chef kelly whitaker and his crew at basta up in boulder are putting out some amazing food from their wood fire oven. this is certainly one of jp’s and my favorite restaurants. if you’re looking for some thoughtfully prepared and perfectly seasoned food that just makes you feel so so good and well-fed, next time you’re in boulder make this your spot for dinner. we had a feast the last time we were there — a little bit of everything. my go-to is the burrata and at least one of their pizzas. and then whatever chef whitaker recommends. ramona can be picky. she never turns down food here. i’m no food critic or writer so hopefully the photos can speak for themselves:
basta is open every day, 5:00 until 10:00. they serve a friday lunch from 11:30 until 2:30. chef whitaker is opening up a place down the street from the populist at 25th and larimer and we cannot wait to have him join the neighborhood.
my parents were recently in town. every time they come to visit we make sure to make a trip up to boulder. usually we time it with the farmers’ market. we extended our stay up there this time, getting in a full late morning and early afternoon of adventures. we’ll most likely never live in boulder (but if we found some land we could afford on the outskirts of it, that might be a different story) but we love taking day trips up there as it has such a different feel than denver. here’s what we did that day that i’d highly suggest for any family with (or without!) little ones:
- start at the boulder creek. dip your toes in it. picnic in the shade of the trees (there’s also many grassy spots for frisbee throwing etc along the banks).
- then walk along the river path down to the boulder farmers’ market (saturday mornings and wednesday evenings). pick up fresh, local, organic produce for your dinner.
- finish up your visit with a refreshing visit to the small splash pad along the pearl street mall. make sure your little one either has a swim diaper or swimsuit as they’re required (or be willing to sacrifice your child’s clothes, as we did!).
what day trips do you take to get outta your town?
for someone who’s hated brunch in the past (at least working it: the dynamic of diners is completely different than dinner service. these sleepy, hungry, grumpy people want their food NOW!), we sure have been going out to brunch as a family a lot. it’s a nice start to our weekend. we don’t have to cook, our kitchen doesn’t have to get messy, and we get to do some R&D by trying out great new places popping up in the denver/boulder food scene (the universal, linger, sassafras are our recent favorites).
so after our hunger-inducing sunday hike at sanitas, we decided to try SALT. we found a quiet corner table looking out on pearl street and settled in. pictured above are the margarita special (it was cinco de mayo, after all), chilaquiles, odell’s ipa, and the tom’s tavern burger that jp and i ordered. everything was scrumptious! ramona got the kids’ mac and cheese, which we may or may not have helped her eat bc it was so so good. we finished up w doughnuts, which i can confidently speak for ramona when i say they were her favorite. (btw: someone in denver or boulder NEEDS to open up a decent doughnut shop. pretty please!)
not to mention, the service was fantastic. the young lady knew her food, treated us warmly, and engaged sweetly w ramona. what a great spot this is!
looking to dine in boulder? my suggestions for dinner spots are: basta (our personal favorite), oak at fourteenth, pizzaria locale, the kitchen (all of them), frasca (if you’ve got the moola). we look forward to going back and trying SALT for dinner. what other spots must we try?
a sunday hike at sanitas in boulder. i carried mo on my back in the boba, which found to be a challenging and humbling effort. but i did it! there really are so many beautiful places to explore in the denver and boulder area. jp and i aren’t huge campers, and certainly not mountaineers. but we do enjoy a day hike here and there and have fun trying different trails in the area. coloradans: what’s your favorite local day hike?
dear ramona,
you’ve got the sweet tooth of your father.
i love you. love, mama.
(doughnuts enjoyed at salt in boulder. a recap of this fine establishment to follow.) a portrait of ramona, once a week, every week, in 2013. inspired by jodi’s project.welcome
