Stephen King Archives — Low-Rent Foodie

Last summer, my wife and I vacationed in Colorado. As I have mentioned before, one of the fastest ways to connect with a new place and its people is through their food. As it turns out, the Colorado Rockies are home to many immigrants from Nepal. The Rockies are nothing like the Himalayas, but they’re the best we can do for mountains in the lower 48, so the Nepalese make do. As a result, there are quite a few Nepali and northern Indian restaurants in the Rockies. Our favorite that we found on this trip was Kathmandu.

The Kathmandu Restaurant has two locations. The newer one is in downtown Boulder, but the one we visited is in the smaller town of Nederland, about a half hour’s drive up into the mountains from Boulder. Astute Stephen King fans might recognize Nederland as the hometown of the Colorado Kid.

We didn’t come from Boulder, though. We arrived in Nederland from the north, along the Peak to Peak National Scenic Byway. This is a 55-mile road that begins in Estes Park, where we were staying, and meanders southward to the casino town of Black Hawk. Nederland is a little more than halfway down.

Mt. Meeker Colorado — Mt. Meeker, 13,911 feet. From the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.

Kathmandu is on a dusty side street a couple of hundred yards off the main drag. We arrived in time for the lunch buffet, which they offer daily from 11 to 3 for $10.99. (Tip: Leave your jacket in the car. It is ROASTING hot in this place!)

Kathmandu Restaurant, Nederland, Colorado.

So what is Nepali food like? Well, for the most part, it tastes a lot like Indian, which I adore. One notable addition is momos, which are handmade, Tibetan-style dumplings, fried or steamed, and filled with chicken or vegetables and mild seasonings.

And papadums. Love me some papadums. These are basically chips made out of fried lentil flour. I could eat those all day. Actually, I could eat all of it all day. Or at least until 3:00, whereupon the buffet closes.

So if you’re in the Boulder area, or going for a leisurely drive in the mountains (not TOO leisurely–the drivers in Nederland do get a bit cranky with tourists), go GETCHA SOME!

My wife, Diana, loves donuts. Any kind of donut. Take some dough and fry it, and she’s there.
I liked them a lot more when I was younger and fried food didn’t bother me so much, but I can still go for a donut every now and then. When I was growing up in Mattoon, IL, the place to go was Mister Donut. I was (and am) particularly a fan of almost any kind of filled donut, but Mister Donut Bavarian Creams were always my favorite as a kid.

Today, only one Mister Donut remains in North America. Fortunately, it’s within 90 minutes of my house, in Godfrey, IL, near Alton. It’s as good as I remember it, plus they have a Strawberry Angel to go with the Chocolate and Vanilla that I grew up with. The Angels have more of a whipped cream filling, as opposed to a custard.

Though my wife prefers raised dough, I am also a fan of cake donuts. Regular, chocolate, iced or plain, I love them all. A particularly yummy local treat is the Apple Cider donuts from the Apple Barn in Chatham, IL. If you’re in the neighborhood, go get you a dozen of those. You’ll thank me later.

Donuts on road trips are a family tradition of ours as well. From the bag of chocolate iced donuts we keep in the car for the trip (affectionately referred to by my family as “plastic donuts”) to Krispy Kreme sightings, it seems we are always on the lookout for a good donut. I think it’s no accident that my wife was born on National Donut Day (June 7). Since we are frequently on vacation around her birthday, we are always on the lookout for birthday donuts.

Last summer, Diana and I vacationed in Estes Park, Colorado. For those of you that know, Estes Park has the busiest Safeway store in America. This store sits in the shadow of the Stanley Hotel, which was already famous, but made even more so by the fact that it was where a young Stephen King stayed when he was inspired to write The Shining. (I was a bit surprised to see that the hotel is up on a hill right in the middle of town, since the movie leads you to believe it’s isolated.)
Safeway is not afraid to get outside the box (see what i did there?) with its donut flavors. A couple to note are the Fruity Pebble and, my personal favorite, maple bacon. Yes, that’s an entire strip of bacon on that longjohn.

What are some of your favorite donut memories? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on any of the yums to come here at Low-Rent Foodie!