Restaurant Reviews

Like its French counterpart, the bistro, the Italian trattoria typically refers to a less formal eatery than a full-tilt restaurant...

One of my more ill-advised college misadventures involved a midnight competition with a classmate to see who could consume the most Tabasco sauce straight. While I prevailed, I learned a valuable lesson (actually one of several) in that heat for heat’s sake isn’t a ...

Nestled in Longmont’s Prospect neighborhood, Two Dog Diner is ideally matched to its vibrant, New Urbanist residential setting...

In the late 1990s, I worked on west Walnut Street, a stone’s throw from the Pearl Street Mall. For lunch, I’d patronize now-defunct venues like Juanita’s and the New York Deli, and I’d often pick up morning coffee at the old Bookends Café. Like many, I felt a touch ...

It was once a happy place, and now it’s bitter...

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-...

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 ...

Burgers are a thing nowadays, and a new spot, Boulder’s Drakes Haus, has jumped firmly into the fray, identifying itself as the “Home of the Merlot Burger.” Drakes also sports a logo spotlighting what one presumes is its namesake’s visage, a bespectacled and ...

In the 2004 movie Dodgeball, there is a scene in which the lead, played by Vince Vaughn, walks into the house of his love interest, Kate Veatch, played by Christine Taylor, for the first time and finds himself in a full-on unicorn den, surrounded by hundreds and ...

There I was, sandwiched in between some of my worst restaurant pet peeves (parents at the next table encouraging their child to stop screaming by encouraging it to watch a video on a laptop, and the dull ambiance killing roar of an overly loud refrigeration unit) ...

In the clown car kitchen of China Gourmet in Boulder, a dozen cooks are calmly doing two dozen things. Composed but busy, the kitchen is preparing Chinese-American standards like cashew chicken, mu shu pork and Szechwan beef alongside “Shanghai specials” like cold ...

Chez Thuy rewards the brave. The menu is large and varied, representing Vietnamese cuisine that blends French, Chinese, Thai and Indonesian elements. There are myriad noodle dishes, many familiar. There are appetizers, soups, meats and curries that are no doubt ...