OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS
Spring is the season of change. As we take the time to clean the junk from our homes, make plans for the summer and reorganize our lives, the restaurant scene in Boulder County is doing the same thing. New restaurants are replacing old ones, Boulder favorites are relocating and local businesses are expanding. Here are a few of the changes you may have noticed already or will notice in a few weeks.
Longmont-based restaurant Basil Flats opened in Boulder this week, replacing what was the burger joint Drakes Haus on Baseline Road. Basil Flats is a fast casual restaurant that serves pizzas, sandwiches, salads and more with a Mediterranean flavor and style.
The Boulder Creek Winery closed in Gunbarrel. It was one of the oldest wineries in Boulder County and owners Mike and Jackie Thompson tried relocating somewhere else in the area but could not make it work. They will be known for their award-winning wines and their famed annual Consensus wine, which was the product of a community tasting where patrons picked the best barrels and made a blend.
Golden Lotus in Boulder has shuttered its doors but Resham Gurung, owner of Nederland’s fantastic restaurant Kathmandu, recently purchased the building for $3.5 million and is planning to open a Nepalese and Indian Restaurant in the space. Grand opening for the new restaurant is scheduled for May.
Boulder Baked, the dessert and comfort food baker and delivery service, has expanded to Denver. A new shop is opening on South Broadway in Denver.
Alpine Modern Cafe in Boulder is scheduled to open in mid-May or early June on the Hill. It will replace Delilah’s Pretty Good Grocery. The café will be run by the publishers of Alpine Modern, a “coffee-table magazine that explores elevated living, architecture and design in mountain regions around the world.” The café will serve hot drinks, small plates and pastries.
Snarf’s is coming to south Boulder later this spring, according to the sandwich shop’s website. A “coming soon” sign now hangs from an empty shop across from King Sooper’s in the Table Mesa Shopping Center.
And, Ras Kassa’s in Boulder shut down its location near Pearl Place in late March. It is yet to be known if they will reopen elsewhere, but the award-winning restaurant said on its website that “negotiations for a new home for Ras Kassa’s are proceeding slowly, but, hopefully we will reopen for business in Boulder, Colo., by Ethiopian New Year’s in September.”
EARLY SPRING DINNER
Boulder County has a bevy of outdoor pop-up dinners hosted by some of the best farms and prepared by some of the best chefs in the state. Blank Plate Boulder is one of those dinners and it returns on April 18.
The group held two pop-up dinners in September and November, with plans to host more during the winter but couldn’t make it happen. Now with renewed fervor, Blank Plate Boulder is hosting “Fickle Spring,” a five-course dinner with five cocktails for $80. Location in Boulder will be announced after tickets are purchased, but Blank Plate promises it will be “somewhere fun.” The dinner runs from 5-10 p.m.
For tickets or more information, visit www.blankplateboulder.com.
