Reader: Nothing against Humboldt, but does everything need to be a "concept"?

Last year, Concept Restaurants took on the challenge of transforming the former home of Strings. "This was a legendary space that had a legendary restaurant," says Sean Huggard, operations director for Concept. "We did need to put effort into it to do right by this restaurant." The result was Humboldt,...

By Patricia Calhoun

February 7, 2014

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Last year, Concept Restaurants took on the challenge of transforming the former home of Strings. "This was a legendary space that had a legendary restaurant," says Sean Huggard, operations director for Concept. "We did need to put effort into it to do right by this restaurant." The result was Humboldt, a restaurant that opened last fall in a space that had only vague echoes of its previous tenant. And Concept's concept for Humboldt? That's laid out in a tagline to the restaurant's name: "Farm. Fish. Wine." In her review of Humboldt , Gretchen Kurtz says the restaurant delivers on two of those three. See also: Humboldt is a solid neighborhood restaurant -- no Strings attached

Says TheFabulousMarkT:

Nothing against Humboldt specifically, but does everything need to be a "concept" [no pun intended]?

Sometimes I honestly feel like I almost need a Ph. D. these days to follow along with the grand plans some of these places have.

Can't we just have an eatery that serves good food, looks halfway decent on the inside, and is staffed with folks who don't feel like they're doing you a favor by helping you?

Am I asking too much?

Well, is MarkT asking too much? Which restaurants do you think have spent too much time thinking concept, not enough time cooking?

See more photos of Humboldt here.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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