Food News | March 2014

OPENINGS/CLOSINGS

With much fanfare and excitement Trader Joe’s opened their first Colorado stores, with one in Boulder at the 29th Street Mall in the location of the defunct Applebee’s. The oldest restaurant in Colorado—the Blue Parrot in Louisville—got a new mural on the outside of the building, which is a prelude to a revamped restaurant and menu. We sadly bid farewell to an old friend, Bacaro downtown on Pearl Street in Boulder. Keep your eye on the spot for its next incarnation, though, the new owner will be opening later this year. Also gone is the Olive Garden from its location on Pearl Street. Jalino’s—where Boulder High students have been buying their lunch since the ’80s—is reopening after a protracted renovation. Voodoo Doughnut Mile High in Denver is now open 24/7 (but just take it easy on your arteries).

NEWS

Denver sandwich chain Quiznos is looking at a second bankruptcy restructuring plan in two years as business continues to decline. Boulder Valley School District will be rolling out new meals for the big high schools (Boulder, Fairview, Monarch, Broomfield, Centaurus), literally. Using a grant for Whole Foods to buy a previously owned food truck, the district’s head of food service, Ann Cooper, is creating a rotating meal option. The truck will be sent out on trial runs in April and May before it is fully launched for lunch in the fall.

AMUSE BOUCHE

Pho—that mystical steaming delight in a bowl—is easy to make but not easy to make well. My favorite go-to for this delicious Vietnamese beef broth soup is Pho Cafe in Lafayette. Their small-size pho is enough for lunch or a smallish dinner, while their large is comparable to a trough. All bowls come with rich beef broth rice noodles and an accompanying tray of fresh bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, fresh basil and lime wedges. You get to choose what else is in the soup, the choices being an assortment of meats, tofu and vegetables. Their broth is rich and aromatic but not full of too much cloying anise or five-spice, which is sometimes the downfall of an otherwise good bowl of pho … the tofu fried wedges, however, are rubbery. I always have the mixed vegetables and sometimes rare steak and brisket. But whatever the filling you can’t really go wrong.

EVENTS

The High West Oyster Fest held at the Boulder Theater returns March 20. You can shuck and slurp your way through ocean oysters. The event benefits veterans expeditions and is the brainchild of the folks at Jax. The Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be lively as curl-bouncing dancers and pipers make their ways down one block downtown March 17. Round out the day with Irish tunes, a pint and some corned beef and cabbage at Connor O’Neill’s, the event’s sponsor, just off the Pearl Street Mall.

Have food news? Have a dish pick? Have a chef who should be highlighted in our first Chef’s Issue? Email [email protected].

Originally published in the March 2014 Issue