronize now-defunct venues like Juanita’s and the New York Deli, and I’d often pick up morning coffee at the old Bookends Café. Like many, I felt a touch ...

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 ...

The first impression of downtown Boulder’s Saxy’s Cafe is that of your typical college town coffee shop with a ramshackle, slightly lived-in feel. But a closer look reveals more luxurious trappings epitomized by comfortable sofas and low coffee tables that give the ...

For some foodies, exploring new restaurants is a sporting activity, and one of the top trophies is stumbling across a hidden gem before anyone else does. If the place is affordable, so much the better, and unique menu items score additional brownie points, although ...

Whenever I visit a place calling itself a tavern, I half expect it to be populated by a clientele consisting of Revolutionary War colonists plotting their next move against the monarchy. More realistically though, I anticipate that a self-proclaimed tavern is an ...

Spun off from its namesake Nederland predecessor, Boulder’s recently opened Backcountry Pizza and Taphouse ably occupies the gap between chain restaurants and artisan pizzerias. It retains much of the unpretentious charm of its mountain parent, which is an ...

Pan-Asian  variety is the name of the game at Pearl Street’s Moongate Asian Bistro, which features a diverse and affordable Asian menu. Classic Chinese-American cookery is one of the stars of the show here,  with such venerable chestnuts as Kung Pao chicken and ...

Generally, the newest local restaurants shy away from the excess frilliness of haute cuisine and instead towards venerable comfort foods. For the past year, gourmet pizza has been all the rage, and folks can’t seem to get enough of updated pies with artisan ...

The standard-issue American breakfast of bacon and eggs traces its lineage back to its British ancestor, the “full English.” While some breakfasts may focus on sweet pastries and not much more than a tipple of coffee, the Anglo-American approach embraces both  ...

One of the required American barbecue trail pilgrimages is Dallas’s Sonny Bryan’s, a joint renowned for its meltingly tender beef brisket. There are several locations scattered throughout the city, but the cognoscenti know that the food is best at the original shack ...

Whenever I go back to the Bay Area for family visits, it’s inevitable I stop by San Leandro’s Taqueria Los Pericos with one or both of my brothers. I suspect our visits are equally driven by the quality of the food as well as having us be seen in public for the ...

As a longtime High Country denizen, I must admit a vague understanding of what constitutes the Low Country, although Pat Conroy seems to have something to do with it. However, a handy glossary on the back of Boulder’s new Shug’s Low Country Cuisine menu and a spot ...