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 (CLOSED)

2024 update: This restaurant closed in (I think) 2024 and was replaced by Bangkok 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 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 (CLOSED)

Las Americas closed in, I believe, 2023 and has been replaced by a new 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 6: Best Pho (CLOSED)

Update January 2023: This placed closed in 2022.

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I fell a little behind in the restaurant project reports last week, even though I actually tried two new restaurants! But then I went out of town, so I’m just now getting caught up. Fortunately, I have my notes and photos.

A week ago Tuesday, we tried Best Pho, which is at 95th and Arapahoe in the spot next to Morning Glory where the bakery used to be (1377 Forest Park Cir., Suite 102). We got takeout and took it over to our friends’ house because they wanted to try this restaurant too. The restaurant has an online ordering system, which I initially was going to try, but then I saw that it was going to add a small convenience charge. It was just a couple of dollars, but I switched to a phone order because I wanted to ask a few questions anyway (important things such as “Are the potstickers better fried or steamed?”). 

I was told the order would take half an hour, but it actually took closer to 45 minutes, probably because they are still trying to hire more staff and had several people waiting for takeout orders and at least one couple dining in. We didn’t mind waiting a bit because we knew we’d be getting the food fresh from the kitchen.

Here’s what we ate. G and I split an order of pork potstickers (fried), which were delicious. G ordered combination pho (rare steak, brisket, and meatball) but did not find a meatball in his dish. The rest of us got vermicelli: stir-fried tofu for S, grilled shrimp for M, and combination (beef, pork, and chicken) for me. S also had an order of the vegetable egg rolls, and M tried the fried shrimp and pork eggrolls. I did not sample the eggrolls, but they looked crisp and tasty, and the others said they were good. My vermicelli was good too, although I think a combination should include shrimp (take note, Best Pho!). The others also enjoyed their main dishes, and S said the tofu was particularly satisfying. G liked the pho, even though we did not solve the mystery of the missing meatball.

For dessert, we got an order of beignets because they were listed as a signature item. We ended up eating them cold, but they were still quite tasty with a drizzle of honey. I want to try them again when I can eat them fresh and hot!

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

Clockwise from top left: stir-fried tofu vermicelli with a vegetable egg roll, grilled shrimp vermicelli, combination vermicelli, and combination pho

I waited outside because I forgot my mask.

The front of the restaurant.

The menu

Sign out front, shrimp and pork eggrolls, and the one beignet we managed to photograph before they were all eaten

A95RP installment 8: 95A (CLOSED)

95A closed permanently in 2024.

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This is the last restaurant in the A95RP subproject; after this, we just have to report on a few more restaurants at Baseline and 287, and we will have made a complete circuit of Lafayette!

We know 95A quite well, as it is a personal favorite for both lunch and dinner. They also serve brunch on weekends, but I've never tried that menu. We went early on Friday night because we knew it would be crazy busy later on, and we got a table in a reasonably quiet corner of the front room. We thought about trying something from the sushi menu, but we ended up getting the coconut shrimp appetizer instead. The coconut crust was nicely crisp, and the dipping sauce was tasty. I ordered an entrée from the specials menu, pistachio-crusted sea scallops with roast fingerling potatoes and beets and a side of watercress with a drizzle of pomegranate syrup. G ordered the Mediterranean lamb from the regular dinner menu: grilled lamb loin chops, garlic-studded spinach, zucchini-potato pancakes, and tzatziki sauce. We both thought our meals were delicious.

It was my birthday, so we shared an order of sticky toffee pudding for dessert. This was also very good, though not quite how I remembered it from a few years ago. David, our server, told us that the baked desserts come from the neighboring bakery, Button Rock, which is a relative newcomer, so it probably was different the last time. It came with a birthday candle and compliments of the restaurant. Thanks, David! The service was good. The noise level had gone way up before we left but was still tolerable. I had never been seated in the front room before, so I'm not sure how it compares to the back on a Friday night.

95A outside and the front room after it filled up a bit

There were more coconut shrimp on this plate, but we ate some before I remembered to photograph it.

G's Mediterranean lamb

My pistachio-crusted sea scallops

Sticky toffee pudding with a birthday candle

A95RP installment 4: Super Mini Walnut Café (CLOSED)

Update January 2022: Permanently closed during the pandemic.

The SMWC serves only breakfast and lunch. I had been here once when it first opened, G had never been, and the two friends who met us have been a few times. It's a pleasant space with colorful walls and plenty of natural light, and the patio would be nice on a day when the wind wasn't blasting through. I have been to both Walnut Cafés in Boulder many times over the years, and this one has the same menu with a wide variety of breakfast and lunch options. We met for brunch on a Friday at 11 a.m., and it started out quiet but was mostly full by the time we left.

Two of our group, including G, had the Jump scramble (scrambled eggs, sausage [pork, turkey, veggie or vegan], breakfast potatoes, onions, cilantro & cheddar, smothered in Green Chili), one had French toast with a side of bacon, and one had an egg-white omelet. That last one was actually me! I'm on a restricted diet for a 2-week period, and I thought it would be interesting to see if this restaurant project choice would support something that was on the plan--and it did. The omelet was very tasty because the mushrooms were good and were cooked just right, and I took the sides home for G to eat later. Everyone else also liked their food. The French toast eater said she might have preferred fewer almonds on top as a texture issue--but at least they were movable.

I asked the server why it is called "Super Mini," and she said, "Because we were originally supposed to be smaller." She didn't exactly know where the "super" part came in. Maybe "super mini" equates to regular size? Note that the SMWC menu has gluten-free options for pancakes, waffles, and breads. Pie is a Walnut Café specialty, and I know from experience at the other locations that the pies are good (especially, I should mention, after GS cookie time, when they sometimes have a coconut-cream pie with a crust made of samoas!). However, we did not indulge today. 

Jump scramble

Egg-white omelet with spinach and mushrooms and sides of banana bread and potatoes

French toast with side of bacon

The counter 

The front room; there's another room on the other side of the counter (not shown) 

Southwest corner of Arapahoe & 95th

A95RP installment 2: DosWapos Mexican Cocina (CLOSED)

Update 2024: Permanently closed.

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This was our first visit to DosWapos, though we visited this location at least once in the past when it was a different Mexican restaurant. We went on Sunday night, which has turned out to be a nice quiet time to go to restaurants. Coincidentally, while we were still there, I happened to see a request on FB for local Mexican food restaurant recommendations, and quite a few people mentioned this place. There is a Wapos in Boulder in addition to DosWapos at Arapahoe and 95th (southeast corner), and our server explained that "Wapos" is a corruption of "guapos," which means handsome (or beautiful in the feminine form).

G had the tacos al carbon with beef and said they were simple but very good. I had the pick-your-own combo plate with a pork tamale, a soft stuffed relleno (in a poblano pepper), and rice and beans. The tamale was very good, and the relleno was also good but a bit too cheesy for me (which I could have predicted if I had been thinking). I liked the red Mexican rice (which I have always wanted to learn how to make) and the refried beans very much. We also liked the chips, which were thin, very crisp, and just the right level of salty, and the medium-spicy salsa.  I also had a house margarita and liked that it was very limey and not too sweet. I would definitely go back to try more things on the menu, especially the tacos and some of the breakfast items.

Action shot of G entering

House margarita

Build-your-own combo with chile relleno and pork taco

Tacos al carbon with beef

Detail from art that G liked

Front section of the restaurant and the bar area