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

LRP Redux* installment 9: Jeannot’s Patisserie & Bistro

Jeannot’s is quite new and in fact is still in “soft opening” mode, with hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. It’s in the Atlas Valley Shopping Center at 95th and Arapahoe (2770 Arapahoe Rd., Suite 124), where Lunada used to be. It’s a pleasant space with a nice patio. The woman who took our order told us that the pastries are all baked in house, but they are not able to bake bread because of the limited kitchen space (apparently they have been getting a lot of inquiries about French bread!).

Jeannot’s is owned by Julien and Teresa Jeannot. Julien is from Provence and, after years of  working at various restaurants in Europe, Canada, and the US, most recently was the executive pastry chef for the Mediterranean group in Boulder. I got this info from the website, but he was serving pastries when we went through the line, and it was nice to hear the man in front of us talking to Julien in French because we could pretend that we were in France for a moment.

I’m running a bit behind on my reports again because I actually visited this place almost a week ago, last Saturday. I was meeting my friend Deb to celebrate my birthday with a breakfast excursion. We thought 8 a.m. on a Saturday would be a nice quiet time, but it was actually fairly busy, although the line moved quickly. We decided to take our food back to my house to eat it.

Deb ordered quiche Lorraine, which came with a side of greens, and I got the croissant sandwich (1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, and scrambled eggs on a croissant), which came with a side of fruit. We wanted to try the pastries too, so Deb got a lemon croissant, which was a sort of open-scheme croissant filled with lemon and topped with fresh berries, and I got a chocolate croissant.

We both liked our food very much! The croissants were flaky and buttery, just as they should be, and I thought the proportion of egg to ham and cheese in my sandwich was about right. I also thought the fruit was amazing—I would like to know where they buy their berries! Deb wasn’t sure at first about the large chunks of ham in the quiche; she initially thought it should be diced finer, but she ended up deciding she liked it that way. G had already eaten breakfast, but he split the chocolate croissant with me, and we both thought it was delicious. The amount of chocolate was just about right, and it was distributed in several smaller pockets instead of one big slab. None of us had ever seen a lemon croissant like this before, but Deb said it was fabulous. She went back a few days later to try an apple tart and rated it “amazing.” She also let me know that Wednesday at 9 a.m. was a nice quiet time to stop in.

There will now be a brief hiatus in the LRP Redux because I’m currently out of town and won’t be back until March 31, but I should be able to wrap up the last few in April. When I will also be revisiting Jeannot’s to try more things from the pastry case. Incidentally, I forgot to photograph the pastry case, so if anyone has a photo of it, pop it into the comments!

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

Top left: Croissant sandwich with scrambled egg, ham, and cheese and a side of fruit; top right: quiche Lorraine with side of greens and lemon croissant; bottom: chocolate croissant.

Jeannot's on a sunny but chilly Saturday morning

LRP Redux* installment 8: Shifu Express

This place opened at least a year ago, but we just now got around to trying it. I am not 100 percent sure about this because I used Google translator, but I think “Shifu” means “master” in Chinese, as in having mastered the art of cooking Chinese food.

Shifu Express is in the mall at the southeast corner of South Boulder Road and South Public Road where Fortune Cookie used to be. We ordered takeout on a Wednesday night, and G drove over to pick it up. I asked him if they still have a steam table, which is one of the offerings on their website and probably the reason for “Express” in the name, but he said no, at least not that night. There were several other parties stopping in for takeout orders. There is an online ordering system that worked very well, though it would be nice to have more details about the menu options in the ordering system. For instance, I assume the dumplings we ordered were filled with pork, but the menu didn’t specify.

We got an order of fried pork dumplings, General Tau’s chicken for G, and combination fried rice for me. I especially liked the dumplings because they had a nice chewy texture and lots of filling. G said his chicken was good, and I liked my fried rice (this is a kind of basic comfort food for me; I contemplated being more adventurous but then stuck with a familiar selection).

Believe it or not, it’s actually difficult for me to find much more to say about it! When I did the first restaurant project, someone asked me what my favorite Chinese restaurant in Lafayette was now that I had tried them all, and I was unable to pick one because they all seemed good. It’s possible that they have slightly different menu options, but for the things we like and tend to order, they are pretty much the same. It would be hard to compare unless I had an order of, say, fried rice from each of them to line up and do an actual taste test. At any rate, we would be happy to eat here again.

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

Top left: General Tau's chicken with dumplings; top right: combination fried rice with dumplings

LRP Redux* installment 7: Button Rock Bakery & Kenny Lou’s Deli

I had been to Button Rock a few times back when it was in its old location at 95th and Arapahoe, but it had been a while. It is now located in the District Mall at 400 W South Boulder Rd., Suite 2200, and has added the deli in the same location as the bakery. It has a wide variety of deli-type foods in addition to the baked goods—and sushi!

My friend Sarah and I had a lunch date last Wednesday, so I asked her to meet me at the District, and we ate indoors. The bakery has a little patio, but it was a chilly, snowy day. The indoor part of the mall has quite a few tables and easy chairs with small tables, and they are fairly spread out in the large open area.

While I was waiting for Sarah, the kind server at the counter answered about a hundred questions that I had about the menu and the pastries. I can’t remember them all now, but I appreciated the help.

I wasn’t planning to get sushi because I had my eye on some other menu items, but Sarah got an order of the crispy rice bites. They are actually served cold, and they had them premade in the refrigerator. I tried one, and it was delicious! For our main dish, we each ordered a breakfast sandwich. I got the fried bologna and cheese because I was intrigued by the combination with the potato latke (fried bologna, over-medium egg, provolone, arugula, giardiniera, and potato latke in a warm brioche bun). Sarah got the avocado and egg (scrambled eggs with feta & spinach, avocado, gochujang ketchup, and arugula in a warm brioche bun). These were both amazing sandwiches and extremely filling—so keep that in mind because you will need to save room for dessert! Fortunately, we had planned ahead, so we knew to pace ourselves. Although I liked the combo of flavors and textures very much, I could only eat about 2/3 of the sandwich because it was a lot. My egg was more like over easy than over medium, so next time I might ask them to cook it a bit more. 

For dessert, Sarah got a raspberry napoleon, and I got a chocolate cake bombe (a layer of cake topped with chocolate mousse and coated in chocolate). I am a fan of chocolate mousse in almost any form, so I thought the bombe was the bomb! G wasn’t with us for this meal, but I suggested that he pick up some bombes for him and a friend a few days later, and he also loved them. Sarah was happy with her napoleon, which I sampled and agreed was excellent. She said that she is always trying to match a napoleon that she ate 20 years ago, and this one came close. There are many more things to try from the deli and sushi menus and the bakery case, 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.

I forgot to photograph the outside, so I borrowed this from the Button Rock FB page. 

Me with my fried bologna & cheese breakfast sandwich 

Sarah with her avocado & egg breakfast sandwich (we were dressed like twins, but it was totally accidental)

Top: Crispy rice bites. Bottom: avocado & egg breakfast sandwich and fried bologna & cheese breakfast sandwich 

Chocolate bombe and raspberry napoleon