wordplay by Brian Kenney
images by Sean Hartgrove
Rhumba has been a breath of fresh air in downtown Boulder for close to seven years. The Pearl Street eatery is marketed as "American cuisine with a Caribbean island influence," and exhorts a fresh, hip, relaxed, island-meets-cosmopolitan vibe, complimented by a young, vibrant staff not looking to upsell you on your meal and a chef not looking to over-sauce his dishes. Prices are moderate and affordable and Chef Ian Clark has put together a menu alluring to young and old alike. Guys: take your first dates here and maybe at a later date bring her parents too!
Like the menu, Rhumba's ambience intrigues on a global level; standard bamboo and grass-woven bar stools mesh with industrial grey cocktail table tops for an urban, contemporary refined paradise. As far as cuisine goes, we all know that each island within the Caribbean has its own unique flavor, its own identity, its own culinary stamp. Clark excels in utilizing just about every known tropical fruit of warm to moderate climates: from a guava-lime coulis with coconut shrimp to the plantain and red chile corn chips with a mango-habenero salsa. Rhumba is alive with a tropical fruit hum.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Before appetizers, there are drinks… What better way to start out than a mojito? A signature drink at Rhumba, they specialize in all sorts of flavors from cucumber to mango. Follow that with another specialty "El Floridita," which mixes gold rum, cointreau and fresh lime juice or a grapefruit margarita, and your palate is warmed up. Enjoy these on the sun-drenched patio; one of few patios in Boulder that you don’t have to ascend to the roof to enjoy. This one is prime real estate for watching Boulderites’ excursions within their "40 square miles surrounded by reality."
As the drinks warm your palate and the ambience warms your affections, we consider Chef Ian Clark's culinary expertise. Trained at the New England Culinary Institute and hailing from "just outside Portland, Maine," Clark brings impressions of his upbringing: yes there's lobster, served as a soup with hints of cilantro and Serrano chile. But lobster isn’t the only crustacean that Clark works with. In a landlocked state, seafood culinary indulgences are hard to come by, but Rhumba's young Chef works with what the season offers and, during the summer, crab, shrimp, Prince Edward Island mussels, halibut, and tuna act as foundations of many of his appetizers and entrées.
Signature delights include a pan-seared ahi tuna sliced on a bias and fanned around a coconut corn cake (the rough texture of the corn cake balances out the smooth textured tuna). The ahi is delicately sauced with a cilantro puree and guava coulis and confetti-topped with cucumber-basil-red pepper slaw. Also worth mentioning is the Halibut Ceviche, a southwestern-styled starter with roasted corn, pepper and chipotle salsa. The chilled halibut morsels are larger and chunkier than other ceviches, thus avoiding the pitfall of others that look more like fish salsa.
Seafood isn’t the only culinary focus. For the seafood allergists, Rhumba strongly suggests starting with the Tomato-Watermelon Gazpacho and the House Curry as an entrée. The gazpacho is served tableside from cruet to bowl, with piles of olives, tomatoes, cucumber, and watermelon, arranged at 3-6-9-12 o'clock on the plate. Wait for the saffron ice cube to melt into the soup before you dig in. The curry, a heavier dish, with spiciness level choices, Rhumba offers chicken, lamb, shrimp, fish or tofu curry and this item stays on the menu year-round. Yet the curry composite is lightened up with the accents of cucumber slices and almonds.
From Spain, we get the Chicken and Seafood Paella, which Laurel, our demure, but most informed server mentioned is one of Rhumba's most popular menu items. This dish meshes chicken and shrimp over a mango-infused rice, with the plate bordered by steamed p.e.i mussels and topped with a grilled andouille sausage. This entrée might be a bit labor intensive with all the empty shells piling up as well as the chicken on the bone, which needs to be sheared off, but tasty nonetheless. Also a twist on the tofu that Boulderites too often substitute: Rhumba offers a Chile-Glazed Tofu entrée, served over pearl couscous, draped with a coconut-lemongrass sauce and garnished with dried apricot and peanuts.
Above and beyond the signatures, Rhumba takes exclusive approaches and avoids the obvious and traditional menu standards. The cheeseburgers are topped with a corn relish, the jerk chicken is glazed with a peach ginger marmalade, and Caesar salad is dressed with jalapeño-goat cheese rather than the drab and predicable anchovy-parmesan.
Desserts include, but are not limited to, a mole-spiced chocolate molten cake with cherry gelato and accented with an orange caramel. Also, for those a little braver, there’s the Caribbean Car Bomb, served as a dessert in a pint glass: a Guinness float with Bailey's ice cream and accented with montecristo rum and topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. "Some people order these as a drink," Clark chided.
Sundays at Rhumba are jam-packed with local groove music above and beyond actual rhumba so get there early. Live music also happens on Tuesdays. Outside, the patio and outdoor bar overflow with sun-soaking cocktailers, inside the salsa dancing puts Boulder mariachi on the map and sometimes even spills out onto the sidewalk. Lunches served daily 11-4 (Sat & Sun 1-4) Dinner Nightly at 4:00. Located at 950 Pearl Street, where people-watching in Planet Boulder is a sport.
950 Pearl Street (Boulder)
RhumbaRestaurant.com