The Kitchen Gets Reviewed By 5280; Westword Takes On Curtis Creamery

The Kitchen Denver on 16th St. in LoDo opened in March, the fourth restaurant from the Kitchen Community restaurant group. In November's 5280 review, Shari Caudron awards three stars for ambiance, two and a half stars for food, and just one and a half stars for service. She describes a dining experience that is quite different from the flagship restaurant in Boulder; the Denver restaurant appears to be a place that is still searching for its identity. A big fan of the Boulder location, Caudron has yet to find in Denver that same warm, community vibe which The Kitchen is known for. She praises the new Kitchen's design and energetic modern space, a dining room over three times the size of Boulder's. She warns that on busy nights both the kitchen and the wait staff are easily overwhelmed. Caudron points to the larger space as a culprit, that it creates more room for things to go wrong and go wrong they do.

She explains waiting too long for cocktails, salmon that is fishy, peaches that are under ripe, not being able to find her server when she wants the check. Some over the dishes went over very well, favorites include smoked mussels, merguez sausage, and roasted lamb loin. Even though Caudron was disappointed, she is suggests giving The Kitchen Denver some time and is hopeful that it will get better. [5280]

In this week's Westword review, critic Gretchen Kurtz writes on downtown Denver 's Curtis Park Creamery, a long-lived, family-run Mexican joint on 30th St. She is surprised that there are no tables but suggests eating in the park across the street. No substitutions are allowed and holding up the line because of indecision is strongly frowned upon, but writes that she was always met with friendly service. Kurtz would take the red chile over the green and suggests the breakfast burritos, the taquitos, and the #4-a ground beef and re-fried bean burrito. [Westword]

Ruth Tobias of the Denveater blog, talks about the "Spaghetti and Meatballs" at Euclid Hall. The dish is composed of spaghetti squash, mushroom croquettes, blistered tomatoes, fresh oregano, and pecorino croutons. She reluctantly ordered the item to be healthy. The dish more than exceeded her expectations with its flavor, which she describes as, "fierce, spraying rounds of ammo in the form of chopped garlic & chili flakes. Granted, those juicy, earthy, whole-wheaty croquettes softened each blow." [Denveater]

· Parallel Universe, The Kitchen Denver searches for its identity. [5280]
· Curtis Park Creamery serves up Mexican comfort food in endless combinations [Westword]
· Dish of the Week: "Spaghetti & Meatballs" at Euclid Hall [Denveater]