Bites on the West Side 🍽
Delightful duck curry at Choojai Sushi Thai & Ramen; pork belly and spicy basil at Manitou Thai & Ramen; and Starving for whiskey-pistachio ice cream
Choojai Sushi Thai & Ramen (at Trails End Taproom)
I read online that “Choojai” translates from Thai to mean delight and encouragement, something like positive reinforcement. I think that spirit will serve it well at Trails End Taproom, which remains a somewhat odd space on the whole, filling the big shoes Mason Jar left behind by way of legacy real estate. It’s the holdout in the self-pour beer category of drinking out, with half the dining room space still devoted a wall of eclectic taps. (It’s also for sale, as announced this past November.)
So don’t be surprised if there’s more change-ups sometime soon. Recall that Chuckwagon 719 came and went from the space in early 2025, citing a landlord dispute. Though Choojai has now been open a few months in the same half of the building Chuckwagon occupied, it feels as if they’ve barely moved in decor wise. Aside from the couple of banners photographed above, the white walls are blank, feeling more hollow than intentionally minimalist.
Maybe I’m just reading into things. I feel reassured that the operation’s not fly-by-night when I chat up our server and learn that Choojai’s owner has two existing eateries operating with this same menu, under different names. He says one in Grand Junction has been around three years, and a location in Evergreen has operated for two. That helps explain the expansive eight-page menu with which we’re presented.
I often worry that catch-all Asian fusion menus lose themselves in trying to offer something for everyone while specializing in no particular item, such that they rarely transcend from being serviceable to being exceptional in any way. On the whole, that’s how Choojai stacks up for me.
Crab rangoons are textbook fine and only ordered to stave off getting hangry while we await our mains, as we’ve arrived unintentionally ravenous from a prior social engagement. So too does an Uni Shooter help pass the time: cold, gooey sea urchin bits and creamy quail egg in rice vinegar with briny red tobiko and sharp scallion garnish.
We order two sushi rolls and neither wows us. The textures feel off, with the rice a touch mushier than ideal. And for how each roll reads on paper, neither really pop with flavor once we’re chewing on them. The salmon and lemon roll is almost overly rich with both cream cheese and avocado filling and the oily, hearty fish. The acidity of thin lemon segments, rind on, helps cut through that some. Spicy mayo adds a bit of tangy counterpoint. Adding wasabi doesn’t always improve sushi for me, but in this case it helps a lot.
The Señor Pico Roll gets spicy salmon, cucumber, tempura crunch, avocado and jalapeño inside and then a topping of yellowtail slivers garnished with kimchi sauce and cilantro. Despite the complexity of contrasting heat, sourness and fishy meatiness with herbal punctuation it just doesn’t synthesize into a coherent crescendo of joy on the tongue. Pickled ginger doesn’t always improve sushi for me, but in this case it helps a lot.
Next comes spicy miso ramen with all the traditional garnishes, and we slurp it down dutifully but not impressed enough to rate it above average. (I’m probably judging more harshly since having been ruined by Hayato’s excellence.) No notes. Not as in it’s perfect so I have no notes to offer — as in I take no notes into my phone as I’m not sure what else to say about it.
Finally redemption comes in the form of a bowl of duck curry that almost manages to earn its hefty $35 price tag. (Another fantastic local version that I’m fond of is only $22.95 by comparison.) Every element hits high notes for us, starting with the velvety red curry broth. The salty duck skin retains a crispiness despite being half submerged, with the flesh juicy, tender and fabulously succulent. Large cubes of pineapple, red and green bell pepper slivers and whole cherry tomatoes swim with it under an aromatic garnish of fried basil leaves. It’s a lovely symphony of sweet-heat that never loses sight of the starring protein, whose inherent duck-y flavor lingers in the finish.
My dining mates agree they’d return for this one item. So, in the end, Choojai achieves its “delightful” intent.
Manitou Thai & Ramen
Sisters Khem Boning and Natalie Donadio started in the restaurant industry five years ago in Denver, with a Thai food catering business named Hot Chicks. Khem tells me they regularly fed lunch to hospital staffs, so they’re used to high-volume business.
Safe to say then, that though they’re only a little over a month old, they’re ready for Manitou Springs’ busy tourist season ahead. She tells me they were initially seeking to open in Colorado Springs, but their Realtor found this spot (the former Persephone Grae’s Cafe in the Barker House Apartments lobby level), and “we really like this city.” (Their Facebook page says they’re also seeking a brick-and-mortar location in Denver to relaunch Hot Chicks in the future.)
I take a couple of friends to lunch and we start with basic vegetable egg rolls that satisfy with a big crunch, dipped in sweet chile sauce.
We bypass the abbreviated noodles and curries menu sections — the full, two-page menu is right-sized for the relatively small location — and opt for one of the three “chef’s recommended” plates: Pa Lo. It’s a 12-hour braised, five-spice pork belly served over rice with boiled egg and bok choy. It exudes significant anise flavor and Khem recommends we add extra house cilantro-lime sauce, set in a condiment tray at the table. We do just that, enhancing bites with the herbal-citrus influence. The pork texture’s pretty divine, offering little resistance to our utensils.
Next up, we order the classic tonkotsu ramen, to test the other half of the business name. It’s chashu pork again delights texturally, drier and more bacon-y than in the Pa Lo. The broth’s stylistically creamy, but almost understated to the point of tasting a little lean and bland. One of my dining mates disagrees, finding it beautifully subtle. Once I add a healthy spoonful of red chile oil from the condiment tray, my bowl comes more to life and I’m happy.
I’m happier back in Thai territory though, with a selection from the rice bowls portion of the menu. The Traditional Thai Spicy Basil was Hot Chicks’ flagship item, Khem later tells me. So I’m glad we unknowingly ordered it, drawn in by the two chile icons (indicating heat level) in the menu’s margin and promise of big basil flavor.
We pick ground chicken over pork or beef for this one, and it comes stir-fried in a garlic and chile seasoning with white onions and green bell peppers, garnished with fried basil leaves. The default spice level as they make it rates respectably medium (you can always add more chile oil at the table if you wish) and bites with more rice can tone that heat down a touch if needed. The basil essence really stars and makes it a memorable dish. My friends, who are savvy foodies, sum up our experience by saying “we would happily come here again and eat all of these dishes.”
Starving Colorado- Crêperie & Homemade Ice Cream
When we finish our lunch at Manitou Thai & Ramen my friends insist I try an ice cream that really impressed them a few months back — to the point they’re still talking about it.
We walk down Manitou Avenue, full of ice cream options, to a spot that I realize I haven’t yet been to since it opened nearly two years ago. (Mea culpa.) We duck in the door at Starving Colorado to find a bright shop split in half: ice cream on the left, crepes on the right. Sugar sugar everywhere.
I have to get the whiskey-pistachio flavor they recommend, and the vegan coconut crème brûlée catches my eye too. Both are superb, and I relish every bite. Almost assuredly, you will too if you go.
I meet shop owner Rafael Shlomo, profiled here shortly after opening in the Pikes Peak Bulletin, and I call him back later to glean more info when he’s not busy.
I learn that this ice cream is made for Starving by a custom, small-batch purveyor in the region “that makes unique flavors.” Other options that I passed up this day included basil-blackberry and strawberry-cornbread.
I’ll have to come back sometime to try the crepes, for which he tells me he buys the highest quality, “premium” ingredients.
Shlomo was an accountant for 25 years, retiring out of the field not too long after relocating his family (with three kids) to Manitou Springs. He tells me that before that career, growing up, he worked with his father and grandfather at their Mediterranean restaurant in Tel Aviv, doing just about every job required. “I loved working with them,” he says, explaining that his desire of opening his own spot here was to bring to the area products that he loves working with. “To bring the customers a smile.”
With Starving growing well enough in year two, he says he hopes eventually expand to locations out of state.