What’s New in North Boulder: Fresh Restaurants and Familiar Local Names

If you’ve driven along Broadway in North Boulder lately, you may have noticed a few new signs and some familiar spaces getting a fresh start.

That’s part of what makes living in Boulder so interesting. Our neighborhoods are always evolving, but often in ways that still feel distinctly local. This year, North Boulder has welcomed new dining options while also seeing familiar Boulder County restaurateurs return to spaces and communities they already know.

Here are a few of the additions worth knowing about.

A French Bistro Arrives on North Broadway

One of the newest additions is Cinq à Sept, which opened in July at 4580 Broadway.

The French bistro comes from chef Samuel McCandless and restaurateur Bryan Dayton’s Half Eaten Cookie Hospitality group, the team behind several other familiar Boulder restaurants, including OAK at Fourteenth, Corrida and C Burger.

Its name comes from the French expression cinq à sept, referring to those lovely hours between work and dinner when people gather for a drink, conversation and a little time together.

That idea carries into the restaurant itself. Cinq à Sept is designed to feel elevated but approachable, with French-inspired food, cocktails and an atmosphere that makes it equally suited to happy hour or a full dinner.

For longtime North Boulder residents, the address may be familiar even if the name is new. The space was previously home to Bellota, another concept from the same hospitality group.

It’s fun to see an established Boulder restaurant team continue to reinvent a familiar North Broadway space.

A Familiar Face Returns to Iris Avenue

A little farther south, The Lowdown has brought new life to another longtime neighborhood restaurant location at 2731 Iris Avenue.

The family-friendly bar and grill opened this spring in the former Murphy’s location, and there’s a wonderful bit of Boulder history behind it.

Co-owner Erin Perkins worked at the original Murphy’s after moving to Boulder in 2002. Years later, she and her husband, Adam, became part of the team behind Murphy’s Tap House in Louisville.

Now, The Lowdown brings Erin back to the Iris Avenue location where part of her Colorado restaurant story began.

The concept is intentionally relaxed: a neighborhood bar and grill with plenty of options for families, a 14-tap beer selection and the kind of atmosphere designed for an easy weeknight dinner.

For anyone who remembers Murphy’s, seeing a familiar restaurant location begin another chapter feels especially fitting.

Part of What Makes North Boulder Special

These openings are just one small piece of what continues to make North Boulder such an interesting part of the city.

The neighborhood has a wonderful mix of established favorites and newer additions, along with parks, trails, coffee shops, restaurants and the creative energy of the NoBo Art District.

Newer residential communities have also joined longtime North Boulder neighborhoods. Violet on Broadway, for example, sits near Four Mile Creek with access to trails, transit, shops and restaurants, adding another residential pocket along the Broadway corridor.

And many longtime favorites are still very much part of the neighborhood. Places like Amante Coffee, Bacco Trattoria & Mozzarella Bar and La Choza continue to give North Boulder the local character residents know and love.

That combination is one of my favorite things about Boulder: something new can arrive without erasing what was already special about a neighborhood.

An Easy North Boulder Evening

If you haven’t explored this part of town recently, it might be time for another visit.

Grab a coffee, take a walk near Wonderland Lake or along one of the nearby paths, explore the NoBo Art District, and finish with dinner somewhere new. You don’t have to make a big occasion of it. Sometimes the best way to rediscover Boulder is simply to spend an afternoon in a neighborhood you thought you already knew.

And if you live nearby, these new additions offer a few more choices for those nights when the biggest question is simply, “Where should we go for dinner?”

Watching Boulder Change, One Neighborhood at a Time

Restaurants will come and go, buildings will find new uses and neighborhoods will continue to evolve. What I enjoy most is seeing how Boulder manages to welcome new ideas while holding onto so much of the character that makes each part of town distinctive.

North Boulder is a great example of that right now.

If you’re curious about what’s happening in North Boulder, whether it’s a new restaurant around the corner or what’s happening with real estate in the neighborhood, I’m always happy to talk Boulder.

Janet Leap
Janet Leap Team
720.938.4197