Restaurant Reviews
Back to basics
You don’t need a Wayback Machine to know that the ancient Roman forebears of today’s Italian cookbook writers embraced the bedrock principle of cooking seasonal ingredients of top quality. These scribes advised that spices and other superfluous adornment were to be ...
Empire’s main dishes deliver
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 ...
Hiding in plain sight
Whether you like it or not, there is a perception outside of Colorado that steakhouses abound in this state. The assumption is that cattle farms abound out here, and that meat from top Angus and Kobe beef farms throughout the West is shipped to a bevy of hungry ...
100% tasty and cheap
100% Mexicano, which has been open a little more than a month, is the latest local eatery to deliver an authentic “south of the border” street food experience...
Bar and grill bites that satisfy
Coming off the holiday season, a full-course dinner may seem excessive after weeks of seasonal indulgence. Something lighter is the order of the day, and if it can be enjoyed in an unfussy environment without spending too much, so much the better. The reasonably ...
Snap judgment
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...
Rib House still satisfies in its new digs
The Rib House, formerly located in downtown Boulder, has relocated to University Hill, bringing with it loads of classic American barbecue meats perfumed with wood smoke. The bright new venue eschews the former formal dining room setting with a more casually down-...
Going off campus
The location seems a bit out there, but Off Campus Cafe was there when we needed it...
The friendly, global curator
I wonder what Teddy Roosevelt would think of a swanky wine bar. You are confronted with that question at Modena Wine Cafe in Longmont. It’s located next to Roosevelt Park, but more pertinently, its large windows open up to a Rough Rider-era Roosevelt, cowboy hat and ...
An old favorite endures
I’m not sure if this is more Pavlovian or Proustian, but for many normal folks, hearing a particular song transports them back to a particular time and place. For example, I’ll always associate the first day I set foot in Boulder in 1994 with Seal’s “Prayer for the ...
Good eats in the streets
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 ...
Culinary ambition in north Boulder
Featuring impressive Flatirons vistas and an organic design scheme with local stone accents that complements the view, north Boulder’s Restaurant 4580 has ambitions that exceed those of a humble neighborhood joint. Selections such as lobster mac and cheese, and the ...