• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Frasca's menu is inspired by the Friuli region of Italy.   (Photo: Courtesy of Frasca)

Book a table in advance for dinner at the Kitchen, a casual neighborhood eatery that’s fueled Boulder’s thriving farm-to-table movement. Dishes like hand-rolled gnocchi with porcini mushrooms ($18) are seasonal and simply prepared, but opt to sit with locals and staff at the weekly Community Night ($35 per person), a four-course, family-style dinner highlighting the best ingredients from local producers like Cure Organic Farm.

Enjoy people-watching just off the Pearl Street Mall at the Black Cat, which is almost exclusively supplied with produce, pigs, sheep, and poultry from chef Eric Skokan’s 120-acre organic farm outside the city. The menu changes daily but recent examples of the creative fare include diver scallops with smoked onion and toasted barley ($15) and duck breast roasted in fennel honey ($29).

Taste the dishes of northeastern Italy made with local ingredients at Frasca, where James Beard Award winner Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson serves a four-course prix fixe ($75) that changes themes weekly (currently it's heirloom tomatoes). Call before you go to inquire about special events where top chefs like John Besh and Marcus Samuelsson do guest stints in the kitchen.

Published on Aug 3, 2012 as a web exclusive.