Broomfield Restaurant Reviews

Can you believe there’s a Mexican restaurant in Broomfield that I haven’t reviewed?  There is, and it’s called Chico’s Mexican Food.  I’d seen the place for years, but I always thought that side of the street was considered Westminster.  But it’s Broomfield.

So I went in recently with a coworker for some lunch, and was served by none other than Chico himself.  He founded the restaurant over 20 years ago.  I don’t know if it’s always been in this location, but it’s currently near the corner of 128th (which is also Midway) and Lowell, right next to the 7-Eleven store.

Chico’s is a small, unpretentious place.  I think he has only about 4 tables in the whole place.  When we came to the counter to order, the proprietor encouraged us to put something on the one table that was free, so someone else wouldn’t take it.  Also there were a few regulars, a couple kids on summer break, and a pinball machine.

One of the regulars was hassling Chico about the green chile not being hot enough.  Chico turned back to the window leading to the kitchen and yelled, “Hey Ma, Mike says the chile’s not hot enough.”  And then Chico told the guy (Mike, I guess) that he only gave him half mild and half hot because he didn’t think he could handle the hot.  After this back-and-forth, you can imagine I had to order the hot.  Specifically, I ordered the “Tamale Plate” with hot green chile on top.  I think I said “tamales plate” since I couldn’t figure out if the overhead menu meant “tamal plate” (in which case I’d get one) or the “tamales plate” (in which case I’d get more than one).  I wanted more than one, so I said “tamales.”  Anyhow, Chico snorted and gave me the “tamale plate” which is really just one tamal plus rice and beans and chile.  Not wanting to get into a Mexican grammar argument with a Mexican-American, I just shut up and ate.

The chile was indeed pretty darn spicy.  So I don’t know what Mike was complaining about.  Any hotter and it would’ve interfered with the flavor of the dish.  The beans were also very tasty, thanks to the generous addition of lard in the kitchen.

Speaking of which, my coworker wanted a vegetarian burrito, but Chico pointed out that “everything” is cooked with lard and the only vegetarian item on the menu is the quesadilla.  So, in the end, said coworker ordered his egg and potato burrito anyhow, but with red chile (which doesn’t have chunks of pork like the green).  Not really vegetarian, but the closest thing you can reasonably get, I guess.

The tamale plate didn’t fill me quite up, and I wanted to try their guacamole, so I ordered a guacamole tostada.  I wasn’t very impressed with the guac, and the tostada seemed like it came out of a box instead of being homemade.  Chico said they make their own guacamole there, but from the taste of it, I wasn’t convinced it was fresh.  So that was a bit of a bust.

The day I was there, just about everyone was ordering the Mexican hamburger.  So on my next trip, that’s what I’m going to try.

Finally, I should point out the prices are very reasonable.  The tamale plate was $4.35 and the guacamole tostada was $2.20.  A deluxe burrito with bean and beef is only $3.85.  The menu also lists a “Family Pack” which is 5 bean & cheese burritos, 5 beef tacos, and 5 bean tostadas for $21.99.

Chico’s Mexican Food
12920 Lowell Blvd.
Broomfield, CO 80020
303-469-0553

I just read this from the Broomfield Enterprise:

http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/news/2009/may/30/broomfield-hooks-butcher-shop-with-tax-incentives

Herb’s Meat and Specialty Foods, which has been a Boulder fixture since 1976, will relocate to the Depot Hill Shopping Center at the corner of U.S. 287 and 10th Avenue. High rents and a shifting customer base are forcing the independently owned butcher out of its longtime home.

Woo hoo!  A real butcher shop within walking distance of my house.  Now if we could just get an independent owned coffee shop and a real bakery in the same area…

Bombay Palace is Broomfield’s newest Indian restaurant.  A few weeks ago, it took over the empty location where Buddha Indian Cuisine once stood, next door to La Casita de Durango and across Nickel Street from Target.

I’ve eaten at Bombay Palace three times now, twice for lunch and once for supper.  Their lunch buffet is above average, I’d say.  In addition to the usual Indian lunch buffet favorites (tandoori chicken, etc.) they have some more interesting dishes I don’t see very often, like noodles and mango custard and eggplant.

Last week, Beth and I went to Bombay Palace for supper for the first time, and we both enjoyed it.  We had rice and papadums and naan, of course.  The naan was sub-par, for some reason.  It just wasn’t fluffy or crispy enough.  For our entrees, we ordered Bombay Special Chicken and Bindi Masala.  We asked for both to be prepared medium spicy, but I thought they were both very mild.  So I’m not sure if their spicy scale is just miscalibrated, or if the cook misread “medium” to be “mild” or something.

Notice I said “cook.”  I’m pretty sure there was only one person working in the kitchen, with the waitress occasionally going back there to help out.  It took quite a while for our food to come out - long enough for Beth to start getting very impatient.  But once the food arrived, it was good.  The Bombay Special Chicken, though mild, was very good.  It was marinated chicken cooked in the tandoori oven, and then served with an orange colored cream sauce on the side.  The sauce was super yummy, and the flavors mixed really well.  Bindi Masala is okra, sauteed with onion, ginger, tomato, and spices.  We couldn’t finish it all, so I brought the rest home.  I liked it, but wished it had been prepared spicier.

So, my overall impressions of the place: better food than the other Broomfield Indian restaurant, needs more spice, supper took too long to cook.  I’ll definitely go back for lunch sometime, and maybe for supper again.  Our server also said they’re going to start having a dinner buffet on the weekend starting in a few weeks.  I’d like to try that and see how it is.

300 Nickel Street
Broomfield, CO 80020
720-887-0400

Oh, and they have a website: http://www.thebombaypalace.com

The concept of Bagali’s is very enticing to me.  I really, really wanted to like this place.  But after two visits, I just don’t think I’ll go back.

First off, Bagali’s is “New Orleans Inspired Italian” which sounds like an interesting concept to me.  And after visiting the oldest pizza restaurant on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain a couple weeks ago, it’s not as strange as you might thing.  The idea, as the manager explained to me on our first visit, is mixing traditional Italian food (like pasta and tomato sauce) with traditional New Orleans food (like blackened catfish).  So if you’re wondering where to go to get blackened catfish spaghetti, Bagali’s is the place.  In reality, though, the restaurant (or at least their patrons) seem to be most interested in their fairly ordinary pizza.

Our first visit was marred by spotty service.  It was just a bunch of little things, like the waiter taking away my one fork with my salad plate and then not bringing me another.  And the way he mis-pronounced items from the menu (”cannelloni” became “cantelloni”).  But the manager came by and Beth and I talked to him for a long time.  He seemed genuinely interested in our opinions and concerned about making his restaurant the best it could be.  I gave him tons of free advice, and then went back about a month later.

Sadly, that visit also was marred by spotty service.  Again, it was little stuff, like the waiter telling me they don’t serve Limonata when they do (he later apologized and gave me a can to take with me as we were on our way out the door, after the dishwasher told him where they’re kept).  But on that second visit, I came to realize the quality of the food just wasn’t good enough to make up for the so-so service.  And that means there’s just no real compelling reason for me to want to go back.

If you’ve had better (or worse) experiences at Bagali’s please leave a comment!

Bagali’s
570 Zang St.
Broomfield, CO 80021
(303) 465-9463

My wife Beth and I visited the long-awaited Heaven Star twice in their first week.  Though things were shaky both times, we’ll be back.

The first visit was on Wednesday January 21, the day after they opened.  We went in the evening, when they’re serving dinner from a menu.  To get dim sum, you must visit during lunch, between 11 AM and 3 PM.  The dinner menu was extensive, and included favorites of Americanized Chinese food (sesame chicken, for instance) as well as things that I can only assume are authentic (various tripe dishes).

We ordered scallops with vegetables and sesame beef.  I wanted some hot and sour soup, so I ordered a cup of that.  We also ordered a pot of tea.  The server asked what kind, and they serve three different types, but I can’t remember what they all were.  All I remember was they didn’t have chrysanthemum tea (which I like from King’s Land in Denver) and so I ordered jasmine tea.  I wanted steamed rice, but Beth wanted fried rice.  The server said that would be no problem.  But it turned out to be.

The hot and sour soup was fine, but nothing out of the ordinary.  I could’ve been from any Chinese restaurant in Broomfield.  They brought the scallops and vegetables out first, and at first I waited for a bit for the other entree to arrive before digging in.  But after a few minutes, it was clear the beef wasn’t following right behind so I started serving up the scallops.  About five minutes later the beef finally arrived, and kept right on going.  Apparently, the person running plates to the dining room didn’t know that plate was supposed to stop at our table, so Beth had to go flag her down.  When Beth asked where the fried rice was, she got a blank stare - the universal sign of “I don’t speak English.”  So Beth grabbed another server who came by to refill our water glasses and asked for the fried rice.  Another five minutes went by and some fried rice appeared.  So, we did eventually get all the food we asked for, but it was a confusing mess.  Negative points for service.

The food itself was very tasty, though.  Both entrees were nice.  The fried rice was pretty boring, however, and made us wonder if it was really worth the trouble of having to order it twice.

On this visit, it was pretty clear the restaurant opened about a week before it should have.  Many of the interior decorations were just sitting on the floor in the lobby, the walkway from the parking lot to the door wasn’t finished, and the servers were poorly prepared.

Our second visit was Sunday morning, just four days later.  We went for dim sum at 11 AM with some friends.  In just those four days, they finished the interior decorations.  We were able to get a table with only about a 5 minute wait, but I’m glad we arrived when we did.  By the time we finished and were on our way out, there were people crammed into every nook and cranny in the lobby, and it was almost impossible to move through the crowd waiting to be seated.

Beth wanted to order “something new” in addition to our usual dim sum favorites.  One of our friends had eaten dim sum before and the other was a total newbie.  So we had three different opinions on what we wanted.  All I can say is the quality was good; to me, it’s about the same quality as King’s Land, which is my favorite.  But this restaurant is only 3 miles from our house, instead of 30, which is nice.  The service didn’t seem as random as our dinner trip, maybe because dim sum served from carts is always a little chaotic.  I definitely got my fill, and we had most of my favorites, so I left happy.

Oh, as an aside, I did make my treacherous way through the mob in the lobby to use the rest room once.  I think Heaven Star has the nicest rest rooms of any Chinese restaurant I’ve seen, and definitely the fanciest of any dim sum restaurant.  We’ll see how long they stay that nice.

Overall, I’d give Heaven Star a thumbs up for both dinner and lunch.  I can’t wait to go back, in fact!  I just worry that with a dim sum restaurant so close to home, it may not seem so special to me any more.  But until then, more dumplings!

Heaven Star
6700 W 120th Ave
Broomfield, CO 80020
(303) 635-1688

By the way, there are a few early comments about Heaven Star over here on my post about the fact that it’s coming soon.  I also see that Yelp already has 6 reviews of the restaurant, located here.  But I haven’t seen any reviews by Westword or the other newspapers yet.

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.

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Update: The restaurant opened January 20.  I visited twice in the first week and wrote this review of it.  So I’m disabling comments on this post now.  Please leave your thoughts about Heaven Star over here.

Update: As of December 2008, it looks like Buddha Indian Cuisine has gone out of business.  They didn’t even last 6 months.  So sad.

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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.