For several years, 2014 10th St. was Dragonfly Noodle, a counter-service noodle shop half a block off the Pearl Street Mall. This August the same owner closed it and reopened the room as San San, an 80-seat American Chinese restaurant with craft cocktails, booths and a tasting menu.
Boulder's dining year has mostly worked this way. The changes worth knowing about came from people already cooking here, who reworked rooms they ran or took over rooms with long local histories. If you live here, most of this fall's news sits at addresses you've already walked past.
A second try in the same room
Edwin Zoe runs Zoe Ma Ma at 919 Pearl St. and Pearl Poké at 2010 10th St., and he was a 2022 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur. The Daily Camera reported that he built Dragonfly Noodle early in the pandemic around counter service and a short menu, even though the space was designed for full-service dining. San San is the full-service restaurant the room was built for.
"As we have emerged out of the pandemic, I want to realize the full potential of the space with a concept I have wanted to create for quite some time," Zoe told the Daily Camera. In the same interview he said downtown has no Chinese restaurant for a sit-down occasion such as an anniversary, and that Zoe Ma Ma tends to be where people grab something quick.
The menu is small on purpose. The Camera described roughly eight seasonal entrées, about six appetizers, a couple of soups and a multi-course tasting menu priced at $40 to $50. Chop suey rotates with the seasons. Zoe ties the dish to Chinese miners and railroad workers in the 1800s, who cooked whatever they had on hand. The name means "three mountains," after the first three Flatirons Zoe saw on his first morning in Boulder as an incoming CU student more than 40 years ago.
Temaki Joint, chef Duy Pham's sushi and omakase spot near Baseline Road and U.S. 36, did a smaller version of the same thing. It reopened June 30 after a three-week remodel, and Boulder Reporting Lab profiled it in September.
North Broadway's next chapter
The same pattern played out more than two miles north. 4580 Broadway has been Restaurant 4580, then Bellota, then The North End. Since July it has been Cinq à Sept, a French bistro from Half-Eaten Cookie Hospitality Group, the Boulder company behind OAK at Fourteenth, Corrida, C Bar and C Burger.
Founder Bryan Dayton told Boulder Reporting Lab the group wanted something that would work for North Boulder residents and still bring in diners from the rest of the city. Their answer is a short French menu from chef Sam McCandless, sized to the room's smaller kitchen. Greens, carrots, squash and zucchini come from Esoterra Farms, and beef and lamb come from Buckner Family Ranch.
Cinq à sept is French for "five to seven," the early-evening hours for drinks. Dayton told BRL that diners are coming all evening, and that he sees plenty of faces he doesn't recognize, "which is pretty interesting for somebody that's owned a business in Boulder for 16 years."
Here is how this year's changes line up by address:
| Address | Before | Now | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 10th St. | Dragonfly Noodle | San San, opened August 2026 | Edwin Zoe, same owner |
| 4580 Broadway | Restaurant 4580, Bellota, The North End | Cinq à Sept, opened July 2026 | Half-Eaten Cookie Hospitality Group |
| Pearl Street | The Kitchen, open since 2004 | The Kitchen, under new ownership | Half-Eaten Cookie Hospitality Group |
| 1710 Pearl St. | Leaf, owned by Three Leaf Concepts | Leaf, ownership announced to pass to its executive chef | Chef Lauren Rosellini |
Then the same group bought a Pearl Street original
Three months after Cinq à Sept opened, Half-Eaten Cookie went from reworking a room to taking over a brand. In early October the group announced it was acquiring The Kitchen in Boulder and Denver. 5280 reported the deal was finalized the week before its October 6 story. The Kitchen opened on Pearl Street in 2004 with chef Hugo Matheson, and the Denver location followed on Wazee Street in 2012.
If you have a standing table there, the near-term plan is continuity. Dayton told the Daily Camera his vision is "business as usual," with no major changes planned for the spaces, staff or menus, though there might be "some tweaks." He called The Kitchen an "iconic" brand that helped lay the groundwork for Boulder's farm-to-table approach: "They have a great foundation and I'm happy to take that torch forward."
The one change he hinted at follows the same sourcing approach as Cinq à Sept. Dayton and McCandless started Corrida Cattle Company, which supplies beef to the group's restaurants, and Dayton told the Camera he will "definitely start looking at ways to incorporate some of our rancher relationships into The Kitchen in the future." That gives the group several Boulder dining rooms that may eventually share a beef supplier: OAK at Fourteenth, Corrida, Cinq à Sept and The Kitchen.
Leaf is moving to its own chef
Leaf took a different route to the same result. In August, Boulder Weekly reported that the vegetarian restaurant at 1710 Pearl St. would pass from Three Leaf Concepts to Lauren Rosellini, its executive chef since 2024. The change was announced alongside Leaf's 20th anniversary.
The announcement said Leaf would keep its plant-forward menu, its focus on local sourcing and many of its longtime dishes, and that the change makes it a woman-owned business. "I truly cannot wait to bring so many new ideas to life, and to see new and familiar faces at all of our upcoming events and services," Rosellini told Boulder Weekly. The room also got a fresh coat of paint.
That makes three different handoffs on the same short stretch of downtown. One owner changed his own concept, a local group took over a 22-year-old name, and a chef is taking over the restaurant she already runs.
Where the newcomers landed
Outside brands did open this year, mostly away from those Pearl Street blocks. True Food Kitchen opened its Boulder location on August 10 at 1755 29th St., Suite 1080, in the Twenty Ninth Street shopping center. Westword's September roll call logged Summit Tacos opening at 1149 13th St. Its August roll call listed Bang Up to the Elephant at 1310 Pearl St. among the month's closings.
Still, the restaurants that changed how a downtown or North Boulder evening goes this year were San San, Cinq à Sept, The Kitchen and Leaf. All four are run by people who were already cooking or operating in Boulder before 2026.
How to try the reworked rooms this fall
Because these are familiar addresses, the useful details are what's different inside:
- Cinq à Sept, 4580 Broadway. Open 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Happy hour runs 4 to 5 p.m. daily, with bread and cheese, oysters, jambon de Bayonne and cold drinks. Dayton's picks for a first visit were the bread, Prince Edward Island oysters, the zucchini, the Esoterra salad, the chicken and the sole with brown butter and caper. The menu changes with the seasons, so the late-fall vegetables may differ from what BRL described.
- San San, 2014 10th St. If you remember the Dragonfly counter, this is now a full-service dining room. The $40 to $50 tasting menu is the easiest way to try a range of the short menu in one visit.
- The Kitchen, Pearl Street. Expect the same staff and menu for now. Watch for beef from Corrida Cattle Company, since Dayton called that the most likely future change.
- Leaf, 1710 Pearl St. The vegetarian menu continues with its longtime dishes, including the enmoladas Boulder Weekly pictured with the announcement. Leaf's number for reservations is 303-442-1485.
Hours and menus at all four can change, so check with each restaurant before you go.
When a restaurant changes hands, I think about the same things I watch when a house changes hands: what the new owner keeps, what they change, and why. If you're curious how that plays out with homes on these same Boulder streets, Jennifer Stuckey is happy to talk it through over coffee, or over oysters at 4580 Broadway. Let's Connect.
