Can't Miss Meals in Boulder--Chautauqua Dining Hall and Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery

On this return trip to Boulder--after five long years away--I wanted to eat at some different places. But there were definitely places I had to go to again. I already mentioned the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House, but two other places also made it onto this trip's itinerary.


The Chauatauqua Dining Hall


It's not so much the food as it is the experience of dining here. The Chautauqua is one of my very favorite places (peruse the site and photos and it's easy to see why). But the food is wonderful, though I've only ever had breakfast.

The Chautauqua Dining Hall

The view from our table on the veranda

French toast with pecan butter (yum!)

We followed breakfast with a hike up into the Flatirons. Not my best decision though for some people, this "hike" is simply their daily dog-walking route. I stopped off on a rock while Mr. Eats ascended up the rocks and got passed by more than just a couple of little old ladies out for a walk. I tried not to be embarrassed, "Big breakfast, ha ha."


Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery


The other destination was Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery. During my first trip to Boulder, I went to Mountain Sun twice; it was that good. This time, we also went twice, but that's only because our first try was unsuccessful. This place is so popular that there was a crazy wait for a table at 9pm on a Sunday. A Sunday! But we went back on Monday (about 8:30pm) and only waited about 20 minutes. It was worth it.


Mr. Eats had a house-brewed root beer, but I opted for the Jah'Mon Ginger, which was a light lager with a heavy dose of ginger. Which was perfect. Also perfect? You can order beers in eight ounce sizes to experiment or just not get too loaded.

8 ounces of Jah-Mon Ginger Beer!

For dinner, I had the special "Case of the Mondays" wrap: Annapurna amber-baked tempeh, avocado, spinach, and roma tomatoes in a cilantro lime vinaigrette all wrapped up in a tortilla and served with a small salad. This tempeh was so good that it made me wonder why I can't prepare tempeh at home that tastes like this. Actually, I still don't know.


And of course, we had some cheese fries. You can't sit in a room devoted to jam band music drinking beer straight from the brewery without cheese fries, right? Okay, you can maybe, but I can't. I can only imagine what size I'd be if there were a Mountain Sun here in Nashville.


Chautauqua Dining Hall
900 Baseline Rd
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303-440-3776


Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery
1535 Pearl street

Boulder, CO 80302
303-546-0886

Fine(-r) Dining in Boulder

“Do you have a dress code?”

“Well, we’d like our guests to dress nicely, but this is Boulder.”


That about sums up finer dining in Boulder. Even though high end dining has become increasingly popular, folks still expect to wander in wearing trail pants, jeans and comfy shoes. Lucky for us as vacationers!

Our first night in town, we tried out Mateo for dinner. We’d walked past earlier in the day and I was tempted by a couple of different items on the menu. It’s also omnivore-friendly. Like many of the restaurants (finer dining and casual, too), Mateo strives to use local produce and meats and the fresh, seasonal tastes were very apparent. One of the specials was this wonderful sweet corn bisque topped with what I believe they called a zucchini beignet. It was sweet and savory at once and a perfect complement to an amazing soup.

For an entrée, I had the gnocchi a la’ parisienne--ricotta dumplings, local mushrooms, sugar snap peas and sweet corn in a shallot-thyme broth. The broth was so good, that I sopped up a bit with bread because I hated to waste it. The astute server discreetly brought me a spoon to help me out. The fresh bread is wonderful, but I was thankful to have the spoon. I hope the chef took that as a compliment.


Dinner was so delicious and filling, that we only had room for cocktails for dessert. The Meyer Lemonade was perfectly light and a wonderful way to end the meal.

A visit to Boulder really isn’t complete without a meal at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House. It’s a treat just to be inside, but the food also makes it worthwhile. And, of course, the tea. I started dinner with a white peony tea that was very light and delicate. Very little caffeine and wonderfully aromatic.

That was followed by my entrée, oyster mushroom polenta, topped with sundried tomatoes and spinach and served with a basil cream sauce. Oyster mushrooms are one of my favorite mushrooms and this was the perfect dish for them.

I had a difficult time deciding on a dessert, but opted for the chocolate flourless cake topped with Persian spiced dark chocolate ice cream, candied rose petals and rose syrup. The candied rose petals were delicious! And a perfect companion for a fantastic, rich chocolate used in both the cake and the ice cream. A great finish for the dinner.

Our last night in town, we went to the Black Cat Bistro. Black Cat has an organic farm and a booth at the wonderful Boulder Farmers Market in addition to the bistro (which was featured in The Wall Street Journal).

We started out with a wonderful little amuse bouche of cucumber and chopped tart apples. I followed that with a wonderful chilled cucumber soup that had me wondering how I could create it at home. I’m certain I can’t. Nevertheless, I now have two cucumbers languishing in the refrigerator.

For dinner, I had an entrée portion of the house-made orecchiette with grilled rapini and porcini mushrooms in a sage butter sauce. The pasta was rich and pillowy and the sauce was fantastic.

I could’ve ended there happily, but I just had to have the Madeira chocolate terrine. It was served with a vanilla genoise cake, strawberries and a dollop of whipped crème fraiche.

The bistro is a small place, so reservations are recommended. And when I say small, it’s reminiscent of New York as you are probably going to be privy to your neighbors’ conversation. But it’s well worth it and lived up to the hype. Dinner was wonderful and a great way to end our trip in a memorable way.


Mateo
2019 19th Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303-443-7766

Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
1770 13th Street
Boulder, Colorado 80302
303-442-4993


Black Cat
1964 13th Street
Boulder, Colorado
303-444-5500