Restaurant Reviews
Going guilty at Dish Gourmet
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 ...
Making culinary connections
The Culinary Connectors concept is simple — up to 10 diners pay $99 to tour three restaurants in an afternoon, with each stop lasting approximately one hour. Each visit affords an opportunity to sample menu and wine highlights, as well as converse with chefs. But...
Nice pupusas
While most people have bad dreams about missing final exams or involuntarily appearing naked in front of a crowd, the foodie’s nightmare is different. A dedicated diner’s disturbing visions revolve around discovering the perfect ethnic hole-in-the-wall, known but to ...
Top-notch sushi in an unassuming spot
Film aficionados will doubtlessly recall the scene in Pulp Fiction when criminal kingpin Marsellus Wallace assures hitmen Vincent and Jules that their vexing body disposal problem will soon be solved. Wallace informs his assassins that none other than The Wolf, a ...
A pleasant surprise in the Peloton
Nowadays, canny developers of big-city high-rise residential buildings know it’s not enough to offer a well-appointed gym or ample parking. The big draw for potential tenants is the on-site eatery, made all the more appetizing by a Michelin-starred or celebrity chef ...
Louisville’s Bob’s generous on portions, easy on pocketbook
Nowadays, you can stop in at a national sandwich chain and choke down the exact same Italian sub whether you're outside Denver or Duluth. Consistent with this alarming trend, the local sandwich shop in Boulder County is increasingly rare especially those that offer ...
The resurgent cupcake, reconsidered
My reaction to the cupcake’s resurgence in popularity isn’t all that different to my response to REM’s popularity when I was in college. I get how others might like a red velvet cupcake and/or Michael Stipe, but personally, neither one’s my cup of tea. Speaking with ...
House cure for the common appetite
Café Aion on the Hill, unlike other spots in this neighborhood, is less grab-and-go student hangout than leisurely neighborhood haunt serving all three meals. Its combination of wood and brick, coupled with ample sunlight and modernistic seating, give it a quality ...
Roadside romance
When I went to school in Los Angeles, nearly a third of my meals were eaten at Cactus Taqueria, a tiny orange shack outside my apartment near Vine and Melrose. It had enough exhaust from passing traffic to function as a smokehouse, no shade, no seating, no bathroom, ...
Something for everyone
Avexing of diminutive slider size. A product of gender bias, culinary conundrum revolves around A&W’s sizing scheme for its hamburgers. It was easy enough to figure out the Baby Burger’s place in the pecking order, as it was the Mama Burger was larger, but it was ...
More than a cold remedy
Back in the ’90s, I’d hightail it down to Pearl Street’s New York Deli at the first sign of a cold. Reflexively, I’d order a big bowl of chicken matzo ball soup, sided with bagel chips, as a form of self-medication. The steamy, nutritious liquid would help clear the ...
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 ...

















