A Walk up the Hill and Down to a Basement: Boulder's Thai Avenue

The Boulder International Film Festival found me in its namesake bubble-like town for only the second time in as many years. I have extolled all the virtues of this paradisiacal niche of forward-thinking uber-athletes and intellectuals in a prior post, so I won't tarry too much longer on that theme except to say that if you were unaware, there are entire sections of Boulder devoted to the development of the next generation of molecular biophysicists, EPA lawyers, aerospace engineers and the like. I am, of course, speaking of the University of Colorado.

The "Hill" if you are not aware, is an area near the Univeristy of Colorado campus where thousands of undergrads live, eat, drink and depending on the time of night, pee then pass out in the street. You might not guess it, and alternatively, it might send chills down your spine, but here lies a representative sample of people who will one day be running the proverbial show.

Luckily, we were there at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, and most of the Hill's residents were still sleeping. And it was here, in this hub of fraternizing (and sororitizing) that we came upon a small, basement-level food court with an interesting array of multicultural food options.

In a basement food court, one would typically expect to find any number of combinations of national pizza and submarine sandwich chains, yet here, wedged between a Canadaian poutine-slinging operation and a Nepalese joint was Thai Avenue, an independently Thai-owned and operated rice, noodle and curry food counter. We are talking Boulder after all. I think the guy behind the Bubba Chino's counter had a PhD.

Thai Avenue, as it were, is nothing more than a counter to place and pay for your order, and behind that a simple and well-used (though clean) kitchen. We ordered from the friendly woman, and after paying she turned her back to us and set to work on our meal. After a few flashes of the pan my wife's pad Thai was placed on a tray and we were beckoned forward. She ordered medium spicy and though not spicy at all, it was a tasty, well-seasoned large portion of this Thai standby.

My drunken noodles, on the other hand were boldly spiced (though not tremendously spicy) and packed with large chunks of beef amongst the wide noodles and fresh veggies including loads of bright lemongrass. It was an impressively good version of this Thai classic.

Thai Avenue didn't have a large menu, but my drunken noodles were so good I would readily come back and sample any number of dishes from this underground eatery. It's probably not worth the drive from Denver if it is your sole destination, but if you frequent our Front Range (step) sister city, check them out. And if you're a Thai Avenue regular, please chime in below on the rest of the menu.

Thai Avenue is open Monday to Saturday. Check them out on the World Wide Web or stumble on over to the hill and downstairs for some tasty Thai.