Restaurant Reviews

Over the past few years, downtown Louisville’s dining options have grown impressively, and the Empire Restaurant and Lounge is one of this burg’s top spots for fine dining in a relaxed setting. While this space can accommodate many diners, it feels smaller and more ...

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 ...

Clear winter days often put me in a Paris frame of mind. This time of year, cold, crisp air, leafless trees and wintry light give the French capital a monochromatic yet nostalgic quality. For me, this romantic appearance evokes the black and white photography of ...

Gone is the dark, cavernous bar setting where Charles Bukowski would have felt at home. In its place is a contemporary interior that lunch companion Patrick described as very “New York,” with its exposed brick, airy ambience and sculpted light fixtures. The Mexican-...

Noodles were always an integral part of my family’s Friday night dinners in Oakland Chinatown. Sometimes these restaurant repasts featured thick ribbons of chow fun rice noodles topped with slices of flank steak seasoned with salty black beans and hot mustard. If we ...

This is the sort of place you’d find in the Northeast,” declared Kurt, a Massachusetts transplant, as we took our seats inside Lefty’s Gourmet Pizza and Ice Cream. We had been bicycling for the last few hours on the back roads north of Boulder when this homey Niwot...

Boulder’s sunshine is legendary. Which makes its cloudy days hit that much harder. And when they do, Boulder’s wide variety of salads and smoothies just won’t cut it. Grey skies and plunging barometers demand comfort food...

Popularized by such operations as L.A.’s Kogi, kitchens on wheels have finally hit the streets of Boulder. Far removed from the catering trucks of old, these outfits eschew stale plastic-wrapped sandwiches in favor of ethnic street food and comfort classics. Streat ...

At first glance, Casa Alvarez might as well be decorated exclusively in red flags. It occupies the back corner location of a 30th Street strip mall and has an interior that looks like every Mexican restaurant in every town, with light pastel coloring and tile, overly...

It was one of those hot days where meek little spouses feel the edge of the carving knife and study their partner’s neck. Then they think better of it and quickly return to dicing arugula for salad. But I wasn’t thinking about Farmer’s Market greens and severed ...

There is no shame in the occasional indulgence. As long as your actions don’t hurt anybody and you don’t cross the invisible line of no return, joy becomes you during the indulgence of booze, pizza, burritos, fried food and ice cream. Especially ice cream. And ...

The location seems a bit out there, but Off Campus Cafe was there when we needed it...