The Melting Pot Bubbles: Second Helping, February 27-March 3

This week we rounded up restaurants serving food from five of the seven countries listed in Donald Trump's travel ban — but we couldn't find a single Libyan or Yemeni restaurant. Just a couple of days later, though, a banner went up at 2353 South Havana Street in Aurora announcing...

By Westword Staff

March 3, 2017

Quality Italian opened this week; this newfangled take on burrata is just one example of the eatery's fun fare. Mark Antonation

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This week we rounded up restaurants serving food from five of the seven countries listed in Donald Trump's travel ban — but we couldn't find a single Libyan or Yemeni restaurant. Just a couple of days ago, though, a banner went up at 2353 South Havana Street in Aurora, announcing that the Yemen Grill had taken over the former Afia Grill (which had focused on Iraqi cooking). While the menu is a bit limited for the moment, it's good to see the presence of more immigrant cuisine in the city, despite the White House's desire to crack down on incoming visitors and settlers.

It wasn't so long ago that Italians were coming to our shores in droves, only to be met with suspicion and scorn. But now spaghetti and lasagna are as much a part of the American culinary landscape as apple pie and hot dogs. Quality Italian, which opened on March 2 in Cherry Creek, shakes up the standard Italian-American bag of tricks to present fun and inventive takes on steakhouse and checkered-tablecloth fare.

Across town at the new Low Country Kitchen, American heritage goes back much further, with dishes based on South Carolina's distinctive Low Country cuisine and other influences from around the South.
Now there are three new ways to dip your ladle into the metro-area melting pot.

In other news:

RESTAURANTS/BARS OPENING THIS WEEK:*
Ali Baba Grill, 2201 West 32nd Avenue
Low Country Kitchen, 1575 Boulder Street
Quality Italian, 241 Columbine Street
Yemen Grill, 2353 South Havana Street, Aurora
Zuni Street Brewing Company, 2900 Zuni Street

RESTAURANTS/BARS CLOSING THIS WEEK:*
Afia Grill, 2353 South Havana Street
Handy Diner, 2958 Downing Street

*Or earlier, and not reported in a previous Second Helping.

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