Broomfield Restaurant Reviews

Today I had lunch at Cracovia Polish-American Grill.  At least I think that’s the name.  I’m still not totally sure what the exact name of this restaurant is.  The menu says “Cracovia - Your Family Restaurant - A Taste of Poland.”  When I arrived, about 12:30, there were three other groups of people there.  Two of them were speaking Polish and the third group was speaking English.  All the other patrons were middle aged or older, and most of them were dressed like they just came here from church.

When I walked in the door with my backpack slung over my shoulder, wearing shorts and sandals, several people turned and stared.  And I thought, “This place has only been open two weeks, so how can anyone develop in that short time a sense of ownership of the joint that they would stare at newcomers?”

The dark haired neighbor boy that used to live three doors down was there, as the busboy.  He’d just started a couple days ago.  There were three waitresses working the place, one of them a trainee.  They’d only opened 13 days ago, so I guess everyone’s a bit new.  The three waitresses all spoke both Polish and English, and were all in their late teens or early twenties.  I’m guessing they grew up in America to Polish-American families, because they all spoke American English fluently.

After I got settled, they brought me a menu, a glass of water, some bread, and a little bowl of white and brown stuff that I’m guessing is pork lard, with a spoon.  There was no butter, so I’m guessing the lard’s for the bread.  I tried some, and it was OK, but I’m thinking it must be an acquired taste.

I asked the waitresses what they would recommend, since everything on the menu sounded good to me.  One suggested the “schabowy” which is her favorite dish, so I decided to go with that.  Plus, she said her mother works in the kitchen so she guarantees that it’s good.  They asked if I wanted some kind of beetroot salad or pickles, and I went for the pickles.

When it all arrived, I found what I got was a platter with the schabowy on it.  That’s basically a schnitzel, a piece of pork pounded flat, breaded, and fried.  On the side were two scoops of mashed potatoes with some sauteed onions, and a little garnish.  On a separate plate were three halves of dill pickles.  It was all yummy, and I ate nearly everything (though I found I didn’t need the 3rd pickle).

They don’t have “to go” menus yet, so I had to ask for the regular menu back so I could write a few things down.  For appetizers, they have soups, borscht, and a beef tripe dish.  The main courses range from $5.25 to $12.99; I’m not sure if any of them are vegetarian.  The menu has a section of side dishes and salads that range from $1.50 to $3.25.  They have a desserts section with items called kemowka, rolada, and paczki.  (Note: my keyboard doesn’t have the funky characters from the Polish menu, so I’m spelling these things out using the letter in English that looks closest)

They also have the usual soft drinks, plus ginger ale and tonic, orange and cranberry juice, and tea and coffee.  They have a few beers to drink: Budweiser, Okocim, Lomza, Zywiec, and Piast.  And lastly, the menu had a few California wines.

I asked one of the waitresses how business has been and she said so far they’re more popular for supper than for lunch.  Yesterday (a Saturday) they were packed and there were so many customers even at 4 PM that the staff couldn’t have their traditional “family” meal together before the dinner crowd arrives.  She said most of them were from the local neighborhood, people who didn’t really know Polish food but wanted to try it out.

And I guess that description fits me, too.  It’s not a style of food that I really crave, but I can definitely imagine going back.  The food was very tasty, and reasonably priced.

Cracovia Polish-American Grill
8121 W. 94th Avenue
Westminster, CO
303-484-9388

Broomfield now has our own Protos.  If you’ve never been, Protos is a local chain of pizzerias.  I’ve visited the one on Platte in Denver and the one in Lafayette, and so Beth and I decided to try the new Broomfield location on their opening week.

Protos does what they call “Napoletana Style Pizza” which I guess means thin crust.  I liked their pizza at the other two locations, and the Broomfield location has the same good stuff.  We ordered “The Proto Pie” which has mozarella, tomato sauce, fresh basil, and Italian sausage.  Yum.

I also had a Caesar Salad which was fine; my strongest memory of that was that I didn’t like their anchovies.  Lots of folks don’t like anchovies at all, but if you find a place that has good ones they’re a nice addition to a salad.

There’s not much else to say about the food.  It’s good, and reasonably priced.  So let me talk about the location.  Proto’s is in the Arista village, just down the road from the Broomfield Event Center.  As far as I know, it’s the first restaurant in that area, not counting the food stands inside the event center (and no, I’m not going to bother to write anything on the Broomfield Restaurant Reviews site about those).  The area is still under heavy construction.  There’s a set of apartment buildings that are open now, but most of the lofts and other commercial spaces were unfinished when we visited.

I have high hopes for Arista, which was “sold” as a work/live community centered around a local public transit hub.  So far, it’s not even possible to get there by RTD, so they’ve got a long way to do to turn it into a transit hub.  If they can attract good businesses and move the Park-N-Ride over there, it would be an awesome place to live, I think.  But on the other hand, this is Broomfield, and I have yet to see anything but talk and grand plans regarding modern city planning.  But I do hope they’re able to pull it off, and I hope other good restaurants and shopping outlets come in alongside Proto’s.

Proto’s Pizzeria Napoletana
8001 Arista Place
Broomfield, CO 80021
303-466-2112

Open daily at 11

Can you believe Broomfield now has not only one but two Indian restaurants?  As of three months ago, we’d never had even one (as far as I know) and now we have two!  I already reviewed Buddha’s Indian Restaurant, and my wife and a couple weeks ago we just went to the other new one, called India’s Grill.

They’ve been open about 2 months.  When we were there, it wasn’t very crowded, with maybe only 2 or 3 other groups there for dinner.

At India’s Grill, they make their own chutneys, except the mango.  Their mint chutney is very spicy.  I really liked their onion chutney.  It was yummy and crunchy, and I took home an extra order of it in a little side dish container.

I started the meal with a pineapple lassi, which was really tasty and something I’d never had before.  It was quite refreshing.

Beth wanted vegetarian samosas, so we ordered some for an appetizer.  The filling had more of a curry flavor than most samosas I’ve had, and I liked that change of pace.  They were served on a plate with greens and some alfalfa sprouts, which was a nice touch.

For the main course we had lamb saag and chicken korma.  They were both pretty good, I thought.  They were served with mostly plain white basmati rice.  And of course we had naan.  The lamb seemed a little overcooked to me.  The korma sauce on the chicken was thinner than what you usually get at Indian restaurants in our area, but it seemed to have a homemade flavor that I couldn’t really put my finger on.  The naan tasted a bit different to me, too.  It reminded me more of Navajo fry bread for some reason.  Is that because of the flour used or the baking powder or what?  I have no idea.

Overall, I think I liked India’s Grill about as much as Buddha’s, so since Buddha’s is closer to our house I’m probably more likely to eat there.  But both are good choices for Indian food, and the only choices you have within the Broomfield city limits.

India’s Grill

2420 E Midway Blvd

Broomfield, CO 80020

(303) 404-9505

The Armadillo Mexican restaurant in Broomfield went out of business a few months back.  H.K. is a Chinese guy I work with, and he’s from Hong Kong, the world center of dim sum.  He told me he heard that a dim sum restaurant was moving in there, and I was so excited!

You see, ever since being introduced to dim sum on a business trip to San Jose, CA about 12 years ago, I’ve been really fond of it.  But the nearest dim sum to Broomfield is way down on Alameda, where apparently almost all the dim sum restaurants in Denver are.  I’m a fan of King’s Land, myself.  H.K. says it’s the most authentic.

But then weeks came and went, and I started to wonder.  I did a little research and couldn’t find any information at all about a dim sum restaurant.  I did find the public record of the sale of the property.  I think it was in 2007 and the new owner didn’t have the kind of name I’d expect from a dim sum restaurantier, if you know what I mean (it was something like George Leonidas).  So I gave up.

But just last week, after several months of nothing, a sign went up on the building:

Heaven Star Chinese Dim Sum Coming Soon

That’s all.  No date.  But I have noticed that some mild and slow-paced remodeling has been going on there over the past couple weeks.  So, I’m back to feeling optimistic that we’re going to get dim sum.  I don’t know if this is strange or not, but this dim sum restaurant will be almost at the exact geometric center of Broomfield’s 3 pho restaurants, and no more than 300 yards from any of them.

I’m even thinking of inviting Jason Sheehan (the restaurant reviewer for Westword) to go have dinner with us on opening night, as a way of celebrating.  But I doubt he’d stoop to dine with mere mortals.

Broomfield has its first Indian restaurant!  Hurray!  Beth and I had to try it last week on opening night, of course.  She’s the one who first introduced me to Indian food, and we both like it.  This new restaurant is called Buddha Indian Cuisine and it’s across Nickel from Target, in the location where Khow Thai used to be (Khow Thai opened and then went out of business within just a few months, before I had time to write a review of it).

Well, Buddha Indian Cuisine’s grand opening was last week, and it was a little shaky but good.

We had a free basket of very crispy papadums as I looked over the menu, which listed a couple of very interesting-sounding non-alcoholic drinks.  One was a mint cooler that sounded ideal for a warm evening (the air conditioning either wasn’t working or not working very hard) but they couldn’t make that one for me.  So I saw another drink that is listed as Adrak Limbo Ka Ras, “a ginger and lemon drink that will leave your taste buds wanting more.”  I asked for that as a backup, and the waitress said they didn’t have that one either!  So I settled for water.

For entrees, we went hog wild, ordering paneer korma (mild), fish jalfrazi (medium), chana masala (spicy), butter chicken (mild), and an order of roti bread.  Before the entrees were brought out, the server brought two big dishes.  The rice was a little weird, and I don’t think it was the usual basmati rice.  And on top of the rice were cold peas (maybe canned).

When the entrees arrived, the first thing I noticed was how big they were.  The portions are much more generous than some Indian restaurants we like.  In fact, they were probably the biggest portions of any Indian restaurant I’ve seen in Colorado.

The chana masala was actually spicy, which made me happy.  I was a bit afraid they were going to crank it down and make it too mild, but that wasn’t the case at all.  It was too hot for Beth to eat, which is about how I like it.  The butter chicken was very creamy, and probably the best sauce we had.  The other dishes were also good, though the bread was nothing to write home about.

We had lots of leftovers, and I think I got two more yummy meals out of it through the week.

So yesterday, I decided to go back and try the lunch buffet.  The first thing I asked for was the ginger drink - “adrak” - and this time they had it.  It was tasty, but sweet enough that I didn’t really want a refill.

The food was a fairly typical Indian buffet.  This visit the rice was definitely basmati style.  The buffet included tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, lentils, spinach (without cheese), vegetable samosas, veggie lo mein, and green salad with ranch dressing.  Sound like every other local Indian buffet?  Yeah, I thought so, too.

The buffet was $8.95 so I tried to eat my fill.  I couldn’t really complain about any of the food, but I was hoping for something - even just one thing - out of the ordinary.  I suppose you don’t see lo mein at most Indian buffets, but although it was good, it didn’t satisfy my desire for something new and extraordinary.

I asked a few questions of the servers and learned that it’s a family owned business.  The family’s name is Gurung, and they’re from Nepal (which I had guessed earlier since they didn’t really look Indian to me and looked more like the Sherpas I’d seen in TV shows and movies about Mount Everest).  There were two sisters and one brother serving food, and Dad is the cook.  Mom works there too, though I didn’t see her at lunchtime.

On my way out, I chatted a little with the siblings and asked if their father considered serving some special dishes from Nepal.  The son said he’s considering making momos.  In my opinion, that would be a nice addition to the menu, since the only thing I saw that wasn’t stock Americanized Indian food was the lo mein on the buffet and the two special drinks.

Next time I definitely hope to try the mint cooler.  Yes, we’ll be going back.  But too bad they don’t offer delivery!

Buddha Indian Cuisine
300 Nickel Street
Broomfield CO 80020
303-993-8036

One last thing: While researching this review, I learned a couple things.  First, traditional Nepalese food is closer to the Indian food we see in American restaurants than I thought.  Second, though the family name is Gurung, that is also the name of an ethnic group (presumably their own).  I’d read about something similar where the Sherpa people (also of Nepal) use “Sherpa” as both a family name and an ethnicity.

I don’t know what’s taken me so long to write something about this little gem of a Mexican restaurant.  It’s located in the strip mall across the street from Target - the same one that has the Big Dog Deli, the former Hot Shotz wings place, and the future new Indian restaurant.  I’ve gone to La Casita probably half a dozen times over the past few years.  I’m not sure what changed, but the food this past time was noticeably better than before.

It’s a family owned business, open every day except  Monday.  They offer delivery and take out in addition to table service.  Their menu says, “The Castro Family is proud to serve our customers authentic food that we prepare just like we do back in Mexico.”  I didn’t realize they’re open for breakfast, but now that I know I want to try their chilaquiles.

Last time I went, I had a torta, which was the lunch special of the day.  It was a very tasty sandwich on a perfectly toasted sub roll.  I also had a side dish of guacamole; it was tasty, but too much for a single person to eat.  It was especially too much given that the torta had guacamole spread on the bread.

The previous time I went, I had the carnitas platter.  It’s your basic carnitas, rice, beans, and tortillas.  The meat isn’t very spicy, and my only complaint was that they didn’t offer any salsas to round it out.  For $7.50, the price seems right.  Dinner prices and lunch prices are the same, since you get the same thing.

In addition to the 22 “Lunch & Dinner Plates” they also offer a variety of burritos in lots of combinations - supreme, veggie smothered, pork smothered, etc.  And they have 8 kinds of tacos: pollo, carnitas, barbacoa, buche, asada, al pastor, lengua, and tripas.

I’d also like to try some things from their “Specialty Items” menu, such as their queso fundido, a guacamole tostada, and maybe their sopes.

I can’t speak for how their delivery service is since I haven’t used it, but they say they have free deliver with a $15 minimum order, and a delivery radius of 5 miles.

Hours are:

Monday: closed
Tuesday through Friday: 10am to 9pm
Saturday: 8:30am to 9pm
Sunday: 9am to 6pm

La Casita de Durango
300 Nickel Street, Unit 21
Broomfield, CO 80020
303-410-4942

I had to get the oil changed in our truck the other day, and it was around lunchtime, so I stopped at Oscar’s for a sandwich to take with me to the auto repair shop.  Oscars is a tiny little building that’s about a block down Vance from 120th.  If you don’t know it’s there and don’t pay attention as you speed down 120th, you might never even see the place.  But it’s at 119th Place and Vance, “between Grease Monkey and Meineke” as the to-go menu says.

Oscars serves pizza and sandwiches, and so I decided to have the “Beef Cheddar Mushroom” sandwich.  They were out of cheddar cheese, said the proprietress in her eastern European accent.  So I had mozzarella instead.  The sandwich was just those three things on a very nicely toasted submarine roll.  It was very tasty, especially after I added a little bit of yellow mustard (from a packet I took from the concession stand at the baseball park).  The sandwich probably could’ve used some tomatoes and onions, but was still very good as-is. With a can of pop and a bag of chips, it was $6.75.

In addition to a variety of pizzas - including take ‘n’ bake pizza - and the hot and cold subs, Oscars also has fresh baklava for $2.99, a few salads, calzones, and gyros.  In fact, the Oscar’s to-go menu brags that they are “Broomfield’s Only Gyros Restaurant”.  That’s not really true, since the Mediterranean Cafe at FlatIron Crossing also serves gyros, but it’s enough of a statement that I think I should try their gyros next.  I’m pretty sure it’s of the variety that comes out of a box as thin slices of meat that you grill, as opposed to the big spit of rotating meat to be sliced off.

Oscar’s takes cash and credit cards, but no checks.  They’re open 11 to 6 Monday through Friday, 11 to 5 on Saturday, and closed on Sunday.  They have seating indoors and out.

Oscar’s
11890 Vance Street
Broomfield, CO 80020
303-404-3434

If I had my way, here are the types of restaurants that people would create in Broomfield:

• small family owned diner and coffee shop near Highway 287 and Miramonte, not unlike Mel’s Diner (which only stayed open less than 2 years, I think)
• fairly nice Indonesian restaurant
• Hawaiian BBQ, including plate lunch

Broomfield’s newest breakfast restaurant is “Bright -N- Early Breakfast” which just opened last week.  I went in for breaakfast on a snowy spring morning, and was the only patron.  The owner, Vince, said it’s been a bit of a slow start so far since he hasn’t done any real advertising yet; it’s just word-of-mouth.  Bright -N- Early Breakfast is really just a side room of Hot Shotz, in the strip mall just east of Target.

I didn’t really see a true menu per-se, but Vince said the special of the day was pancakes, eggs, and Canadian bacon.  That sounded good to me, so I went with that.  I did see another list of breakfast items, but I’m not sure if it was complete or not, and it didn’t have any prices.  But it included breakfast quesadillas, made-to-order omelets, danishes, breakfast burritos, and so on.

Don’t expect anything too fancy here.  The dining experience is similar to going for a big family reunion picnic or something.  The flatware is plastic, the plates are paper, and the tables are like those you’d find in a bar.  There are no napkins, just a roll of paper towels on each table.

But the food was good.  The pancakes were big and thick, and Vince offered to put cheese in my scrambled eggs, which I accepted.  All told, with a glass of milk, the breakfast came to $7.

Vince bought Hot Shotz from the previous owner last July, and has cleaned it up quite a bit.  I haven’t been there since that time, so I can’t speak for the hamburgers or hot wings or anything else.  But I plan to go back and try his Philly cheese steak sandwich, which he says is his best meal.

One nice touch was that the restaurant has free wi-fi.  You just have to ask for the password.  The owner wants to turn it into the kind of place where people come, have some hot breakfast, and hang out a while, which was exactly what I needed while waiting for my bus in a blizzard.

Hot Shotz and Bright -N- Early Breakfast
300 Nickel Street, Unit 1
Broomfield, CO 80020
303-460-0066

Yesterday, I had a few friends over.  I didn’t feel like cooking for them, and wasn’t too excited about the usual fast-food or carry-out options.  So we settled on ordering some pizza for delivery.  I’d just gotten a flier from Pudge Bros. Pizza, so we decided to give it a try.

We ordered two pizzas, a 14″ Hawaiian and a 14″ with half sausage and half pepperoni.  Delivery was reasonably prompt and courteous, but the pizza was unanimously blah.  Of the four of us, nobody was really excited about the two pizzas we got.  The crust was just so-so at best.  The cheese was pretty sparse.  And the toppings tasted like they were made by the lowest bidder, which is probably true.  In fact, I think the pepperoni was the blandest I’ve ever had.  I think they left out the “pepper” and just gave us the “oni” whatever that means.  I was hoping their “original zesty” sauce would liven things up, but it didn’t.

So, I told my friends that if I’m in the mood for pizza ever again in the future, don’t let me order from Pudge Bros. Pizza.  It’s tough to get a great pizza by delivery out here in the suburbs, but I think I’d rather just get something from the Taco Bell drive-through than eat this stuff again.

Pudge Bros. Pizza  (”Home of the Monster”)
1070 E 10th Avenue
Broomfield, CO 80020
303-404-35555