I’m in the crosswalk between Palmer High School and Dainty’s Jamaican Kitchen with one of the school’s security guards, who tells me the staff loves having the new eatery across the street. We pass another guard, and the first asks him about the jerk fries. Without breaking stride, the other…
What is there to screw with when it comes to rotisserie chicken? Season it properly, keep it moist and get the skin crispy, and the long, slow cook time imbues every bite with deep, roasty flavor. And Road-Tisserie does a great job, serving up meat with umami punch that throws The People’s E…
Things wax and wane, so while Humble’s decision to close its Powers kiosk and return to one location was alarming, it wasn’t the end. Far from it — Humble has started a program through which they give gift cards to other local food and drink businesses.
Miguel’s original location has been open 14 years on Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard. This expansion (with a spacious southeast-facing patio unfortunately overlooking the highway and Martin Drake) opened 10 months ago, according to a friendly employee named Arturo. I learn he’s from Guadalajara …
Two Suns inside COATI (coatiuprise.com/two-suns) will release a revamped menu March 1, reflective of some early lessons learned about what’s (not) selling during evening hours inside the food hall.
Longtime local Chef/Restaurateur Jay Gust (The Ritz, Pizzeria Rustica, TAPAteria) will grand open Homa inside the new Kinship Landing boutique hotel on March 10.
Fresh noodles are a gift unto the world. There’s nothing wrong with dried pasta — my husband thinks it’s one of civilization’s best culinary conveniences, and it’s hard to disagree. But the fresh stuff’s something special. It has a certain texture when it’s bitten into that’s yielding but su…
Lanna Thai opened in late 2009, and since we were last in several years ago, owner Varanya Meyer has sold the business. But she’s stayed on to run the place essentially, and takes our to-go order, joking about how she seems to be at the restaurant just as much as before.
CCR recently bought Inertia Coffee Co. and it continues to serve the same espresso-drink menu. Though there are some new bean varieties in the hopper, says manager/roaster Nia Costabile, noting how owner Kevin Corter formerly sold retail bags locally at farmers markets.
Ciao Down Food Truck plans to launch during the first week of March with Italian-American cuisine, says owner Francine Vonfeldt, who counts decades in the food and drink industry in various roles, from bartending to management. “It’s really Americanized versions of things I like to cook,” sh…
We have no clue what to expect from Veasey’s when Google Maps guides us into a residential neighborhood, but when we pay for our order, everything smells good. Veasey’s is a cottage business that requires customers to order ahead — it’s not like a residential street has the space for a queue…
‘My background is in fine dining. So I began looking at a truck and saying ‘I wonder if I can do it?’”
Qwench is a small but growing chain in the smoothie/juice sector and this year-old Briargate-area storefront is the sole location in Colorado, though an employee tells us they’re considering expansion toward downtown around summertime. Before I can ask what distinguishes them, the employee t…
What would Rockrimmon be without Oliver’s? It’s been on Delmonico since I was a kid in that neighborhood, an anchor in a quiet corner of a fast-changing city. Despite approaching its 40th year in business, Oliver’s has found a way to stay current. We order breakfast to-go on their website, o…
When The Garden opens sometime around April, tentatively, at 401 S. Nevada Ave., co-owner Julie Nasser says it’ll be the first real beer garden downtown, as well as a unique “integrated food truck experience.” Think: in the style of traditional beer gardens across Europe, with rows of picnic…
From the Indy’s past visits to Hafa Adai, we know that the Guamanian outfit makes good food. This visit, we pick up fried rice ala, picking Portuguese sausage over Spanish-style chorizo or Spam, with eggs over easy.
On the Boulevard ran from 1999 to the fall of 2020 under original owner Conrad Thalhammer, but has been reborn as Back on the Boulevard with new business partners Charles Netzler and Mattie Gullixson joining Thalhammer. (She’s also the program director for Secure the Vote at the National Cyb…
Let’s get this out of the way right now: yes, the burgers at In-N-Out Burger are good. Very good, considering the price point. A double-double (two patties, two slices of American cheese-like product) costs just over four bucks, and a combo with fries and drink runs around $8 — comparable to…
After considering a brick-and-mortar, best friends Sarah Moss and Michael Foster filed paperwork to open Baked & Loaded Taters last July. Moss, who previously worked at a hair salon, and Foster, who left a 20-year insurance career before COVID lockdowns began, collaborated on most of the…
Though Copycat’s name signifies mimicry, proprietor John Lloyd (with an assist from his wife Aubrey) has come up with something original with his self-built food truck. Each service, he focuses on a single concept with a few variations, soliciting votes on Copycat’s social media channels for…
As a keeper of six ducks at home, how could I not order the oolong tea named Duck Shit Dan Cong? The irony: It tastes more mild, closer to a soft green tea than a pu’erh tea we add-on to our ornate, tableside gongfu tea service. The pu-erh being fermented, it evokes pungent barnyard aromas, …
When my fellow Indy food critic reviewed Brakeman’s Burgers in early December, he took issue with the titular beef patties, struggling to justify the prices and concluding that the new outfit in the Old Depot felt like it was “standing at the station, waiting for a train that may or may not …
Trails End Taproom opened in November 2017 as the first self-pour tap system in town and the second in the state, and despite the obvious business risk around the pandemic, owner Kevin Weese has continued with pre-COVID plans to expand into Monument. He’s now open at 252 Front St. and he’s u…
Smokey’s has been operating in the Springs for about two years, and most of the time, customers can spot their big, black trailer on Circle Drive near its intersection with San Miguel Street. The absence of big, marketing firm-designed branding suggests the food’s legit.
Le Cordon Bleu-trained Mary Ponting loves baking sweets, especially brunch-y items. She runs home-based Early Bird Bakery, which makes deliveries. If having a bag of scones and pecan rolls show up on a weekend morning doesn’t sound like a great way to start the day, I don’t know what does.
Because The Simpsons was so influential on my late adolescent years, I can’t help but picture the “You don’t win friends with salad” singing conga line from the beloved “Lisa the Vegetarian” episode, circa ’95. But, Salad or Bust has proved Homer wrong given its three-year track record as a …
Colorado Springs has more than a few places where a person can find a bar with a great vibe, have a good bite to eat and enjoy it with a delicious cocktail that fits their tastes, made to order by a bartender who is both skilled and accommodating. But there’s something more to ICONS, the new…
Thai food has long been one of my favorite cuisines, so I’m delighted to discover what I believe to be the only dedicated Thai food truck in the area. Surprisingly, it’s not hitting the streets inside El Paso County, but Teller County, regularly serving Woodland Park (from the Brazenhead Vin…
Chef/owner Josh Manthey opened this past July in a former Burger King that’s been overhauled into a respectable barbecue joint with an attached bar. Peak View sports a commendable all-Colorado craft beer tap list that’s likely the best in Woodland Park. But we’re picking up to-go, so skip th…
Meet the brew boss, same as the old boss. Brady Hossfeld, head brewer, stayed on when Gold Camp Brewing Co. changed names and leadership in 2020, and while he’s carried over some beer concepts, he’s retuned every recipe. The Peach Tea Blonde ale has been noticeably reworked from when we trie…
It’s rare to find food this spectacular in a town of around 4,000 people. But here we are at 3-year-old Turmeric Indian & Nepalese Restaurant in Florence, just outside Cañon City, and I’m awash in vibrant, almost hypnotic spices that are warming me to the core. I immediately taste that s…
Brewer Hans Prahl has put out top-quality, on-point-for-style beers since FBC’s beginning in mid-2016 — focusing on the traditional but deviating plenty. We haven’t been by since the fall of that year, so we’re excited to drop back in. From 16 house taps, we narrow down to five pours to buil…
Crave is a chain restaurant, but one of only six current locations, and the only one in Colorado, making it somewhat unique. It’s worth knowing also that they feature a pour-your-own-beer tap system with predominantly Colorado brews, as well as to-go pouches of beer in multiple sizes, bagged…
Dainty’s Jamaican Kitchen has opened in the former Cupcake Girls spot at 302 E. Platte Ave. (formerly slated to be the new home of Coquette’s Bistro before it opted to go out of business).
Just a block from the long-standing Pour House Coffee Shop, Oil City opened this past fall. It’s not a competing sit-down coffeehouse; instead it’s a drive-thru kiosk serving locals and commuters along Highway 115 and/or 67. Our barista says they use Colorado Springs-roasted Barista Espresso…
Local vegan chef, consultant and author JL Fields resigned from the Gazette's freelance team Jan. 12, letting Features Editor Nathan Van Dyne know that her decision stemmed from that day's editorial, titled: "Re-impeach Trump — and re-divide the country?"
It takes no small amount of chutzpah to open a restaurant, especially during COVID-19. But to move across the country and do it? That’s madness or reason to take notice. In the case of Tamekia Reid and Margaret Noel, we’re pretty sure it’s the latter. The two run Meka’s Kitchen, which opened…
Three-and-a-half-year-old Antojitos Mexicanos is named after Carolina Tello, who operates the shop and also sells tamales from a tent on Sundays in summertime near the flea market off Platte Avenue. She’s from the coastal state of Nayarit northwest of Guadalajara (if you’ve ventured north of…
I last hit Maria’s in the fall of 2019 and had no plans to return so soon to review. But I fell prey to a Facebook post (thank you almighty algorithm) promoting a new item: the birria quesapizza. What the hell is that!? It’s not even a word!
Here’s the latest on Red Leg’s upcoming move to a massive new facility near the corner of Garden of the Gods Road and 30th Street: COVID delayed the shipping of some new brewing equipment, moving opening day from fall 2020, out into early 2021 sometime. Thanks again, COVID, you’re a real pea…
So it’s the new year, and we all hope 2021 has something better on tap for us than 2020’s hot rotten dumpster fire to end all dumpster fires. And since we’re in the first full week of January, you’re probably still kicking ass on your New Year’s resolutions. (Next week will be a different st…
