Thuy Pham, who opened Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant with her husband in late 2013 in the former home of the award-winning Vietnam Grill, has a story about how she became a cook. She remembers cooking at her mother’s side in Vietnam, but it wasn’t until she moved to California fifteen years ago and began spending time at a Buddhist temple that she developed a passion for food. “I had a monk, the master, and he was a very good cook,” she recalls. “He was very experienced in picking out healthy food, and he taught me.” After years of preparing vegetarian food for the monks and nuns there – many Buddhists are vegetarian, given the vow to do no harm -- Pham and her husband decided to move to Denver, where they had friends, and open a vegetarian restaurant. “We want to bring compassion to the community,” she explains. And if you order carefully at Lotus – some dishes can be lacking in flavor – you’ll find yourself enjoying not only that compassion, but some delicious vegetarian fare in a town that definitely needs more vegetarian options.