Local Food News: New restaurant buzz
Chef Johnny Curiel’s Cozobi Fonda Fina, a fine dining, corn-focused Mexican restaurant, has opened at 909 Walnut St., Boulder.
Zoe Ma Ma, Edwin Zoe’s award-winning Asian street food eatery, has relocated to a larger space at 919 Pearl St., Boulder after a lengthy permitting process.
The Local has closed at 2731 Iris Ave., former site of Murphy’s North. The Local’s sister restaurant, FRINGE, remains open at 2900 Valmont Road, Boulder.
Culinary Calendar: Pie contest in Louisville
Boulder’s Flatirons Food Film Festival hosts Reels for Meals on July 18 at eTown Hall. The benefit for Meals on Wheels features acclaimed French film The Taste of Things and a post-film panel featuring chefs Eric Skokan, Susan Kaiser Yurish and Julien Jeannot. Tickets: eventbrite.com/e/reels-for-meals-tickets-918425363987
Calling all Colorado pie-makers! After a long post-COVID hiatus, Louisville is bringing back the Louisville Fall Festival Pie Contest on Sept. 2. Enter here: louisvilleco.gov/exploring-louisville/arts-and-events/city-events/labor-day-parade-and-fall-festival/pie-contest-application
Taste of the Week: Longmont’s Hall of Flavor
Food halls are no longer a novelty. These modern food courts have proliferated along the Front Range in the past five years. Longmont’s new Parkway Food Hall, 700 Ken Pratt Blvd., is a refreshing take on the formula.
Set in a former supermarket site, the 6,000- square-foot location boasts an unusually spacious, accessible layout with more seating than many of these destinations. Doors and windows open up on a big patio and an impressive number of dining options.
I visited the Parkway with a bunch of friends so we got to taste a wide range of dishes at the eight food and drink counters.
First up, Baa Hachi dishes wow-worthy, Instagram-able Japanese street food made to order. We loved the yakisoba, the okonomiyaki savory pancakes and especially the spicy karaage boneless fried chicken with three dipping sauces. The shop is a spinoff of Niwot’s Farow restaurant, headed up by Michelin-star chef Adam Chan.
Another Farow project, Pie Dog Pizza deserves its long lines. The high-temperature ovens produce spot-on Neapolitan-style pizzas with a great chewy crust.
My buds gave an ovation to the burnt beef ends and cherrywood-smoked ribs at Denver-born H3rsh3r BBQ Co. I didn’t get to sample them, but a self-described “upstate New York wing snob” loved the smoked, dry-rubbed chicken wings. “My expectations were very low,” she said, “but they were crispy and juicy and the sauce had just the right amount of heat.”
Also worthy of a shoutout is theThai fried rice with pineapple and huge cashew nuts at Spice Fusion. The counter offersThai and Indian choices from pad see ew to chicken tikka masala from the folks behind Gurkhas in Longmont and Boulder.
Parkway Food Halls’s other options include a fully stocked bar; Cleaver & Co. (burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries and milkshakes); Shawarma Shack (gyros, shawarma and falafel); Chile con Quesadilla (loaded tortilla variations); and HipPops (gelato-on-a-stick with dips and toppings).
Words to Chew On: Cookie Monster Zen
“You can be miserable before you eat a cookie, and you can be
miserable afterwards. But never while you’re eating a cookie.”
— Ina Garten
John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU (88.5 FM, streaming at kgnu.org).