Best of the West: Critics' Choice Entertainment

Gretchen Seefried

A year ago, Gretchen Seefried didn’t know how to copy and paste. Today, Seefried is a social media diva and an online entrepreneur. She’s breaking barriers, building bridges and creating an online community for a demographic just now finding their bearings in the virtual world. In the process, she’s gone from stay-at-home mom with a passion for volunteerism and charity to the proprietor of...

The Fight for Fiber

Remember dial-up? The screaming whine of the modem, the monumentally slow page-load times, emails with photos that take three hours to download. For most, dial-up Internet has gone the way of TV static and the cassette tape as things we’ll have to explain to our wide-eyed grandchildren...

No Boys Allowed

Beer marketing and sales is so imbued with testosterone that it’s surprising that bottles don’t have hair on them. From the male-dominated slang (“beer bellies” and “six-pack abs”) to the marketing and sales (Swedish Bikini Team, anyone?), it’s a wonder that women ever get past the sexy sales hype and give good beer a try. Granted, the paltry number of ads for craft-brewed beer...

Challenging Elements

Known best as a pie filling, often paired with strawberries for sweetness, this sweet-tart veggie can also be used in savory dishes, as Timothy Payne, chef and co-owner at Terroir in Longmont, so masterfully showed us. He was undaunted by rhubarb as his challenge ingredient, producing three courses, two savory and one sweet, for us to try...

For the Love of Salumi

When I left Denver on Saturday morning, the first thing I did was phone my editor. “You should be really jealous of me right now,” I said. “Why’s that?” “Because I know you love prosciutto, and I’ve just had some of the best I’ve ever tasted.”...

Best of the West

Is all that glitters gold? Here at Yellow Scene, we say all that glitters earns gold. In this year’s Best of the West, we are shining a light on all our top shops, restaurants, businesses, people and places in Boulder and East County. Our blinged-out Critics’ Picks (yes, we said bling) are a tribute to our editorial staff’s wealth of local favorites—the new and old businesses we’ve come...

Best of the West: Critics’ Choice Food and Drink

Best For When You Want The Best Frasca, Boulder Here, dinner is a symphony that at times feels light and airy and then hits you like a wave of heart-pounding percussion. Frasca’s ever-changing menu includes plates of perfectly sliced prosciutto, the famed Frico Caldo, ethereal soups, white bowls of delicate pastas and impeccably prepared Colorado produce and protein. It’s music to our...

Best of the West: Critics’ Choice Entertainment

Best hotel to make you feel hipper than you are Aloft, Broomfield When you walk in to the lobby and bar of Aloft—filled with bright colors, contemporary design and cool lounging spots—you immediately feel that you should have worn something nicer, more chic or styled. But no worries. The staff here will give you a nice “aloha” and make you feel right at home (despite the fact that...

Best of the West: Readers’ Choice Entertainment (Places and People)

Golf Course Indian Peak Golf Course, Lafayette Come and see why Golf Digest magazine gave this course 4.5 stars. Indian Peak includes 18 holes, six lakes and mass amounts of fun for the golf lover. Colorado Ski Resort Winter Park Winter Park is the ultimate in-state getaway. Between taking gnarly (but safe) turns while mountain biking, skiing, lodging and dining, you’ll never run out of...

Best of the West: Critics’ Choice Shopping

Best grown-up shopping experience Fuzzy Antler, Louisville This beautiful downtown shop is bursting with antique European furnishings and décor—like the home of a packrat with great taste. There’s lots to be discovered here, so take your time. Best kiddo shopping experience Grandrabbit’s Toy Shoppe, Boulder Here, joy and giggles pour down from the toy- and game-covered shelves and...

Best of the West: Readers’ Choice Shopping

Bike Shop (E. County) Bike N Hike, Longmont Thirty years of bicycle-peddling experience sets this Longmont storefront apart, assuring you’ll get the right bike for you. Plus, the staff makes sure that after the sale is done, your bike still gets you from A to B and back again. Bike Shop (Boulder) University Bicycles This iconic Boulder shop offers performance bikes to buy or rent. Aside...

Best of the West: Critics’ Choice Health and Beauty

Best place to get a razor cut De Maj Salon & Spa, Erie De Maj is Erie’s little island for stylistas. Here, the cuts are stellar and the stylists are ninjas when it comes to the razor cut. It’s nice to know that even in the ‘burbs a good haircut is not far away. Best place to get your teeth pampered Artistic Smiles, Longmont Going to the dentist is about as fun as a root canal...

Best of the West: Readers’ Choice Health and Beauty

Day Spa (E. County) Sunflower Day Spa, Longmont You can’t help but relax in Sunflower’s sunny atmosphere. Their professionals help you achieve outstanding skin care and total relaxation. Really, we just need three words: pamper, pamper, pamper. Day Spa (Boulder) Essentiels Spa Clients rave about the Essentiels therapists and technicians, who provide warm, quality service. A locker...

No Boys Allowed

Beer marketing and sales is so imbued with testosterone that it’s surprising that bottles don’t have hair on them. From the male-dominated slang (“beer bellies” and “six-pack abs”) to the marketing and sales (Swedish Bikini Team, anyone?), it’s a wonder that women ever get past the sexy sales hype and give good beer a try. Granted, the paltry number of ads for craft-brewed beer...

Bring Google

There are a lot of powerful companies in the world. Oil companies, bank companies, weapons companies, media companies. Companies that decide the fates of man and nations alike. But there’s one company out there that trumps them all. It’s the company that controls the flow of information: Google...

Challenging Elements

Known best as a pie filling, often paired with strawberries for sweetness, this sweet-tart veggie can also be used in savory dishes, as Timothy Payne, chef and co-owner at Terroir in Longmont, so masterfully showed us. He was undaunted by rhubarb as his challenge ingredient, producing three courses, two savory and one sweet, for us to try...

A Taste of the Old Country

My life was not truly complete until I ate a pierogi. I don’t know what took me so long; the filled dumpling family is a particular favorite of mine. But the moment I bit into a potato and cheese pierogi at Cracovia in Westminster, I knew I would never be the same...

Who’s a True Foodie?

I dutifully filled out my Census form, but critical questions were missing: “Are you a practicing foodie? Do you plan vacations around restaurants, smuggle food from other nations and give your knives nicknames?”...

For the Love of Salumi

When I left Denver on Saturday morning, the first thing I did was phone my editor. “You should be really jealous of me right now,” I said. “Why’s that?” “Because I know you love prosciutto, and I’ve just had some of the best I’ve ever tasted.”...

Best of the West: Critics’ Choice Food and Drink

Best For When You Want The Best Frasca, Boulder Here, dinner is a symphony that at times feels light and airy and then hits you like a wave of heart-pounding percussion. Frasca’s ever-changing menu includes plates of perfectly sliced prosciutto, the famed Frico Caldo, ethereal soups, white bowls of delicate pastas and impeccably prepared Colorado produce and protein. It’s music to our...

Hate On Me

Last month, an “unapologetically Christian” school decided it would not advertise within these pages because YS had featured a gay man in the February single’s issue. The school, according to an email from its marketing director to one of our account executives, does not celebrate singles for the sake of their singleness. They celebrate marriage. They do not celebrate, and this is their...

Exploring the Kickstand Kingdom

You’re riding along and wave to a passing cyclist as is the custom. And they ignore you...

Lighting a Fire Under Budding Filmmakers

The guys in my neighborhood never thought of G.I. Joes as dolls. Maybe because we didn’t care as much about the uniforms, boots and helmets we decked them out in as we did the melting point of the plastic and whether or not gasoline would ruin the kung-fu grip action...