My name is Natalia — and I own and manage Colorado Bites. Food has always been a passion of mine: making it, taking photos of it, eating it, and sharing it with others. My other passion is travel — so I’m definitely a big lover of international flavors, as well as a culinary explorer when I travel. (I also have a travel blog called Wanderful Blonde.)
How did I get into food blogging? After many years of writing reviews for Yelp (I’m on my 14th year as a Yelp elite), I decided that I should expand those efforts to something of my own — and that’s how Colorado Bites got started as a website in 2014. Eventually I archived all the long-form posts, and most new content now goes mostly on Instagram at @colorado_bites (while this website mainly serves to house my lists of favorites).
What’s my focus? A large part of my content still focuses on the best food and drinks around town, from the fanciest sushi restaurants to tiny, hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop gems. I care about big flavors, good wine, quality ingredients, sourcing from local farms and ranches, and gluten-free options (I am gluten-intolerant). However, in the last few years, the Colorado Bites instagram has grown to be about a lot more than just food. I like to highlight Colorado mountain towns and travel destinations, all sorts of cool events around the state, my favorite hikes and other outdoor adventures, fun things to do in Denver any given week, non-food-related small businesses I love, and generally the Denver/Colorado life (including beauty and fashion).
Some fun facts:
- If I had to pick my favorite meal, it would be a Louisiana crawfish boil. I fell in love with crawfish when I first visited New Orleans many years ago, and now I go there every year just for the food.
- I am in love with wine — from having a glass at home with dinner, to hosting wine dinner parties, to visiting wineries around the world. I am also currently going through my WSET certification courses.
- I love to travel, and my life goal is to see the world. I was born and raised in Ukraine, studied abroad in Germany, taught English in Brazil, and have been to more than 25 countries around the world. I am also a certified travel advisor, so ask me about planning your next trip!
- Yes, my hair is yellow. It’s really become part of my brand, and you can usually recognize me from far away just by my hair. I don’t plan to change that anytime soon. (Yellow is indeed my favorite color.)
- I am an obsessed cat mom and would be a cat lady if I wasn’t married. I own two Scottish Fold / British Shorthair cats — and Frankie and Meatball are the apples of my eye.
