Hospitality & Tourism  July 25, 2019

New downtown Longmont eatery hopes to bowl locals over

LONGMONT — The owners of two popular downtown Longmont restaurants have opened a third, this one a fast-casual approach specializing in healthy meats and vegetables served in bowls.

Smokin Bowls, 449 Main St., opened Friday, July 19, in a space that had been home to TREAT Snack House for eight months and a cake bakery before that. Sean and Rebecca Gafner, who opened The Roost at 526 Main St. four years ago and Jefes at 246 Main St. three years ago, designed the new space to be light and airy, with ordering at the counter, table seating inside and a few tables outside the front door.

Diners can choose from six “signature” bowls, with Hawaiian, Mexican, Thai, Greek or Italian themes, plus a “Longmont” bowl containing roasted cauliflower, green chiles, avocado, roasted corn, heirloom tomatoes and tortilla strips. They then can choose a base of rice, cauliflower rice, rice noodles, quinoa or lettuce, and then either add a protein — ahi tuna, steak, chicken, pork or shrimp — or leave the dish vegetarian. Other “Delectabowls” include soup, cheese fries, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, acai hemp, brownie sundae and even cereal.

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“Boosts” include hemp seed, naan bread, parmesan bread, a grilled flour tortilla, or corn tortilla chips.

As with their other restaurants, the Gafners say they will give 10 percent of Smokin Bowls’ profits to local nonprofits, focus on energy efficiency and use no single-use plastics.

Made-to-order bowl food took on a trendy vibe after it was featured in last year’s royal wedding.  As London’s Guardian newspaper noted, “Bowl food has gone from an Instagram craze to Meghan and Harry’s royal wedding menu, proving that bowl food is not only aesthetically pleasing comfort food, it is also a convenient way to please a wide variety of palates.

LONGMONT — The owners of two popular downtown Longmont restaurants have opened a third, this one a fast-casual approach specializing in healthy meats and vegetables served in bowls.

Smokin Bowls, 449 Main St., opened Friday, July 19, in a space that had been home to TREAT Snack House for eight months and a cake bakery before that. Sean and Rebecca Gafner, who opened The Roost at 526 Main St. four years ago and Jefes at 246 Main St. three years ago, designed the new space to be light and airy, with ordering at the counter, table seating inside and a few…

Dallas Heltzell
With BizWest since 2012 and in Colorado since 1979, Dallas worked at the Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post and Public News Service. A Missouri native and Mizzou School of Journalism grad, Dallas started as a sports writer and outdoor columnist at the St. Charles (Mo.) Banner-News, then went to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before fleeing the heat and humidity for the Rockies. He especially loves covering our mountain communities.
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