Not Five Stars

This place is popular.  Sure they have fresh burgers with lots of unique toppings.  The bag o' fries is generous, but just not that tasty. The best fries in town are a few doors down from here. The food here is not very fast.  The barn they give you to eat in is noisy, uncomfortable, and crowded.  And I can make a pretty decent burger at home, with almost as much grease.

Sorry, Five Guys is not a Five Star rating in my book.  Maybe one. 

I like to do lunch with my usual lunch bunch for the food and for the conversation.  Hard to do the convo here.  Just not a fun place to sit and eat. Just OK food, zero ambiance.  I stay away.

Chili in Here

 

If you have not found Chili House yet, you should.  Probably not the best name for the place.  You will not find Texas-style nor Cincinnati-style here.  The only beans served here are in the form of tofu.  What you will find is a delicious mix of Asian offerings inspired from China, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.

It is located in S FoCo off College, tucked in the corner behind Burger King.  You may have heard that it burned up in 2015.  It did. But it has bounced back.

For lunch, there is no reason to stray from the unique 2nd column of the menu, with the Malaysian and Thai entrees. Sure, you can order like the usual American, and get Sesame Chicken. But why?  Up above we have Thai Spicy Rice Noodles with chicken, and yes, with red chili peppers on board.  No one else has that dish.  Yum.

So maybe it should be re-named Pepper House, or Chili Pepper House. Whatever. You Texans can stay away, but everyone else, enjoy.

It's Greek to Me

You'd think this here gyro came from Renzios Greek Food: A Taste of the Old World.  At least that's what the label says.  But you'd be wrong.  This came from Café Athens in SE FoCo, in the hot Front Range Village, a few doors down from Five Guys.

Renzios Greek Food was what it was called when the place was located in the old Foothills Fashion Mall food court.  Yep, Mall Food.  When the mall got shabby, the owners moved out.  Good thing they did.  Turns out the founders are former Greek farmers from Montana.  Yes, Montana. There are 7 locations, 2 in NoCo, with another one in Loveland between Dick's and Barnes & Noble on the back side of Centerra Promenade (hard to find).

This food is fast and good.  Recommend you go Hot & Spicy on the gyro, which means jalapeños.  Less boring that way.  The fries are some of the best around: crunchy & crispy.  Sorry Five Guys, like these better.

Room for Rumi's

 

If you find yourself in NE Greeley, look for Rumi's House of Kabob, it's in a house-restaurant, or "housetrant", on the main eastbound 1-way called 9th Street, park in the back.  Their offerings are Middle Eastern, above is their Koobideh and Chicken Kabob platter trio.  Comes with saffron rice, but the Greek salad is optional, ordering it makes it a "trio".  Koobideh is kinda like Iranian sausage: a ground mix of meats with spices and onions, really good stuff. You should mix the butter into the rice, then squeeze the roasted tomato over the rice also.  A nice surprise in Greeley.

Cajun Naked Burrito

Above we have the Jean Lafitte ($9) combo at J. Gumbo's, it's a combo of their Voodoo Chicken and Bumblebee Stew entrees, pretty much a naked (or just topless?) Cajun chicken burrito, but darn tasty.  Be sure to order a side of their scrumptious corn bread, if your order does not already come with one. 

Yes, this a small franchise, starting in Kentucky but with know-how from Gran Coteau, Louisiana.  It is very fast food. The only CO location so far is right here in the hot Front Range Village in SE FoCo, a few doors down from Five Guys.

Update: This place just did not make it.  Closed their doors Nov 2016.