Karl IS Crazy

Here's a new place off Drake and Timberline, called Krazy Karl's Pizza.  This location is new, opened up last month, their first expansion from the 2010 original, a very popular site near the CSU campus.  Nice to see another local eatery succeeding.

And I can taste why.  I was was not excited, at first, when the lunch bunch decided to go Italian, but I'll make an exception here.  Above is one their grinders, the Philly version.  Kinda like a calzone, but more like a huge sandwich wrapped in a delicious (pizza) crust.  Almost too much food for lunch, and very cheap at $7.  Starving-student prices and servings, off campus in SE FoCo.  The food here is not exactly fast, but worth the wait. I will be back!

Tom + Chee = Whee

Tried a newish niche restaurant in SE FoCo recently, and their name does not mince words about the menu: Tom+Chee serves 3 kinds of tomato soup and a variety grilled cheese sandwiches. It opened in FoCo in the spring of 2015, (right next to the new pancake place). And therein lies the issue with niche.  Everyone in your lunch bunch has to love the narrow food window, or you may never go there.  That happened, I'd never been, until I ate out alone this day, (which, yes, is kinda sad and lonely, I know.)

That said, they have a fun origin story.  Started in the winter of 2009, the founders provided hot food from a tent at an outdoor Cincinnati ice skating venue.  It grew from there. The Man v. Food Nation TV show picked them up, then Shark Tank also funded them. Now they have about 40 locations, and FoCo is a hot place for new food ideas. 

How's the food?  I like the niche they are in, and on a cold winter's day, this is comfort food for the right customer.  However, most folks can make pretty awesome, simple meals like this easily at home.  Does not really work for me in the warmer months.  Also, kinda pricey, $14 lunch up there.  Perhaps the investors on that show really are sharks, and the prices reflect their toothy chomp on the profits. So I have some doubts about how long this one will last, but glad I got to try it in my neighborhood (during a snowstorm).

Use yer Noodle

Here's another successful franchise born & raised in CO.  Headquartered today in Broomfield, the first one opened in Cherry Creek in 1995.  Now there are over 500 locations, with 61 of those in the home state.

We used to eat here a lot with the lunch bunch when it first arrived in SE FoCo on Timberline.  Over the years, however, the portions got smaller and the prices went up. Harder to get full at lunch without extras here today.  But on a cold day, their chicken noodle soup above does hit the spot.  I do enjoy some of their Asian noodle bowl offerings, the ones that have a bit of a spicy kick.

Another Mc, but Not Donald's

Another chain deli in SE FoCo, McAlister's has about 400 locations, mostly in the south.  It began in 1989 in Mississippi, and is famous for their iced tea. There are 7 sites in CO right now.  Up above is their Blank Angus Club: roast beef, 2 cheeses, bacon, but the red onion with horseradish sauce really makes it yummy.  In the center you can get mashed potatoes with gravy as a side ... mmm, not too many places offer that kind of comfort food for lunch.  Sure, it's from their leftover baked potatoes, but I do not mind. Not my favorite deli in town, but everything tastes good here.

Longhorn Steaks

Longhorn, a new chain steakhouse in Fort Collins next to where Sears used to be, is part of the new Foothills Mall renovation.  The chain started in Atlanta, has about 500 locations today, but only 3 so far in CO.

We like everything we've had here, it all tastes great.  Above we have their Wild West Shrimp appetizer, a kinda spicy popcorn shrimp platter. Below that is their best ribeye, grilled over an open flame.  The stakes arrive with melted butter on top, and a seasoning mix that really works for me.  You do not need any extra steak sauce slathered on here -- great flavor as-is.

They probably should have built a bigger space.  The room is not large, so, usually long lines to get in here.  Not cheap, but delicious.

NoCo is Hot for Food

It is not your imagination.  The NoCo area is known in the faster food industry as a hot spot to start a restaurant, or branch out a growing franchise.  Here's a study from 2013 that shows the combined Fort Collins-Loveland market was #1 per capita for "fast casual" dining locations. So it's true, we get so many new places because we do support the good ones, and companies look to open here.  Trend setters, us, right here all along.  Makes eating out here more fun than most anywhere else.