Boulder’s veteran food writer joins Boulder Reporting Lab and continues his search for the best tastes in town 

Everybody eats. Some munch because they have to, but most folks dine because they enjoy it. Me? For better or worse, I’ve been crazy in love with food, cooking and dining since I was a kid.

An aspiring historian, poet or rock music critic, my overactive taste buds turned me into a restaurant cook, caterer, national pie expert, dining critic and food writer. Since the late 1970s, I have chronicled Boulder’s transformation from flyover dining territory to being named “America’s Foodiest Town” and home to Michelin-honored bistros.

My decades-long culinary obsession explains why the Museum of Boulder asked me to be the Exhibit Historian for Boulder EATS!, opening Nov. 15. Studying 150 years of Boulder residents’ cooking, shopping, growing, eating and dining habits, I have learned that nothing has really changed. Communities and families have always formed around the dinner table – at home and at restaurants. We just have more options now.

Finding and sharing mouth-watering dishes at local, independent cafes, bakeries and food trucks has been my joy since I started writing Nibbles. I look forward to introducing Boulder Reporting Lab readers to the coolest tastes available locally. Given the shaky economy, my plate will be full of under-the-radar cheap eats worth discovering.

However, finding the finest croissants and pupusas has never been enough. Food is much bigger than eating – it includes the thousands of people who feed us. Our food life means supporting sustainable, regenerative farms and local food makers, and embracing nutrition. 

Finally, there has never been any excuse for anyone in Boulder County to go hungry or to wonder where they will find their family’s next meal. We will keep the community aware of how each person can help.

A lot of us could use some advice on how to cook faster, healthier and more affordably. Nibbles will share tips and everyday hacks from Boulder’s coterie of stellar chefs. We will be happy to answer your embarrassing (and anonymous) food questions. 

In fact, food is such a vast territory, we need your help. Please let us know about restaurant news, cultural food celebrations, farm festivals and farm stands, culinary events, tastings, cooking classes, competitions and awards.   

Send your comments to: nibbles@boulderreportinglab.org.

What’s John eating this week?

Finding AYCE sushi satiation at Lafayette’s Hokkaido

In a Boulder County dining landscape that includes multiple sushi options, how does a new Japanese restaurant attract first-time diners? 

Hokkaido Sushi – recently opened at 2770 Arapahoe Road in Lafayette – has chosen to offer a bargain all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner option. 

For weekday lunch ($23.99) or daily dinner ($32.99) you get to choose 20 dishes from a huge menu of options. There are nigiri, sushi rolls and sashimi, but also bowls of ramen and salad, noodle dishes, hibachi shrimp and pork skewers.

I’m wary of AYCE dining because it tends to be excessive, but a friend and I skipped breakfast and visited Hokkaido Sushi recently for a big lunch. We had a hard time narrowing down the choices, each of us picking different dishes from the other. 

We gave a thumbs-up to the crispy chicken katsu, hamachi jalapeno and the black dragon roll with shrimp tempura, fresh water eel and avocado. My friend highly recommended the salmon skin roll.

We thought the lobster sushi roll was tasty but needed a little more lobster. The sweet potato tempura was too thick and hence too crunchy.

Overall, we thought it was a great way to learn about a new place, even if we’d choose à la carte the next time. The quality is good and the portions are amazingly generous. In the end, neither of us got to 20 items because we were full and aware of Hokkaido’s serious AYCE rule:

You cannot take home any leftover food. In fact, the eatery charges diners $1 per piece of sushi or another dish that is left on the plate. Waste is not encouraged.

Hokkaido Sushi is located on a great culinary corner that features Jeannot’s Patisserie, Westbound & Down (brewery/pizzeria), Gundruk (Nepali and Indian) and the Brewing Market. 

Local food news

End-of-summer eatery openings, closings and coming attractions

The Boulder County restaurant roster has been reshaped recently by a slew of changes. 

Openings

• Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, the large national sushi chain, has opened its first Boulder store at 1855 29th Street.  
• Ajax Tavern is dishing breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner in the newly opened Limelight Boulder hotel on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. 
• Vinca, Broomfield’s restaurant, has opened a second location serving its European, wine-paired fare at 1043 Pearl Street, former home to a run of eateries ranging from Colorado Club back to Juanita’s Mexican Restaurant. (BRL covered its opening.) 
• Fortezza Ristorante, an Italian steakhouse, is serving at 7916 Niwot Road in the former Farow space.

Cajun and Creole arrivals

The big flavors of Cajun and Creole cuisine have been hard to find on local menus except at Lucile’s Creole Café and Jax Seafood. Two new eateries and a coming attraction will try to fill that sad void. 

• Boil Daddy, a Cajun seafood shack, is open at 1622 Broadway. 
• Back Alley Bayou began serving gumbo recently in Longmont’s Parkway Food Hall, 700 Ken Pratt Blvd. 
• Remi, a Cajun restaurant and jazz club, is coming soon to 211 N. Public Road in Lafayette.

Closings

• Roadhouse Boulder Depot closed after 10 years at 2366 Junction Place. The building was built in 1890 as Boulder’s downtown Union Pacific railroad station and moved several times.
• Farra, the highly regarded Spanish eatery at 442 High St. in Lyons, has closed.
• Khow Thai has closed its sit-down location at 1600 Broadway. The longtime Boulder cafe’s menu is available for takeout and delivery at 5741 Arapahoe Ave. Suite 3.

Coming attractions

• Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings, 125 Ken Pratt Pkwy., Longmont.
• Longmont Brunch Club, 1135 Francis St., Longmont.
• Kalita Grill Greek Cafe (second location), 801 South Public Road, Lafayette.

Culinary calendar

A local harvest of on-the-farm dinners 

Hygiene’s Toohey & Sons organic farm celebrates its 20th anniversary with its first farm dinners featuring top local restaurants including: Frasca Food and Wine (Aug. 30), Populus (Sept. 4) and The Wolf’s Tailor (Sept. 13). Reservations: tooheyandsons.com

Ollin Farms prepares four-course seasonal dinners along Left Hand Creek in Longmont on Sept. 20 and 27. Reservations: ollinfarms.com.  

The Lyons Farmette is home to on-the-farm chef feasts including September 17 (Marigold) and September 24 (Blackbelly). Reservations: lyonsfarmette.com. 

Chef Juliette Wells will prepare seasonal dinners Aug. 30 and Sept. 27 at Boulder’s Sunbeam Farm. Reservations: sunbeamfarm.com/farm-to-table.

OAK at fourteenth presents its annual five-course tomato dinner Sept. 15 featuring fruit from Lafayette’s Red Wagon Farm. Reservations: oakatfourteenth.com. The Red Wagon Farm Store is open for the season daily at 1640 W. Baseline Road in Lafayette. 

Deep food thoughts

Long live butter!

“Everybody dies. There’s no avoiding it and I do not believe for one second that butter is the cause of anyone’s death. Overeating may be, but not butter, please. I just feel bad for people who make that mistake.” – Late “When Harry Met Sally” screenwriter Nora Ephron