Colorado Springs’ restaurant scene is continually improving in both scope and quality, much to the joy of the food-loving community. Sometimes even gourmands are too short on the time, money or inclination to sit down for a four-course meal. Sometimes you’re just hungry. Sometimes you just want to eat — and eat fast.
Insider Eats knows that feeling, the stomach rumble that only a good sandwich or frozen treat can satisfy.
So this week, we bring you a selection of newer restaurants — what we call “faster-food” — in the Pikes Peak area. Often classed as casual upscale cuisine, these eateries fill a delicious niche in the food scene as well as those nagging cravings.
Buttercup’s Frozen Yogurt
27 S. Tejon St., Suite 110
635-6666, buttercupsfroyo.com
Top-it-yourself frozen yogurt has recently become the darling of this strata of the food industry, and Buttercup’s takes upscale to new heights. The sunny front of the house feels like a hip coffee shop with its flat-screen TVs, couches and embossed copper tables. Aside from ambience, however, Buttercup’s also elevates the now-common fro-yo concept with the quality of their “yo:” The yogurt is made from local, hormone-free milk with no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners.
There are more than 16 flavors, and they are as vibrant as the pops of lime green in the interior design. The vanilla birthday cake genuinely reminded me of the moist crumb of white sheet cake, while another cake, the cheesecake, captured its creamy richness. On the lighter (tasting) side, the fruit yogurts oozed honest, zesty flavors. The black cherry is a sweet, silky version of the real fruit — minus the pits. Try the seasonal flavor called blood orange, if you’re looking for a bright, tart explosion.
Staff members guided me through the process of choosing yogurts and toppings, which are then weighed and cost $0.42 per ounce. Many combinations were excellent, such as moist brownie bites to top of banana yogurt, cookies and cream cheesecake with thin mint bits, fresh strawberries and granola atop mango. “Recipe” ideas are also listed on the menu.
Start to finish, Buttercup’s has a professional gloss that belies the fact it’s the only location of the locally owned and operated shop.
Larkburger
1904 Southgate Road
466-6111, larkburger.com
The cabin-like feel of the restaurant offers a hint to Larkburger’s birthplace in Vail, where Chef Thomas Salamunovichs put an all-natural, gourmet burger on the Larkspur Restaurant menu. Over time, the sandwich’s popularity warranted a spin-off restaurant. Today there are seven Larkburgers up and down theFront Range.
The gourmet roots are immediately evident in the titular burger: the 1/3-pound Black Angus Larkburger ($5.95, $0.50 upcharge for cheese). Wrapped in tan paper and tucked in a paper box, the patty is cooked perfectly to temperature — a lovely pink in the middle if ordered medium. The depth of the beef flavor is impressive for a gourmet restaurant, let alone for faster-food.
In addition to the all-natural, quality meat, the house-made sauces are a great touch. The smoky, spicy “adobe” sauce on the moist chicken burger ($6.50), along with the cilantro and crispy jalapeño toppings, made it a sandwich to remember. The fries ($1.95), on the other hand, were delicate, hand-cut matchsticks that looked delicious but needed more crunch.
Larkburger’s clean white booths and sunny patio certainly elevate the burger-chain concept, and its very obvious dedication to running green leaves diners with a clean conscience. The restaurant is 100 percent wind powered, containers are all biodegradable, and the kitchen’s canola oil is reused as automotive fuel.
Tokyo Grill
7807 N Academy Blvd.
265-6666, tokyogrillco.com
Tokyo Grill, a new fast-casual, hibachi-inspired Japanese restaurant, is unexpectedly attached to a gas station at Briargate and Academy boulevards near Chapel Hills Mall. Fast-food joints traditionally inhabit such spaces, and Tokyo Grill still has and uses the drive-thru. The interior, however, thwarts expectations.
Modern tables line both walls, and the food photography is mouth-watering, leading you to believe you stepped into a tiny, street-food bistro off a bustling Japanese street. Friendly counter servers offered us samples of the signature teriyaki chicken — which is savory, moist and potentially habit-forming — and explained that they cook without microwaves and without MSG.
Thanks to that attention to detail, I had the best-cooked, best-tasting shrimp I’ve ever eaten so close to a gas pump. They popped in my mouth in the Hibachi Shrimp entree ($6.95, $8.95 combo), which was accompanied by grilled mixed vegetables that were obviously fresh and raw moments before. The steak ($7.95 entree, $9.95 combo), too, was sizzled fresh and the way steak should be, until barely pink and not mealy brown.
While fresh, Tokyo Grill can be a little salty. Also, the house rice served with entrees is tasty if unusually peppery. Still, by providing access to tasty Japanese food in-house, at the drive-thru or even by delivery, Tokyo Grill is a welcome addition to the faster-food scene.
Which Wich Superior Sandwiches
5102 N. Nevada Ave., Suite 130
599-9424, whichwich.com
In an age where casual upscale sandwich shops proliferate, Which Wich not only has a cute name but has also developed a novel approach to sandwich creation. Next to the typical wall menu are slots with brown paper envelopes for each sandwich type: chicken, turkey, ham, veggie, etc. Instead of giving orders verbally, customers use markers to customize their sandwich on the envelopes.
Such details include choice of 11 cheeses, four mustards, four mayos, a dozen sauces and dressings, and unique veggie choices like olive salad, coleslaw, sauerkraut and more. After completion, your order travels down a clothesline and emerges stuffed with your sandwich creation on the other side.
The process is fun, and the sandwiches are constructed with quality ingredients for great, certainly more upscale results. The toasted Cuban, with ham, pork and pickle slices (7-inch regular for $7.75) burst with lip-licking flavor, and the pepper jack cheese was a nice addition. I also liked the red, spicyBuffalosauce on a chicken sandwich ($8.20 for a 7-inch combo with drink and house-made chips), and the coleslaw topping turned out to be a fun, quirky combination.
As a fast-proliferating national chain, corporate polish and speed were obvious even in the first days of this flagship Colorado Springs store. Customers need not be so speedy, however. There are more than 50 different sandwiches available, and that’s not including topping variations. Therefore, it’s likely Which Wich has your absolute ideal sandwich lurking somewhere in its envelopes.
CLICK HERE (jpeg version) to read this article, which published in the April 6, 2012 Go! section of The Gazette.
It’s Friday. So slide into a booth and burn away the week’s troubles with a customarily addictive house salsa and warm chips. For bigger troubles, administer a dose of habanero sting from the unique cabbage slaw salsa. Water in a fountain splashes somewhere nearby while ceiling fans twirl above.
This is, by far, the best, most convincing and, yes, only indoor cantina I’ve experienced. Now filled with various businesses, Tiffany Square was once a mall and a fountain near the escalators is the source of the gurgling water. The restaurant’s faux walls, complete with paned windows, rise only halfway to the vaulted glass ceiling for an open-air feeling.
