Restaurant Reviews

When we go out for a dining experience, there are expectations, many of which we can’t even articulate, but know viscerally when they’re not met. That’s why as a food writer, I spend so much time writing about a restaurant’s environment and atmosphere. The food is ...

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...

One of the best things about food is that you can be astonished by simplicity. By virtue of using fresh ingredients and letting food...

The word “riff” implies improvisation and excitement. It instantly brings to mind a memorable guitar solo, and applied to food, the expectation for something inspiring. Unfortunately, in the case of Riffs Urban Fare, there is such a thing as too much riffing...

Most places, barbecue is unabashedly redneck, just red meat doused in sugar-water and cooked in a manner that actively contributes to climate change. Vegetables are about as popular in this process as Stalin...

Attached to Longmont’s Plaza Hotel, Harold’s Restaurant & Lounge ups the ante on this town’s fine dining with retro-styled cocktails and original farm-to-table preparations. Compared to the space’s previous tenants, the bar here assumes the guise of an old school ...

You aren’t likely to stumble upon this place. From the outside, In Season Local Market in North Boulder looks like it could sell solar panels or dog food as much as it looks like what it actually is: a simple market with every type of grain and seed for sale, with an...

One of downtown San Francisco’s busiest lunch spots is Sushirrito, whose menu you should be able to ballpark from the name. Like the Wu-Tang Clan, its forearm-sized sushi rolls ain’t nothing to mess with...

With ith a name like Elephant Hut, it’s initially unclear what’s served up at this Boulder restaurant, housed in 30th Street’s Steelyards development. Those with dark imaginations may envision it as akin to Pizza Hut, except with a certain massive land mammal ...

For those old enough, you may remember 1985 as a dark time, mostly because that’s when McDonald’s launched the McDLT. In today’s recycling-conscious age, the McDLT probably wouldn’t exist. For those of you unfamiliar with this environmental atrocity, this was a ...

When they see a name like The Pinyon, Pearl Street passersby might mistake this newly opened venue for a place that serves Southwestern cuisine or, if one is a language scholar, a place to transcribe Chinese characters. Neither of these descriptions is entirely ...

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, ...