My name is Natalia — and I own and manage Colorado Bites, LLC. Food has always been a passion of mine: making it, taking photos of it, eating it, and sharing it with others. My only other passion that rivals it, is my love of travel — so I’m definitely a foodie when I travel, too. I just can’t visit somewhere new without sampling the best food and wine it has to offer.
What do I focus on? Just the best food and drinks around town. It can be a fancy steakhouse or a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop spot — it just has to be good. I also went mostly gluten-free in 2021, so that’s also a focus for me. I don’t really do fast food or anything too unhealthy, and I love places that focus on sourcing quality ingredients.
How did I get into food blogging? After many years of writing reviews for Yelp (I’m on my 12th 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, since people don’t read anymore. Now all new content now goes on Instagram at @colorado_bites or Facebook (and this website mainly serves to house my lists of favorites).
Is this my full-time job? Nope, although I do make an income off some sponsored posts. By day, I am currently in finance.
Some fun facts:
- If I had to pick my last meal, it would be a true Louisiana crawfish boil. I fell in love with them when I first went to NoLa many years ago, and I’ve been going there every year since then just for the food.
- 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 used to be a competitive Latin ballroom and salsa dancer. I don’t compete anymore — but I go salsa dancing occasionally at clubs.
- I have two goofball Scottish Fold cats named Meatball and Frankie. You can follow them on Instagram at @meatballandfrankie.
- Yes, my hair is yellow. It’s sort of my calling card: “the girl with the yellow hair” — kind of like the girl with the dragon tattoo. Yellow is also my favorite color — so I own a lot of yellow things.
