In commuting around the Boulder area, I’ve always remained a sightseer. My GPS is set to “restaurant and bakeries near me.” It’s those undiscovered eateries that I share regularly as Taste of the Week recommendations in this column and weekly on Radio Nibbles.
The following selection of recent roadside attractions feature soup in Boulder, pumpernickel in Longmont, and biscuits and gravy in Louisville. There’s crunchy yuca in Broomfield and green chile dished across the street from Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel.
Try them out when you’re in the neighborhood.
High Country: A soup-sipping flashback
As I was spooning up a bowl of stellar spring mushroom and barley soup at High Country on the Pearl Street Mall, I had a sense of déjà vu. I had sat at the same table eating sushi at Hapa (before it moved). Eons ago, I had sipped matzo ball soup there at the legendary New York Deli.
High Country’s version is light-years better than grandmother’s bland, mushy canned barley soup. A beautiful broth is stocked with fresh mushrooms, slivers of spring vegetables, leeks, herbs and toothsome barley nuggets. Incidentally, the soup is vegan.
Bavarian Bakery: The Joy of Pumpernickel
As the son of a Viennese immigrant father, I grew up with as many loaves of rye as Wonder Bread in our home kitchen. Locally, these hearty sandwich breads are uncommon on bakery shelves, but Longmont’s Bavarian Bakery specializes in Reuben-ready loaves of Farmer’s Rye and New York Jewish Rye. I took home some Pumpernickel Bratwurst Buns along with a breakfast Danish filled with chunky sausage gravy. The counter is loaded full of sweet and savory goodies including fruit-filled strudel and cakes.
The Huckleberry: Biscuit and gravy reunion
A get together with an old friend found us eating breakfast at The Huckleberry. Louisville’s venerable restaurant and bakery is a Hobbit-like warren of cozy dining spaces. The Huckleberry’s brunch roster features classics like latkes, chicken fried steak, corned beef hash, stuffed French toast and huevos rancheros. I dug into biscuits with creamy sausage gravy, over-easy eggs and hash browns. I like the fluffy inside, crunchy outside of the biscuits. I managed to resist the front glass counters stacked with peach huckleberry pie, raspberry poppy seed cake, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls, muffins and more.
La Distileria: All praise Yuca Brava!
Don’t be surprised if you haven’t stumbled across La Distileria, well-hidden in a Broomfield shopping center. The spacious eatery and bar dishes platters of tacos, burritos and quesadillas, but we opted to share the chorizo reserva starter. The perfectly shareable plate covered with dry-aged Spanish chorizo, Oaxaca cheese, pickled peppers, guacamole, grilled shishito chilies and pieces of crispy fry bread. We added an order of yuca brava: crispy fried yuca with carnitas, radish salad and spicy mayo.
La Loma: Truly green chile
Oddly, most Colorado green chile sauces are not especially green. Many are red or tan-colored because they include tomatoes or ripe red chilies. During a recent work meeting at La Loma Restaurant in downtown Denver, I sampled green chile that was verdantly green. The decades-old recipe offers spoonfulls of thick sauce loaded with lots of roasted chiles and soft chunks of pork that made its presence known, but is not painfully fiery. It was a treat enjoyed with wonderful, warm, house-made flour tortillas.
John Lehndorff is the former Dining Critic of the Rocky Mountain News and host of Radio Nibbles on KGNU. Podcasts: kgnu.org/category/radio-nibbles