No doubt you’ve been to a Mexican restaurant or an Indian restaurant, really any restaurant that doesn’t serve you chicken tenders with a side of corn dogs. Any of these places would be considered Ethnic restaurants. Ethnic restaurants are not just places to consume various foods, they are places to try food from foreign places: a snapshot of different cultures that is most exemplified here in our wonderful nation of immigrants Generally it is a given that most people have had Chinese food and know what a pizza is, but what makes a restaurant authentically ethnic and are these restaurants in Boulder good?
Food and culture are both closely linked. We do a lot with food, we not only use it to survive, we socialize with it, we use it as a way of giving, or a way of making money. We all eat food and it is one of the biggest similarities connecting us. The differences in our food have become more noticeable in the last century as globalization has been on the rise. Then comes ethnic food, well all foods have some ethnicity or some combination of ethnicities. Although when I use the word ethnic food, I refer to food that is foreign or different compared to the food of the dominant culture of the area.
Authenticity is how closely the food resembles the food of the representative culture. Now authenticity is not quantifiable and very subjective. Without writing an entire essay about the definition of authenticity. I’ll say that if an ethnic restaurants food bears some resemblance to the food it says to represent, its authenticity. My recommendation to find something truly authentic, is to notice who the food is for. If the food is made for people of the representative culture and they make up a majority of the clientele base, then it should prove to be somewhat authentic.
On the other hand, to determine if food is good or bad is pretty subjective unless you try to feed people dirt, which even then there might be a couple of people who would happily eat it. No, I’m only here to give you some options and opinions of various places to eat to put on your radar.
For Mexican food around Boulder I have none other than Efrain’s. It is well priced, the food is good, and has been voted best Mexican restaurant by the Boulder County’s People Choice awards since it arrived in Boulder.
Another notable ethnic restaurant to give a try is Kathmandu II. One Boulder High Student, Alec Schuler, described the restaurant as: “very yummy, it fills my tummy”. Kathmandu II is a great option for Nepalese food in Boulder with a lot of variety.
One of my favorites and a restaurant I don’t see nearly enough people talking about is the Mediterranean Market. Selling imported goods from a variety of mediterranean countries, they also make incredible gyros for only six bucks. Located right off 28th street near Walgreen. It may not have the best interior but their gyros are something else.
I was going to recommend a Vietnamese restaurant as my final recommendation, then I remembered that my father happens to be Vietnamese, giving him the higher authority on Vietnamese cuisine. My father told me that “Vietnamese food has 5 main flavors: sour, sweet, spicy, salty, bitter. Restaurants in Boulder don’t have a good balance of these flavors”. He describes the flavor as “diluted” and as if “there’s something missing”. His recommendation for authentic Vietnamese food is New Saigon in Denver if you’re up for the drive or in the area.