LRP Redux* installment 23: Pita Grill!

For a new restaurant project installment, it’s so easy to eat the food but so hard to write the report!😆 Pita Grill opened last summer at 802 S Public Road, where Deli-cious Z’s used to be. I first visited it in late October, and I loved the food so much that I’ve made two additional visits since then. I am not a hummus devotee—I like it fine, but it is something I can usually take or leave—but the hummus at Pita Grill has made me a convert. Not to mention the lovely soft, fresh pita bread to dunk in it.

On my first visit with friends, we tried quite a few different things. K had the king combo (house salad, baba ghanouj, hummus, tabuli, grape leaves, falafel, 1 beef kafta, 1 chicken kabob), and my one regret is that I didn’t get a photo of this combo because it was gorgeous, not to mention delicious. C had the falafel entrée, which came on a bed of rice with a large side of hummus. M had the falafel sandwich (on pita with tahini, hot sauce, tomato, pickle, and lettuce). I had the Syrian meat combo for two (2 beef kafta, 2 lamb kabobs, 2 chicken kabobs, rice, hummus, and salad) because I knew G would like it, and I planned to bring dinner home for him. This combo also came on an enormous bed of rice, and all of the entrées came with pita.

It was all so good! I’m not sure my plate exactly matched the menu description that I copied above; all four kabobs appeared to be chicken, and there were four kaftas, so maybe two of those were lamb? Because of the similar seasonings, I couldn’t really tell, but I thought all of the meat was excellent. The combo for two came with two dinner salads and a large container of hummus, so I had a huge amount of food to bring home. There was enough not only for G to eat dinner that night but for both of us to have at least one more substantial dinner.

A few days later, I went back just for an order of hummus. This time I introduced myself to Aziza, the owner (who is also the head chef and the main server and no doubt wears a number of additional hats), who is from Syria. I asked her if she would characterize the food as Mediterranean or Middle Eastern, and she said both.

G and I ate some of the hummus that day and the rest the next day with our friend A, who has lived in the Mediterranean and spent time in Syria, and A agreed that the hummus was outstanding and said it tasted very authentic. Because the pita was a day old at that point, I cut it into triangles and toasted it in the toaster oven, and it still tasted wonderful.

A week or so later, we went back for takeout: king combo for me, chicken kabob dinner for G (because the kabobs were his favorite thing from the meat combo), and the veggie combo (house salad, baba ghanouj, hummus, tabuli, grape leaves, falafel, rice, and pita) for A. Once again, everything was delicious. In addition to my previous favorites, I especially liked the large, crisp falafels.

Pita Grill is open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. I don’t think they had an online ordering system at the time I first visited, but they do now (www.pitagrillco.com), or you can call (720) 998-0990 to place an order. Note that they do not serve alcohol.

 * LRP Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP. www.lafayetterestaurantproject.com

House salad

Hummus! SO. GOOD.

Falafel entree with hummus and rice

M with falafel sandwich

A small part of the Syrian meat combo for two (just the meat part!)

Me with my giant plate of meat

The leftovers just of my large combo meal

Menu page 1

Menu page 2

Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux* installment 22: Los Lagos Taqueria!

It’s been a while since I updated the Lafayette Restaurant Project. Now there are several new restaurants, so it’s time to get caught up! Los Lagos Taqueria is actually not new, as it has been around for about seven years, but we had somehow never managed to get a meal there. It is a food truck that is usually parked at 225 W. South Boulder Road, just east of the Circle K (I include food trucks in the restaurant project if they are regularly parked in the same place).

We went to Los Lagos Thursday night and chatted with the owner, Faustino, who told us that he aims to be there from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. most days except Sundays, when he doesn’t open until after 5 p.m., and Mondays, when he opens around 2 p.m. However, occasionally the truck may be gone if Faustino has booked a catering gig or special event. If you want to check ahead of time to make sure he is there, the phone number is 720-651-2214 (as shown on the side of the food truck). Also, Faustino sometimes posts enticing food photos on social media community pages to remind us that he is there. I noticed one of these posts on Thursday and jumped at the chance to visit. 

G and I each ordered a smothered burrito, his with chicken and mine with carnitas, and they were delicious. The burritos were large and well stuffed with meat, black beans, rice, and a little corn. They were topped with pico de gallo and an excellent avocado sauce; these were just slightly spicy, but you can get hot sauce on the side if you want more heat. They came with a side of tortilla chips that tasted hot and fresh. 

Faustino told us that cooking is his passion—his mother was a chef, and he was born in a kitchen (right next to the fryer), so his destiny was clear! He also said that the food he makes to sell is the same food he would make in his kitchen at home. We will definitely go back to try some more things from the menu—I am especially interested in the fish tacos and gorditas. We were sorry we missed a chance to add churros to our order, so they are on the list too.

* LRP Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP. www.lafayetterestaurantproject.com

Los Lagos Taqueria food truck

The menu

Picking up our order from Faustino

My smothered burrito (G's looked exactly the same)  

Showing the filling after cutting it in half

LRP Redux* installment 21: Falafayette

Falafayette is a pop-up food truck that appears at Romero’s K9 Club & Tap House every week, 985 S. Public Rd. The schedule varies from time to time, but for the next couple of weeks, it is scheduled to be there Tuesdays 11:30-2:30, Wednesdays 4:00-8:00, and Fridays 11:30-2:30. You can sign up on the website (www.falafayette.com) for text alerts to remind you to turn out when they do.

We actually visited Falafayette last November(!). I was very dilatory about writing my restaurant project reports last year, some kind of writer’s block I guess. We met our friend Kat at Romero’s, and it was warm enough to sit outside on the deck. To order food, you have to go online and place an order through the website (first you have to find the event, or pop-up date, that you want and then click on the ordering link from that event). To be honest, I did not find this system very intuitive, but once I got to the menu, it had a decent amount of descriptive detail, and the website features some nice food photos.

To help you see the options, I have included a couple of screen shots of the menu, since it is brief. The parenthetical descriptions in the following paragraph are from the menu. 

The food is all meatless, and some options are vegan. We tried the Moroccan “pre-rolls” (plant-based meat alternative dippers wrapped in crispy filo dough served with a side of tahini sauce), the hummus bowl topped with fries (which does not appear on the menu anymore), and the falafel bowl (hummus, salads, and pickles with falafel balls and trio of sauces [tahini, amba, and spicy schug] on the side). We also got a side order of pita.

We thought the pre-rolls were very tasty and the falafel was excellent. The hummus was a definite star of the falafel bowl and the hummus bowl with fries, but we found the fries/hummus combo a little odd (which may be why it is no longer on the menu). However, the hummus was so good that I should point out that you can buy a whole pint of it by itself. The pita had the nice fresh chewy/soft combo texture.

There are several other interesting-looking dishes on the menu, so if you like falafel and other Mediterranean foods, give Falafayette a try! And note that they also do catering.

* LRP Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP. www.lafayetterestaurantproject.com

Moroccoan "pre-rolls"

Falafel bowl with salads, pickles, and pita side

Hummus bowl with fries

LRP Redux* installment 20: Gundruk—Taste of Nepal and India

Gundruk is at 2770 Arapahoe Rd #116, Lafayette (the site of the former Viet Kitchen and before that the Super Mini Walnut Café). It opened more than a year ago, and we have been there quite a few times, by ourselves and with various friends. However, after our first visit we were preparing for a long trip, and my restaurant report somehow slipped through the cracks.

When G and I first visited in May 2023, we tried some things that were new to us: chatpate (crispy puffed rice and dried instant noodles marinated with fresh vegetables and Nepalese spices) from the appetizer menu and chicken momo from the Gundruk Special category on the  menu. We also ordered lamb vindaloo (spicy), an order of garlic naan, and rice pudding for dessert. I looked up chatpate online and found that it is a common Nepalese street food, which surprised me because it has quite a lot of ingredients. I saw photos of it being served in a paper cone that you could carry in your hand. It reminded me a little of tabbouleh, but I’m not sure why—maybe the texture or seasonings.

The garlic naan was thick and chewy and delicious, to the point where I thought it might be the best I’ve had. The lamb vindaloo was mainly for G since I stick with a medium spice level, and he said it was “first-rate.” The rice pudding was beautifully thick and custardy. 

The next time we visited was in the fall, with our friend Kat, who also thought the food was excellent. This time I had chicken tikka masala, G had lamb vindaloo again, and Kat had aloo gobi curry and matar paneer curry. These dishes were all fabulous. I’m sure we also had naan, but it didn’t make it into the photo.

After that, we made several visits on occasions when I did not take photographs. Most recently, last week, I was there with a group of five friends, and we ordered samosas (2 per order), fried momo appetizer (6 per order), chicken coconut curry, shrimp tikka masala, lamb vindaloo, chicken momo from the Special menu (10 per order), grilled chicken tikka from the tandoori oven, and tandoori chicken. Everything was delicious, although we decided we liked the fried momo better than the steamed (or perhaps boiled) momo that came in the larger order. When I ordered the chicken momo last year, they came with a nice tomato-based dipping sauce; the momo we ordered last week came with both that sauce and a second one that was a kind of spicy chili, perhaps to pep them up a bit more.

Our servers were very polite and friendly. We asked if they ever serve the namesake food, gundruk, which is a Nepali staple dish of fermented greens and were told that they had offered it as part of the celebration of their one-year anniversary, and most customers liked it. But they haven’t been able to add it to the regular menu yet because they are trying to find a reliable supplier.

In summary, Gundruk is well worth a visit if you love Indian and/or Nepalese food! As a side note, if you look online, it may appear that they don't have a liquor license because the online menu lists only nonalcoholic drinks. However, they do serve alcohol and were offering a mango margarita special when we were there last week. One of my friends tried it and said it was good, but I stuck with a Taj Mahal beer.

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

May 2023, clockwise from top left: chatpate, lamb vindaloo and garlic naan, chicken momo, and rice pudding

Me with momo and naan, May 2023

Fall 2023: matar paneer curry, aloo gobi curry, chicken tikka masala, and lamb vindaloo

Last week, clockwise from top left: fried momo, samosas, lamb vindaloo, chicken curry

From last week, clockwise from top left: shrimp tikka masala, chicken momo, tandoori chicken, and grilled chicken tikka

LRP Redux* Installment 19: Bucatino

It’s been a while since I updated the Lafayette Restaurant Project Redux, but there are several new places to visit, and I want to keep the blog current! I have a couple of places backlogged, so I figured I’d start with the one I visited most recently.

Bucatino Trattoria Romana recently opened in the former location of Ting’s Place at 1265 South Public Road. It was fairly busy last Wednesday night, when I visited with four friends. We happened to arrive during happy hour, which runs from 3 to 6 p.m. daily and all night on Mondays (except holidays)! It wasn’t quite warm enough to try the nice patio, but it could be appealing in nicer weather if the traffic on Public Road is not too heavy.

We sampled a few appetizers, with a couple of people choosing to have appetizer combinations as their main course. First, we all tried the arancini (fried breaded arborio rice balls stuffed with four cheeses with marinara sauce for dipping) and found them crisp, cheesy, and delicious. One dining companion selected a large bowl of cozze (P.E.I. Mussels with peperonata, tomato and crushed red pepper) plus a dish of cavolini (Brussels sprouts in a lemon and olive oil sauce) for her main course, while another also had the cavolini accompanied by the avocado bruschetta. I didn’t sample all of these personally, but those who did liked them.

Three of us ordered pasta dishes: bucatini Bolognese (classic meat sauce topped with Roman pecorino cream), bucatini al limone (jumbo shrimp, bell peppers, zucchini, peas and carrots, lemon zest, lemon cream sauce, and shaved Reggiano cheese), and melanzane parmigiana (organic eggplant lightly fried, baked with mozzarella, tomato basil sauce, and served with penne). The bucatini dishes are listed as house specials, for obvious reasons, and I thought the noodles were delicious. They are made in house, as are many of the other pastas. The eggplant and bucatini al limone also received enthusiastic responses, and the friend who ordered the eggplant said she had heard good things about that particular dish from neighbors before we visited.

Of course we had to try some desserts. I always order chocolate mousse when it appears on a menu. The Bucatino version is a thick, fudgy mousse, which I like (to be honest, I like chocolate mousse of pretty much any texture). My dining companions tried the gelato, the spumoni, and the nocciola cioccolato (dark chocolate mousse and hazelnute cake). All good! By the way, I could not find a dessert menu on the restaurant website, so I include a photo here for your information.

I’ll be back with G, as he still needs to sample the lasagna, which is his go-to dish at Italian restaurants. I would be happy to repeat any of the dishes I tried this time, but I would also like to sample more of the offerings here (pizza, soup, seafood, etc.).

* LRP Redux: visiting all the new places that have opened since the end of the previous round of the LRP. www.lafayetterestaurantproject.com

Appetizers: left, avocado bruschette; top right, cavolini and mussels; bottom right, arancini 

Entrees, clockwise from lower left: bucatini bolognese, bucatini al limone, eggplant parmigiana. Lower right: me with my chocolate mousse.

Desserts, clockwise from top left: spumoni, nocciola cioccolato, chocolate mousse, and gelato