Restaurant Reviews
Step away from the buffet
As part of my ongoing efforts to craft a taxonomy for Chinese restaurants, I recently realized there are two main angles to categorizing these eateries. The first is assessing the formality and pricing of the place, ranging from the come-one-come-all budget dive to ...
Snarfing it down
My relationship with sandwiches has been ambivalent at best, due perhaps to their constancy as a lunchtime staple through my elementary school years. One unintended consequence of this routine is that I occasionally experience an inexplicable craving for Underwood’s ...
Mary’s is not just for cyclists
It was a blowout day. And I mean that quite literally, as friend Keith’s front bicycle tire suddenly popped with a thunderous bang. Taking quick evasive action, I swerved around him as he managed to straighten out his trajectory and keep his bike upright. Fortunately...
Where in the world?
There’s something about the term “international” that makes it a sort of red flag when judging a restaurant by its menu cover. It’s understandable prejudice on one hand — jack-ofall-trades, master of none, bringing to mind half-assed buffets and ubiquitous houses of ...
Temperature matters
Temperature matters. It says so on the wall of Reelfish, a new seafood joint in Lafayette that specializes in fish and chips. I agree...
Formidable pho
Pressed for time, colleague Carin and I weren’t enthused to seek a blah lunch at a ho-hum sandwich shop or fast food joint during a recent journey to Broomfield. I also realized it had been some time since I had enjoyed a bowl of pho, Vietnamese beef noodle soup. ...
Getting lucky in north Boulder
Sometimes hunger can sneak up on you like a pouncing cat or a stealthy ninja, and this is precisely the dilemma colleague Carin found herself in one fair weekday morning. Given that it was a tad late for breakfast, and a touch early for lunch, we figured that North ...
Good ol’ pub fare
Neither an homage to the silent (but perhaps most cerebral) of the Marx Brothers, nor a clandestine Oprah operation, Boulder’s Harpo’s Sports Grill is precisely what its name implies. It’s a casual joint spotlighting affordable drink specials, tavern staples ...
Off the beaten brunch
As friend Lisa and I drove on Hwy. 36 north of Boulder, we couldn’t help but notice the landscape’s arid harshness. Even though the sun was shining, we couldn’t shake a feeling of wintry desolation. Happily, the mood shifted for the better once we entered our ...
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...
Going off campus
The location seems a bit out there, but Off Campus Cafe was there when we needed it...
Asian food for all tastes
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 ...


















