An excuse to eat out five nights in a row just arrived with government endorsement, although, sadly, without any government subsidies.
Colorado’s fourth annual Mile High Asian Food Week kicks off on Sunday, and Governor Polis showed up in Aurora earlier this week to get things started. Through May 3, over 70 AANHPI-owned (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) restaurants, food trucks and pop-ups are running exclusive deals, secret menu items, and specialty dishes through May 3 — and some of those restaurants are located a bit closer to home.
In Boulder County, the participating lineup is small but worth paying attention to: a long-running Boulder Thai restaurant with Guy Fieri’s stamp of approval, a Longmont farmers market favorite that took its scallion pancakes to national television, and a Japanese pop-up bringing hand-beaten mochi and onigiri to Lafayette. For a list of participating spots, visit milehighafw.com.
Aloy Thai Cuisine
2720 Canyon Blvd., Boulder; open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
Aloy Thai has been on Canyon Boulevard since 2006, run by chef and owner Kim Naka, who opened the restaurant with her daughters after immigrating to
MARK LEFFINGWELL
A cook prepares food in the kitchen at Aloy Thai in Boulder in 2011. Aloy is participating in Mile High Asian Food Week. (Camera file photo)
Colorado from Thailand. The restaurant has since grown into the anchor of a family restaurant group, with the Boulder original eventually leading to Denver locations in Englewood, Capitol Hill, and downtown Denver.
The kitchen turns out dishes — like fragrant Kao Soi and lemongrass chicken — delicious enough to earn two appearances on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” including a return visit in 2025.
For Food Week, Aloy is offering braised beef short ribs for $29.99, served with jasmine rice and a choice of green, panang or massaman curry sauce.
Rising Tiger
The food truck will be in Boulder and Longmont spots all week.
Rising Tiger is the one to know if your ideal meal exists somewhere between a Lao family table and an American diner counter.
Chef Devin “Tiger” Keopraphaycalls the business an “Asian-ish” eatery, built around third-culture cooking that folds Asian flavors into American diner food. Rising Tiger built its local following at the Longmont Farmers Market before landing on Season 18 of Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race.” The TV run the competition was brief, but not forgettable: Rising Tiger won an early challenge before Keopraphay withdrew from the competition for personal reasons.
The most popular dish is the scallion pancake, a crispy, layered flatbread folded around fillings like char siu, gruyere, chili crisp and fluffy eggs. During Mile High Asian Food Week, Rising Tiger is popping up all week at Wild Bloom Coffee Collective, 1139 Francis St. in Longmont, and Creature Comforts, 1647 Pearl St. in Boulder, with a lemongrass chicken bowl made with grilled lemongrass chicken, pickled vegetables, fresh rice noodles and toasted rice and chili dressing.
Rising Tiger will also be at the Longmont Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at 9595 Nelson Road, serving its Food Network-featured 50K Pork Chop Sando.
Taeko-San Takeout
Lafayette Farmers Market, 100 N. Public Road, Lafayette
Taeko-San Takeout is a one-day Boulder County cameo, so plan accordingly. Owner Madeline Dunhoff started the Japanese pop-up around modified versions of her grandmother’s recipes, bringing mochi, onigiri and curry to farmers markets and pop-ups around the Denver metro area.
The draw of Taeko-San is mochi, but not the freezer-case ice cream ball many Americans first associate with the word. Dunhoff’s mochi is made through a more labor-intensive process, using steamed rice that is beaten by machine and then finished by hand, resulting in chewy, soft pillows of ice cream that come in rotating flavors like thin mint and strawberry shortcake.
Taeko-San Takeout will be at the Lafayette Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at 100 N. Public Road, and will debut its May mochi and onigiri menu.
Devin “Tiger” Keopraphay serves up popular dishes from his Rising Tiger culinary company during the the Longmont Farmers Market in 2025. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Dining and Cooking