New restaurant picks up where old one left off
The Pearl Street Mall offers a wide variety of restaurants and bars. There are Italian, Indian, Japanese, Mexican and American restaurants, but only one place has what it takes to call itself a “Latin kitchen and refreshment palace.”
Centro, located at 950 Pearl St. in Boulder, offers a fun dining experience and a friendly staff. Formally known as Rhumba, the restaurant recently had a makeover and changed from Rhumba’s Caribbean cuisine to Centro’s Latin. There’s a completely new menu, and the interior of the restaurant received a decorating facelift.
Kate Lacroix-Baird, Centro’s publicist, said the restaurant has retained Rhumba’s same energy.
“It’s the same after-work, weekend, let’s-go-get-a-drink vibe,” Lacroix-Baird said. “But the food is what has made it more popular.”
Although the Caribbean-inspired cuisine of Rhumba was popular, Centro’s Latin flavors are what really set the restaurant apart. Instead of Rhumba’s jerk chicken, Centro offers daylong roasted chicken with hot rice salad, sweet mole and sesame.
“The food is very simple, soulful Latin American food,” Lacroix-Baird said. “It’s not complicated, and the flavors speak for themselves.”
Centro serves lunch from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and has happy hour from 3:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Happy hour consists of $1 cans of Modelo Especial beer and $2 tacos. They offer a choice of slow, braised barbacoa beef; adobo chicken thigh; squash, potato and spinach with salsa verde; or garlicky-griddled shrimp with “spicy lemon stuff.” The tacos are small, but the ingredients are fresh and bursting with flavor.
The remodeled restaurant has more open space, which Lacroix-Baird says makes the place flow better. There is still an open kitchen and a “360-degree bar.” The bar is both inside and outside the restaurant, and depending on the weather, the patio can get packed.
Rhumba was known for being a great place for music, and the tradition lives on. There is live Latin music and dancing every Sunday from 1 p.m.-4 p.m.
“We’re mixing it up with the best in local entertainment,” Lacroix-Baird said.
The restaurant usually sees a younger crowd later in the night, enjoying some of the new, handcrafted drinks. Centro’s mojito is one of its most popular drinks. Everything is fresh, right down to the hand-squeezed lime.
But Lacroix-Baird says it’s not just the drinks anymore — it’s the food people are coming for. The walls are painted a rusty red and complemented by a golden yellow, which helps with the fun atmosphere of the restaurant.
“It’s the energy of the staff combined with the eagerness of the party,” Lacroix-Baird said about the feel of the restaurant.
For more information, visit Centro’s Web site.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Jenny Bergen at Jennifer.bergen@thecampuspress.com.
