Joe’s hometown is Bradenton, FL, mostly known as the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, home to Tropicana orange juice, and the sprawling expanse of senior citizens. Well, it now has a place that we chileheads might want to visit for dinner. Check out this review from the Bradenton Herald:

Posted on Fri, Mar. 24, 2006

Cafe Colorado brings buffalo to Bradenton
NICK VAGNONI
Special to The Herald

The first thing that caught my eye on Cafe Colorado’s menu was the Rocky Mountain Oysters. The description reads “Yep, that’s what they are. Are you cowboy enough?” That evening, I wasn’t cowboy enough. And I’m OK with that.

Really, the other aspects of this Colorado-style restaurant aren’t nearly as in-your-face as that menu item. The cavernous dining room, outfitted with dark wood paneling, a buffalo head and other Colorado trinkets like pinecones and strings of chiles, feels like a Southwestern restaurant, but not in a cloying or affected way. It’s comfortable, mellow and hospitable.
Meals begin with spice-dusted tortilla chips and salsa. The salsa, heavy with cumin, was tasty, but not fresh-tasting. The chips probably didn’t need the additional seasoning, either.
Starters include two types of chili: green chili with pork and a “Nine Finger Chili” with beef, buffalo and black beans. Cafe Colorado’s slogan is “Where the Rockies meet the Gulf,” and that shows in other appetizers like calamari and peel-and-eat shrimp.

There are also margarita drink specials on Mondays, and flavors include mango, strawberry and nopale (cactus). Cafe Colorado also serves wine by the glass and a variety of domestic and Mexican beers.

An order of Boulder Wings ($6.99) gets you more than a dozen plump, juicy chicken wings dressed in either Moose Hot sauce or Mile High barbecue. The latter was sweet, a little smoky, and cut with just the right amount of heat. I ordered a side of the hot sauce as well, but, sadly, it never arrived.

After ordering, I overheard the servers telling other tables about the specials of the evening. For some reason, our waiter felt it unnecessary to tell us about them.

While the wings were ample, the same can’t be said for the guacamole and tortilla chips ($5.99). For six bucks, I would at least like a dish of guacamole that was the same size as the dish the free salsa arrived in. Portions aside, it was an average specimen.

When there’s a buffalo on the wall and on the restaurant’s sign, it’s a good bet that there’s buffalo on the menu. Cafe Colorado’s Buffalo Burger ($8.99) was one of the best burgers I’ve had in a very long time. The buffalo meat - from bison raised in Nebraska or South Dakota, the chef told us - was lean, but not at all dry. It was similar to beef, but with a little more character. A large whole-wheat bun also made for a good and subtle burger variation.

There are plenty of other sandwiches, including a beef burger, fish sandwich and barbecued pork sandwich. Salads can be dressed up with items from the grill, such as chicken, steak and buffalo tenderloin. And, as you might expect, there are plenty of Tex-Mex entrees: chile rellenos, burritos, veggie tostadas, chimichangas and enchiladas.

According to the menu, the specialty of the house is the Buffalo Tenderloin Chipotle ($27.99), grilled buffalo tenderloin topped with a chipotle demi-glaze. Served medium, as was the burger, the cut was, at times, meltingly tender. At other times, it offered a bit more resistance, bringing to mind a strip rather than a filet. The flavor was beefy but complex. The chipotle sauce, a blend of chile, garlic and rosemary, was well-executed but came close to overpowering the flavor of the meat. The side of string beans and carrots were fresh and crisp, cooked just enough. The roasted potatoes were decent as well.

For dessert, I went with the Mountain Berry Short Cake ($5.99). The cake’s texture was dense, more like a hardened biscuit than anything else. The berries and their juice softened it a bit and the final product wasn’t half bad. Other dessert offerings include apple crisp, chocolate cake with Grand Marnier and honey, and sopapillas, a type of fried dough, served with ice cream.

When trying to recreate the food and atmosphere of another place, like Colorado, in Florida, one always runs the risk of turning a restaurant into a theme park. Thankfully, Cafe Colorado does not. It’s a comfortable restaurant where the food strikes a satisfying balance between traditional and contemporary, South Florida and the Southwest.

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