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

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Update: This restaurant went out of business sometime in summer of 2009.  So I’m marking it with the dreaded “Now Closed” category.

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.