LRP Redux* installment 18: Yuki Pizza & Wings (CLOSED)

Update December 2023: This place is now permanently closed.

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I’m way behind on my restaurant project updates because we actually got takeout from Yuki Pizza & Wings several weeks ago! But I still remember the food, which was very tasty, so here it is.

Yuki is at 385 Crossing Drive Ste 105, in the strip mall by King Soopers, where it was preceded by at least a couple of other pizza places. It has some interesting menu options, such as a sweet pizza (house white sauce, mozzarella, crispy chicken, pineapple, tomatoes), but we stayed in our pizza comfort zone and ordered sausage and mushroom. We added a six-pack of wings with mango-habanero sauce (the other options are classic buffalo, chipotle, or teriyaki sauce or a lemon-pepper dry rub). Yuki also offers a garden salad, but we skipped it because we weren’t in a salad mood.

We liked both the pizza and the wings very much. The wings came tossed in the mango-habanero sauce, which was mildly spicy and very flavorful—and even though they were in a takeout container, the coating on the wings stayed crisp. The build-your-own pizza was also very good, with the slightly tangy house marinara sauce, Italian sausage, and mushrooms. I saw a post on the Yuki Facebook page stating that the crust will not droop when you pick up a slice—I’m sure this is true if you sit down and eat it fresh, but not after it has been in a box, as in our case. We liked the crust nonetheless, and it still held up except in the middle.

Next time, I’d like to try the intriguing-looking sweet pizza (if I can talk G into it), the salad, and the desserts (tiramisu or coppa al limone). We’ll be back!

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

Sausage and mushroom pizza. I like a crust with a lot of edge!

Wings with mango-habanero sauce

Happy with my plate

Yuki is in the strip mall at 385 Crossing Drive

G took some photos when he went to pick up our order

LRP Redux* installment 17: Kapow Thai

I saw someone else mention Kapow Thai in a recent post, and it reminded me that I had not yet written my report on this restaurant. I visited it last month for lunch with two friends, Jane and Susan, but I was interrupted by work and travel, and it fell by the wayside. However, I still remember our meal!

Kapow Thai is at 1377 Forest Park Circle, Ste 102, on the southeast corner of Arapahoe and 95th Street. I believe “kapow” (which has several spelling variations if you search for it online) refers to a stir-fry of chicken with basil and chilis, and the restaurant does feature this on its menu, both in a noodle dish and as a stir-fry topped with a fried egg. None of us ordered it this time, however.

We went a little on the early side on a Friday afternoon, and it was very quiet, but a few more groups came in before we left. The woman who waited on us told us that the restaurant was perhaps best known for its authentic curries and pad Thai. I wanted to try an appetizer, so we got an order of chicken satay, which came with peanut sauce and sweet cucumber relish. Then Susan ordered pad thai with chicken, I ordered pad see ewe with shrimp, and Jane ordered green curry with tofu. We had the usual debate about spiciness levels. Susan asked for “moderate,” and the server suggested mild, which she agreed to. Her dish turned out to have no heat at all, even though she wanted a little, but she said she doesn’t think it matters a lot for pad Thai. Jane asked for hers spicy and thought it was about where she wanted it. I asked for medium and, as usual, found it about at my tolerance limit. (I’ve been pushing this limit so often lately that you would think it would change, but it doesn’t seem to!)

We all liked our food. The chicken satay was cooked just right, and the peanut sauce was especially good, nice and thick, although I liked the cucumber relish as well. I recently switched my Thai restaurant default choice from pad Thai to pad see ewe because the latter includes veggies, and I like the wide, flat noodles. This was excellent pad see ewe, and the shrimp tasted fresh. Jane said her curry was delicious, and Susan liked the pad Thai. We all had leftovers to bring home, and mine reheated very well the next day.

There are some interesting-looking things on the menu that I would like to try another time (pumpkin curry! Northern-style curried noodle soup!). The restaurant is open 11–3 and 4–8 every day except Sunday (closed) and has an online ordering system, which I have not tried. The menu is posted on the website: https://www.kapowthaiusa.com/menu.

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

Chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber relish

Susan's pad Thai with chicken

My pad see ewe with shrimp

Jane's green curry with chicken

Jane looks like her curry  makes her happy. I'm thrilled with my noodles too.

LRP Redux* installment 16: Curry Corner

We had read a few other people’s comments on this new food truck that opened recently at 508 W Baseline Rd., and we were eager to try it. We used their online ordering system (I always like to give these a go unless they don’t have much descriptive information), which worked beautifully. To be honest, it had zero descriptive information, but I just Googled anything I wasn’t familiar with. At the moment, they don’t have anything under the “Menus” link on their website, but I’m hoping that they might provide more information at some point later on.

The menu is quite extensive. We ordered samosas (two in the order), garlic naan, chicken tikka masala, and lamb tikka saag. Everything was delicious! The naan was garlicky without being too garlicky (in my opinion). The samosas were very good and came with cilantro mint chutney and tamarind chutney, both of which were very tasty. For an entrée, I ordered the chicken tikka masala with medium spice, and the spice level was just about right. The chicken was tender, and the sauce was thick and creamy. We had not tried tikka saag before, and we both liked it with the lamb. The lamb was also tender, and G asked for it spicy and said it was at about the right spice level for him.

G forgot to take a photo of the food truck when he went to pick up the order, and I had wanted to try a couple of additional sides, so I stopped by the next day and picked up a mango lassi (very thick and not too sweet) and an order of rice pudding (pretty standard Indian restaurant-style rice pudding, meaning I liked it very much). I was there midafternoon, so it was quiet, and I got my order right away. Take note that the counter on the truck is very high! I am 5’7”, and it was about eye level on me. If you are a short person, you might need to bring a stepstool (just kidding; I am sure they will lower the food to you).

We’ll definitely be back to try some more things. The menu includes some Nepali specialties that we want to sample next time.

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

Clockwise from top left: the whole spread (garlic naan, lamb tikka saag, samosas with two chutneys, chicken tikka masala; both entrees came with sides of basmati rice), rice pudding, mango lassi, me with my plate

Food truck at 508 W. Baseline Rd.

LRP Redux* installment 15: Cosmo’s Pizza

I was away for several months, and I had to leave before I could quite wrap up the LRP Redux, so here is the latest installment. Let me know if any new places have opened since May! I have a couple on the radar, but there’s always a chance I missed something.

Cosmo’s opened in Lafayette in 2020, and we tried it when it first opened, but I didn’t think of reporting on it at the time. I remember some friends being excited to have another place that is open late (11 a.m. to midnight every day), as many local restaurants close by 9 p.m.

Cosmo’s is a local chain that started in Boulder with the location on the Hill, which I’m sad to say closed in 2021 when the building was torn down. It had become such a Boulder institution by then that I was convinced I remembered it from my days as a grad student living on the Hill, but I was wrong because it opened in 2001 (let’s just say that was a while after my time at CU). Currently, it still has locations in Boulder (2), Denver (2), and Fort Collins (1) in addition to Lafayette.

The Lafayette location is at 520 W South Boulder Road, on the south side of the building that also holds the Simple Greek and Buffalo Wild Wings. You can walk in and get a slice (or more than one, but I warn you, a slice is very large) from the pizzas ready in the case, or you can customize a cheese slice with whatever toppings you choose. You can also order a whole pizza in various sizes (14", 16", or 24") from the specialty menu or build your own, and they have calzones, salads, and sides on the menu as well. Cosmo’s is known for their spicy ranch dressing, which I did not end up trying, but one of the options on the side menu is a 12-ounce jar of spicy ranch, so lovers of this condiment can stock up! If you want pickup or delivery, they have a good online ordering system and their own delivery drivers.

I met my friend Sarah for lunch at the Lafayette Cosmo’s last Wednesday. They were doing a pretty brisk lunch business, but it didn’t take long to get our slices. Sarah got pepperoni and mushroom from the case, and I customized a cheese slice with sausage and black olives. The slices are so big that the tip wants to fold down when you pick one up, but they were nice and crisp on the edges, and I liked the crust a lot. The sauce has a little Italian spiciness to it, and the toppings were good, so overall, we agreed that the slices were very tasty.

I wanted to try something else from the menu, so I got an order of breadsticks. Here’s where I missed my chance to try the spicy ranch as a dipping sauce (at the time, I didn’t know it was a Cosmo’s signature item); I ended up with marinara instead. They made the breadsticks fresh for us, and we each ate one and thought they were absolutely delicious—G agreed later on when he ate the two I brought home. We thought the service was good, and the guys behind the counter were nice about answering questions. We’ll definitely be back to try more of the pizza combos!

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

Cosmo's has indoor seating as well as a patio.

Inside the Lafayette Cosmo's

The basic menu (the online menu has much more detail)

The pizza case. I know you can't see much of the pizzas, but I thought the reflections were cool.

On the patio with our clices

The slices make Sarah look really small!

Delicious breadsticks

LRP Redux* installment 14: Bee’s Thai Kitchen food truck

I don’t usually include food trucks in the restaurant project unless they are always parked in the same place, but I made an exception for Bee’s Thai Kitchen because Bee Kisich lives in Lafayette, and her truck is parked in Lafayette every week, probably about two-thirds of the time overall. To find her location on any given night, check her Facebook page, where the current schedule appears at the top. In addition to her usual rotation among Cellar West, Liquid Mechanics, Romero’s, and East Simpson Coffee Co., she makes regular appearances at Industrial Revolution (Erie), Fritz Family Brewing (Niwot), and a few other places, so check it out!

We decided to go on a night when Bee was parked at Liquid Mechanics so we could meet some friends who are fond of that brewery. It was a nice evening, and we found a pleasant spot on the patio and went inside to get some beer after ordering our food. The LM patio is right on the highway, but the grassy strip and big trees counterbalance the traffic, and it was actually a very nice place to hang out on a warm spring evening (this was a couple of weeks ago because I am running behind again!). We had to wait a little while for our food, but we were expecting that because there was a bit of a line at the food truck when we arrived.

There were four of us, so we got two orders of two appetizers to share: roti puffs (chicken, potato, onion, corn, snow peas, carrots, herbs and spices rolled up in a roti wrapper and deep fried, served with cucumber salad) and shrimp egg rolls (large shrimp wrapped in egg-roll wrappers and deep fried). Mike got drunken noodles (wide rice noodles stir fried with egg, cabbage, young pepper corn, ginger root, bell chili, onion, and sweet basil in chili garlic sauce), and Jane got green curry (carrot, eggplant, bell pepper, and Thai sweet basil cooked in green coconut curry served with steamed jasmine rice); I’m not sure what meats/proteins they chose. G got red curry (for which I can’t find a menu description but was similar to the green curry except red) with beef, and I got pad thai (stir fried rice noodles with egg, green onion, bean sprouts, diced tofu, and ground peanuts in tangy sauce) with chicken. Finally, I got one order of mango sticky rice to share for dessert. 

We all thought our food was excellent. G said the roti puffs were the best thing he had eaten in a long time, and the rest of us agreed. We also liked the shrimp egg rolls, and we all devoured our entrees. G liked his curry so much that he rated the meal one of the best in the whole restaurant project. The curries were packed with fresh vegetables, and Mike also had quite a lot in his drunken noodles (not in the pad thai, however, as it does not contain veggies). Jane said her green curry was delicious but not spicy enough (she asked for “spicy” but said next time she would ask for “Thai hot”), G (who also asked for spicy) said his was almost too hot, and Mike and I (who both asked for medium) found ours to be a little beyond our tolerance but delicious anyway—so we persevered! The mango sticky rice was AMAZING. I would go back just for that.

I tried a flight of Liquid Mechanics beers to wash it all down: Dark Foreboding (dark lager), Dammit Patrick (maibock), peanut butter porter, Flightless (pilsner), and Hopacity (IPA). My favorite by far was the Dark Foreboding.

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

With my flight of beers while we waited for our food

Bee's Thai Kitchen

Roti puffs: AMAZING

Drunken noodles

Jane's green curry

Bee working away in her kitchen

shrimp egg rolls

Pad thai with chicken

Red curry with beef

Mango sticky rice: DELICIOUS

Patio at Liquid Mechanics

LRP Redux* installment 13: Westbound & Down Mill

There has been a bit of a lag in my restaurant project reporting because we actually visited Westbound & Down Mill a whole week ago! I’ve been swamped with work and preparing for a rather large trip, so it has been hard for me to keep up. It is in Atlas Valley at the northwest corner of 95th Street and Dagny Way where Endo Brewing used to be. The original Westbound & Down Brewing is in Idaho Springs, and the Lafayette location opened just a few months ago. This location specializes in artisan pizzas (Detroit-style or round) with beer in the sourdough crusts. It also has an assortment of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and a couple of desserts. And, of course, a wide variety of beers!

We were ordering takeout, so I had to pick from the canned beers, and I decided to try the Chicago Peaks kölsch, which is brewed in partnership with Bierstadt. I liked it a lot, which was lucky since I was committed to a four-pack! For food, we ordered the “95th Street” pizza (Ezzo pepperoni, salsa verde, mozzarella, red sauce, and spicy honey) in the Detroit-style square (um … really a rectangle, but that’s a quibble). All of the pizzas are named after streets in the Atlas Valley area or elsewhere in Colorado. 

I liked this pizza a lot, but G was not sure about it. I didn’t actually tell him the ingredients ahead of time, so I think he expected it to taste more like a traditional pepperoni pizza, and it really didn’t. But I thought the flavor combination was interesting, especially the unexpected sweetness of the honey. The leftovers reheated well in the toaster oven the next day. We also shared a burrata salad (roasted asparagus,snap peas, pesto, romesco, pickled onion, arugula, hefeweizen vinaigrette, and marcona almonds) and were in full agreement that it was spectacular.

I would definitely revisit this place, and next time I would like to try one of the pizzas with white sauce and chicken and try a few of the beers on tap. It has a nice big patio, and G said it was hopping last Friday night when he went to pick up our order. We used the online ordering system and ordered a little on the early side (between 5 and 6), and our food was ready within half an hour.

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

Burrata salad: excellent!

Detroit-style "95th Street" pizza

LRP Redux* installment 12: Viet Kitchen (CLOSED)

Update May 2023: This place is now permanently closed.

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We had heard and read good things about Viet Kitchen, which is located in Atlas Valley where the Super Mini Walnut Café used to be on the southwest corner of 95th and Arapahoe. They have a patio that is probably quite nice on a still evening, but we were there last Wednesday night, when the wind was blasting through as if it really wanted to take us to Oz, so we did not try dining al fresco. Some friends also wanted to try this restaurant, so we got takeout and took it over to their place. The online ordering system worked fine, but as usual with these systems, I would have liked a bit more detail about some of the dishes. The website currently consists only of the online ordering system, so there is nowhere to get more info unless you order by phone or visit in person.

G and I shared an order of Vietnamese egg rolls (wrapped in house), which were crisp and tasty. I almost always get a vermicelli bowl in Vietnamese restaurants (even though I never saw this on a menu when I was actually in Vietnam; maybe it is a regional thing?), so I decided to branch out and order the roti chicken (“pan fried until crisp, slow braised in a sweet soy marinade, and served over a bed of rice”). This was delicious, and my only quibble was that I would have loved a bit more of the marinade/sauce to drizzle on the rice.

G had the combination pho; we don’t know what it combined because the menu didn’t say, but it was at least a couple of kinds of red meat. He was especially impressed by the broth, which the menu says is “bone broth simmered over time with aromatic herbs.” M mentioned that she had seen quite a few online reviews mention the pho broth at this place. Pho is actually a dish that we had quite often in Vietnam, mainly at the street stalls where you have to sit on a little stool about 8 inches off the ground and right at the edge of the street to eat it. It was always delicious, and you can get it any time of day, so we even had it for breakfast a few times. G has been known to make it himself, which is a project that pretty much takes all day, so he hasn’t done it in a long time.

M had an order of the spring rolls, which came wrapped tightly in plastic to keep them from drying out and looked very good. She also had the beef short ribs (marinated and char grilled) and said they were excellent. S, the lone vegetarian among us, had the vermicelli bowl (rice noodles topped with lettuce, bean sprouts, cucumber, and crispy shallots) with tofu and also liked her meal very much. So I’d say this restaurant was four for four that night, and we would definitely revisit to try some more things.

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

G flopped this photo when he sent it to me so it wouldn't be backward, but I flopped it back--because this is actually what the banner looked like from the parking lot.

I snagged this photo from Yelp because I forgot to take one.

Roti chicken with rice; on the side is one of the Vietnamese egg rolls with fish sauce for dipping

M's beef short ribs with rice and a fresh spring roll

G's combination pho 

S's tofu vermicelli bowl

Happy with my plate of food

LRP Redux*installment 11: Casian Seafood (CLOSED)

Update January 2024: This place is now closed. Google says the closure is temporary, but it is likely permanent (trying to check).

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Casian opened a little over a year ago in the spot most recently occupied by Mon Cherie (and before that by several other restaurants) on the southwest corner of Public Road and Baseline. We went last Thursday evening, when it was warm enough to sit outside. The east-facing patio is in shade in the evenings, which will be nice when the weather gets hot. We went early and were the first customers of the evening, but by the time we left, there were several other groups on the patio and a few inside as well. Maria Nguyen, one of the owners, told us that they’ve had a boost in business since being named a James Beard Award semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category this year, but she said it ebbs and flows, and they notice it more on weekends.

Maria was our server, and her husband, Dau Xiong, is the chef. They have been running the restaurant mostly by themselves ever since it opened, but she said they hope to add more staff soon and to expand their Tuesday-Thursday hours (currently 3-9 Tu-Thu and 11-9 Fri-Sun). They live in Lafayette and both grew up in this area. The menu features Louisiana Cajun cuisine and Hmong dishes, which makes for some interesting options.   

We started with an order of house-made Hmong-style egg rolls (ground pork belly with vermicelli glass noodles, shredded cabbage, and house seasonings), which came with a side of fish sauce for dipping). We thought these were amazing; in fact, G said they were “as good as they could be,” which is high praise from him.

I wanted to try the house specialty, a seafood boil, partly because I found this page of the menu a bit daunting. We figured we’d get totally outside our comfort zone by ordering crayfish, as neither of us had eaten it before (though I had a larger version in Central America many years ago). The other options are shrimp, mussels, clams, and a seafood medley (clams, shrimp, calamari, scallops, and mussels). After you select your seafood, you pick one of five sauce options; we chose the Spicy Casian. A boil comes with potatoes, corn, and slices of andouille sausage, and you can add various “enhancers”—we chose bread from the enhancers menu, and it was great for soaking up the sauce.

Maria showed us how to pull the tails off the crayfish. We quickly figured out how to get the tail meat, but neither of us was very good at sucking the heads out of the shells. However, we learned that we could crack the shells open (carefully, as they have sharp edges) to get to that part. The crayfish had a very mild flavor, but they were tasty—especially in combination with the star of the show, the sauce! The sauce was so good that G ended up eating the last of it out of the bowl with a spoon. The crayfish, corn, potatoes and sausage all come in a bowl with a generous portion of the spicy sauce, which I would rate as a medium-high spice level (it was in my comfort range, but just barely). I would definitely order the boil again, but next time I want to try it with the seafood medley or the shrimp and maybe a different sauce, not because I didn’t love this one but because I want to know if the others are as good.

With the appetizer, the single boil order (with a lb. of crayfish) was plenty for both of us, and we decided to try a dessert too. Maria recommended another house specialty—breaded fried ice cream with chocolate and caramel sauce. This was also delicious.

I had been to Casian once before—I met a friend there for lunch back when it first opened and had a fried fish po’boy that I thought was excellent. There are plenty of other things on the menu we’d like to try, so we’ll be back!

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

On the patio at Casian

Seafood boil with crayfish, potatoes, corn, and andouille sausage in Spicy Casian sauce, plus a side of bread for dunking

Breaded fried ice cream with chocolate and caramel sauces

LRP Redux* installment 10: Las Americas Taqueria

I was gone for all of March, and then I was sick for a week after I got back, so I’m just now getting back to the restaurant project. I’m not actually sure how long this taqueria has been here, but it only started showing up on my map app in the last year or two. It is at 11 S. Public Rd., just north of Las Montañas market at S. Public Rd. and Cleveland St., and there are entrances both from the street side and from inside the market. There is a tortilleria in the market, and we often buy fresh corn tortillas there when we want some at home, but we had not ever eaten at the taqueria until this past week. We ended up trying it three times within five days, partly because we were out of groceries and partly because it is one of the closest restaurants to our house in Old Town.

On Monday night, G picked up takeout for dinner. I wanted to try the gorditas because I have always been a fan of those, so I chose one desebrada (shredded spiced beef) and one rajas con queso (roasted poblano peppers with cheese). The woman at the counter told G she thought it might take three to make a meal, so he added one chicharron (pork belly/rinds). He ordered a smothered burrito with desebrada, and we got sides of rice and beans to share. This was all very good, except that we decided that chicharron is an acquired taste that we have not acquired. The gorditas came with a spicy green salsa, and the rajas con queso filling was medium spicy as well.

We got takeout again a couple of nights later, and this time I tried the sopes (a thicker masa cake than the one used for a gordita with stuff piled on it instead of stuffed inside): one with pollo (shredded chicken) and one with barbacoa (pork). G got four tacos: asada, pastor, barbacoa, and pollo, and again we got sides of beans and rice plus a side of guacamole and several salsas. We both liked these even better than our first meal.

I wanted to try the breakfast burritos too, so on Friday my friend Deb met me at the taqueria, and we each got one to eat there: hers with bacon and mine with chorizo. These are smaller than breakfast burritos at some other local places but also inexpensive ($3.50), and we liked that they had both beans and potatoes in them as well as eggs, cheese, and our selected meat. We got a squeeze bottle of green salsa to top them with. The woman working behind the counter brought us a small bowl of chips with salsa too. We thought the chips might be house made, as they seemed very fresh. I ran out of time to ask her about it because I had to get to an appointment.

There are certainly plenty of other things to try there, so we’ll be back. It’s hard to find a menu online except for some on menu photo sites, so I’ll post photos of the takeout menu here. The one behind the counter in the taqueria has prices. 

* Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP.

The taqueria has both indoor and outdoor seating

Smothered burrito desebrada (top) and gorditas with sides

Gorditas: chicharron, top right; rajas con queso, bottom right; and desebrada, bottom left 

Sopes (barbacoa and pollo), left; tacos, sides, and sopes, top right; tacos (asada, pastor, barbaco, and pollo), bottom right 

Breakfast burritos with chorizo (mine) and bacon (Deb's), plus chips and salsa

Inside the restaurant and market

Takeout menu, outside

Takeout menu, inside