Don B.
Yelp
When you're sick in a foreign town, Yelp can really be a godsend. See, I don't battle sickness with symptom-dulling meds, I try to get well by boosting my immune and response systems via being as healthy as I can. In PDX, that's easy. In other cities, not so much.
So while in Denver this last week with a raging sore throat and sinus condition, I was out of my comfort zone in more ways than one, and searching hard for something that would help make me whole again. Yelp led me to Juice Kitchen, as one of only a couple of non-Jamba-Juice options for smoothies in downtown. Nothing against Jamba Juice (if you want 46 grams of sugar, dairy, and all sorts of other unhealthy shit in your calorie-packed smoothie), but I prefer pure-juice options. And Juice kitchen has them. Sort of.
Most of the smoothies here actually are based on fro-yo or yogurt, which won't help a guy who's hoping to be healthy. Even when I'm not sick, I don't want a bunch of dairy in my fruit juice. But they do offer fresh veggie juice made-to-order, so if you're in the mood for empowering juice enzymes minus all the bullshit, you can get it. My 16oz build-your-own juice of carrot, ginger, lemon, spinach, kale and beet was tasty, even though it was mostly carrot. They do have a bunch of add-on boosters, but on this visit for me it was all about the fresh juice...
...served in styrofoam? Is that normal here in Denver? My local associates assure me it's not. Who uses styrofoam in the new millennium? Ugh. Dump that shit. Minus one star right there.
Other than the lack of pure-fruit-only smoothie options and the styrofoam, this spot is not that bad for veggie juice fans. Minus the styrofoam it would be a 4-star "yay, I'm a fan!" joint for me. Also the location makes it hard to find - inside an office building. But with the help of the Yelp app, you can find it. And get juiced.