Restaurant Reviews

Happy Mateo hour

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At Mateo’s happy hour, dubbed “après,” you can convene your own Pearl Street Algonquin Roundtable on the cheap between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Indeed, that’s what I attempted to do, by inviting author friend Lisa and her husband Peter, a therapist and practitioner ...

A dining discovery — and a good deal

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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 ...

Leenie’s Southern Cafe is a bit more cafe than Southern

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Claiming regional or ethnic credibility at a restaurant not located in that region can be a dubious prospect. Sometimes it’s a genuine transplant bringing the recipes of their youth and culture to the uninitiated hinterlands; sometimes it’s just run by someone who ...

Improved decor, and the taste to match

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My friend Auden was visiting from the Western Slope, and it’s customary for us to visit an Asian eatery, since decent ones are mighty scarce in his neck of the woods. To be frank, things didn’t go so well the last go-around. Attempting to prove our foodie street cred...

Small-town hospitality

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Throughout the warm weather season, the Niwot Market dishes up a Friday night supper that’s as much a community happening as it is an enjoyably casual dining experience. Menus vary from week to week, so it’s best to call ahead to find out what’s cooking. On some ...

Fresh air

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There might not be a better atmosphere in which to grab brunch in Boulder County than The Riverside Cafe. There are a number of Pearl Street verandas and Dushanbe’s beautiful interior certainly have their claims, but the natural and upscale patio at Food at the ...

Feel the chill of the Golden Sun

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I expected Golden Sun to be a bit divey. It’s a big part of what made me seek out the Chinese restaurant tucked into an awkward corner space on a 28th Street strip mall. Chinese food is best served sketchy, and without a set of tracks to cross to the wrong side of, ...

Indian food, buffet style

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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 ...

A pleasant surprise for Thai

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Thai Avenue Rice and Noodles presents a textbook case of truth in advertising. First of all, it serves Thai food, notably rice and noodles. Secondly, it’s located on Boulder’s College Avenue. This straightforward naming scheme carries over to the no-frills experience...

Not half bad

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A recent experience at a national chain sandwich shop in Lusk, Wyo., made me realize why sandwiches aren’t often my first meal choice. My sandwich wasn’t terrible, it’s just that this comestible was strictly functional, with little artistry or care involved in its ...

Going guilty at Dish Gourmet

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Since 2006, chef-owner Brian Benham’s Pearl Street fixture has been catering to Boulderites in the figurative as well as the literal sense of the verb. From the antique pantry at the entrance of Dish Gourmet to the colorful blackboard menu mounted above the deli ...

Returning to a Longmont seafood favorite

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I’m not entirely sure why I hadn’t paid a visit to Longmont’s Tortugas in the last few years — in the late ’90s, I thought it was one of the best restaurants in the county. Combining a hospitable, homey, Key West feel with a menu of fresh seafood, prepared in the ...