Lyfe Kitchen an Excellent Addition to Boulder’s East Pearl Street

The most unique thing about the new Lyfe Kitchen at 16th and Pearl Street in Boulder is situated right as you walk in the door. Diners are greeted by four separate menus: vegetarian/vegan, gluten free, wine & beer, and one that has everything the chefs prepare.

As a vegetarian, it is pretty nice to not have to page through a menu looking for non-meat dishes. Even better, Lyfe Kitchen has a focus of being both healthy and good for the environment, which means there are lots of vegetarian dishes on the menu.

I was lucky enough to receive an invite to a pre-opening lunch at the restaurant, when I had the chance to sample a number of dishes selected for me. Wanting to double check my opinions, my wife and I returned today, shortly after the October 15th opening,  for a second meal in one week.

Lyfe Kitchen is a fast-casual restaurant in which you can grab a menu, seat yourself, order at the counter, and have the food delivered to your table. The service is outstanding, with the many young kids seemingly trained to act mature beyond their years. We even ordered dessert when a staffer (not really a waiter) asked us if we were interested, gave us the menu options, took our credit card for payment, and brought us the dessert.

The “fast casual” label really belies the quality of the dishes and presentation – the meals we ate came out looking more like those you would expect in a nice, sit-down establishment but having taken half or one third the time.

Lyfe Kitchen has a great concept – healthy meals, options for everyone, excellent service, and fast delivery of your meal. By far, however, the most attractive part of the new restaurant are the flavors. I tried a total of six different entrees and all of them were filled with flavor, something that is woefully absent in so many establishments. The dishes I sampled included a margherita flatbread pizza, both a salmon and sea bass dish, fish tacos, a tofu Thai curry, and a hummus wrap.

So grab a friend and a menu at the door and give Lyfe Kitchen a try. It is an excellent addition to Boulder’s dining scene.