# The Magic Food Bus — Full Content > Chef-made smashburgers, crispy chicken, gyros, and a different special every week from a husband-and-wife team at Relish Food Hall in Louisville, Colorado. Gluten-free and vegan options. Catering across the Front Range. Location: Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027 Hours: Monday–Thursday 11am–8pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–9pm, Sunday 11am–8pm Phone: (720) 933-1967 · Order online: https://gotab.io/loc/relishfoodhall/spot/to-go Website: https://www.mfbusco.com This file contains the full text of every article published by The Magic Food Bus, provided for generative engines and AI assistants to read and cite accurately. --- ## The Easiest Way to Order Takeout in Louisville, CO Published: June 28, 2026 · 2 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/order-ahead-takeout-louisville-co Summary: Order ahead from The Magic Food Bus through GoTab, skip the line, and pick up fresh smashburgers and chicken sandwiches at Relish Food Hall on McCaslin Blvd. Here's how it works. Sometimes you just want good food without the wait. Whether you're feeding the family, grabbing lunch for the office, or picking up dinner on the way home, ordering ahead from The Magic Food Bus in Louisville, CO is the fastest way to do it. Here's how it works. ### Order ahead through GoTab We take online orders through GoTab. Open the order page, build your order, pay on your phone, and pick the time you want it. We cook it fresh to your pickup window so it's hot when you arrive, not sitting under a heat lamp. The order link is on every page at mfbusco.com. Walk in, grab it at the counter, done. ### What travels well Almost everything on our menu holds up for takeout, but a few standouts: the MFB Smashburger stays crisp-edged and juicy, the Crispy Chicken keeps its crunch, and the Gyro Wrap is built to travel. Chicken Strips with your choice of eight dips are the easiest thing to feed a group or a carful of kids. Every order comes with house-made fresh fried potato chips, or sub crispy tots or shoestring fries for $2. ### Feeding a group Picking up for the office or the family? Order ahead is the move. You skip the line, everyone gets exactly what they want, and it's all ready at once. Gluten-free and vegan options are built into the menu, so the person with dietary needs gets something real, not a sad side salad. For larger events, that's what our food truck catering is for; submit a request to book the bus. ### Where to pick up We're inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027, with easy parking right off McCaslin. Open Monday through Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 8pm. Next time you want takeout in Louisville, CO, order ahead, skip the wait, and pick up something made from scratch. We'll have it ready. --- ## Looking for the Best Burger Near Boulder? Drive 10 Minutes East Published: June 25, 2026 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/best-burger-near-boulder-colorado Summary: Boulder has great food and Boulder prices. Ten minutes east in Louisville, CO, The Magic Food Bus makes a Colorado-angus smashburger worth the short drive. Here's why. If you're in Boulder searching for the best burger near you, here's a tip locals already know: some of the best food in the area isn't in Boulder. It's about ten minutes east on US-36, in Louisville, CO, where the same quality comes without the downtown Boulder markup. That's where you'll find us. ### Why look outside Boulder Boulder has a genuinely strong food scene. It also has Boulder real estate, Boulder rent, and Boulder prices baked into every check. Louisville sits right next door at the edge of Boulder County, close enough to pull the same food culture, far enough to keep costs sane. For a burger specifically, that gap matters. You can pay Boulder prices for a good burger, or drive ten minutes and pay a fair one for a great one. ### What makes the MFB Smashburger worth the drive We use Colorado angus chuck, 80/20, never leaner, formed into loose balls by hand and smashed hard on a 450°F flat-top. That technique builds a lacy, caramelized crust across the whole patty that a thick pub burger can't match. Sharp American cheese melted into the beef, special sauce we make ourselves, crisp lettuce, tomato, red onion, and a dill pickle on a parmesan toasted brioche bun. Double-stacked, $16.25, with house-made fresh fried potato chips. It's restaurant technique without restaurant overhead. The beef is fresh because it doesn't travel far. The bun is buttered and toasted on the flat-top for every order. Nothing about it is mass-produced. ### More than a burger If you're bringing people, the menu covers everyone. Crispy and hot chicken sandwiches, a genuinely good house-made Gyro Wrap, sous-vide chicken strips, and a different weekly special every week. Gluten-free and vegan options aren't an afterthought. Every burger and chicken sandwich can go GF, and the house-made chickpea Veggie Burger holds its own. Planning something bigger? We also do food truck catering across the Front Range. ### How to get here from Boulder Head east on US-36 toward Denver and take the McCaslin Blvd exit. We're inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027, with easy parking in the lot. Want it ready when you arrive? Order ahead through GoTab; the link is on every page at mfbusco.com. ### Find us Open Monday through Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 8pm. If you've been hunting for the best burger near Boulder, the answer might just be a short drive east. Come hungry. --- ## Where to Grab Lunch Near McCaslin Blvd in Louisville, CO Published: June 20, 2026 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/lunch-near-mccaslin-blvd-louisville Summary: Working or driving the McCaslin corridor and need a fast, good lunch? Here's the case for The Magic Food Bus at Relish Food Hall, plus how to order ahead and skip the wait. The McCaslin Blvd corridor in Louisville, CO is one of the busiest stretches in Boulder County for a reason: offices, the US-36 interchange, and a steady flow of people moving between Boulder, Superior, and Broomfield. What it doesn't always have is an easy answer to "where do I grab a good lunch right now without losing my whole break?" We'd like to make our case. ### Fast, but not fast food We're a counter inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, right on the corridor. Everything is cooked to order, but the menu is built for speed: smashburgers off the flat-top, crispy and hot chicken sandwiches, gyro wraps, and chicken strips. Weekday lunches are our sweet spot. Full menu, quick service, and almost never a wait if you come between 11am and 1pm. The food is genuinely made from scratch. Colorado angus beef formed by hand, house-made sauces, sous-vide-then-fried chicken. You're getting restaurant cooking at a counter price, which is exactly what a weekday lunch should be and rarely is. ### Order ahead and skip the line entirely If your lunch break is tight, order ahead through GoTab and we'll have it ready when you walk in. Pick your items, pay on your phone, and grab it at the counter. It's the fastest way to eat well near McCaslin without standing in any line at all. The order link is on every page at mfbusco.com. ### What to get if you only have 30 minutes The MFB Smashburger is the move. Double-stacked Colorado angus, sharp American, special sauce, parmesan toasted brioche. It comes with house-made fresh fried potato chips. If you want something lighter, the Gyro Wrap is bright, fast, and travels well back to your desk. If you're feeding a few coworkers with different tastes, Chicken Strips with eight dip options are easy to share. Browse the full menu and prices before you head over. ### Easy in, easy out Relish has its own lot off McCaslin, so parking is quick and you're not circling. Coming from the Boulder side, it's a few minutes east on US-36. From Broomfield or Superior, a few minutes up McCaslin. In and out without eating into your whole break. ### Find us The Magic Food Bus inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open Monday through Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 8pm. Check our hours and directions, and if you work near McCaslin and you're tired of the same lunch rotation, come find us. --- ## What 'Made From Scratch' Actually Means at The Magic Food Bus Published: June 18, 2025 · 4 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/made-from-scratch-ingredients-louisville-co Summary: A lot of restaurants say 'from scratch.' Here's what it actually means at our counter: what we make by hand every day, why we do it, and what it tastes like when you don't take shortcuts. "Made from scratch" gets thrown around a lot. It's on chalkboards, in Instagram bios, on food truck menus across the Front Range. Most of the time it means the restaurant doesn't use pre-made patties. Sometimes it means even less than that. At The Magic Food Bus, we use it because it's accurate. It describes a specific set of decisions we make every day that show up directly in the food. Here's what it actually means at our counter in Louisville, Colorado. ### The burger patties We don't use pre-formed patties. We take Colorado angus chuck, 80/20, never leaner, and form loose balls by hand before each service. That's intentional. Pre-formed patties are compressed, and compression works against the smash technique. A loose ball of beef, smashed hard against a 450°F flat-top, spreads further, makes more contact, and develops a better crust. We do this for every single order, not just when it's slow. ### The veggie burger Our Veggie Burger is a house-made chickpea patty built with quinoa, wild rice, flax, chia, and hemp seeds. We didn't buy it from a distributor and drop it on a brioche bun. We make it ourselves because a store-bought frozen patty and a from-scratch patty are not the same thing, and our guests can tell the difference. It holds together. It has texture. It tastes like food. ### The sauces The special sauce on the MFB Smashburger is ours. Not a branded condiment, not something we squeeze out of a gallon jug. The hot sauce on the Hot Chicken is our recipe. The tzatziki on the Gyro Wrap is made in-house. These things take more time than opening a bottle. They also taste like more than an open bottle. ### The chicken prep Our chicken strips are sous-vide before they're breaded and fried. Sous-vide means the chicken cooks in a temperature-controlled water bath to an exact internal temperature before it ever sees hot oil. The result is a strip that's been cooked perfectly on the inside before the outside gets fried. You get crunch on the outside and consistent, juicy texture on the inside. Not the dry, overcooked interior that happens when you're trying to cook raw chicken all the way through in a fryer. It takes longer. It's better. ### The desserts When we have desserts on the menu, we make them. Our raspberry pop tarts are hand-formed and baked. Our fruit tarts are assembled in-house. These aren't menu items we carry because they're easy. They're on because we like making them and our guests like eating them. When the weekly special includes a dessert component, same standard applies. ### The weekly special The weekly special is probably the clearest expression of what scratch cooking means for us. Every week we build a new dish from the ground up. We've done braised corned beef with house soda bread, steak with from-scratch chimichurri, chicken parmesan with house-made sauce over couscous, firecracker dogs with hand-formed toppings. Nothing on the special comes from a can or a prep bag. It comes from a recipe we worked out ourselves. That's also why the special is worth checking every week. It reflects what we've been cooking, what ingredients we're excited about, and what technique we've been refining. Follow us on Instagram at @the_magic_food_bus to see what's on. ### Why we do it this way Between the two of us, we have 35 years of professional kitchen experience. Gary trained at Johnson & Wales and cooked under a chef who competed at the Culinary Olympics. We know what restaurant-quality cooking looks like because we've done it. Taking shortcuts to run a faster counter was never the point. We also think guests deserve to know what they're eating. When you order the MFB Smashburger, you're eating Colorado beef we formed by hand, a sauce we make ourselves, and a brioche bun we butter and toast on the flat-top for every order. We'd rather charge a fair price for that than cut corners and charge a cheap one. ### Come see for yourself We're at Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open Monday to Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday to Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 8pm. Order ahead through GoTab or walk up to the counter. If you want handmade food in Louisville, Colorado, food that's actually made from scratch and not just marketed that way, this is where we'd point you. --- ## Food Truck Catering for Weddings and Events in Colorado Published: June 10, 2025 · 4 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/food-truck-catering-weddings-colorado Summary: Why food truck catering beats traditional catering for most outdoor events and what The Magic Food Bus brings to weddings, corporate events, and parties across the Front Range. If you're planning a wedding, corporate event, or outdoor party in Colorado, food truck catering is worth serious consideration. Not as a novelty, but as a legitimate option that often outperforms traditional catering on food quality, guest experience, and cost per head. Here's what to know, and what we bring to the table. ### Why food truck catering works for events Traditional catering means large-format cooking: steam trays, chafing dishes, food that was cooked hours before service and held at temperature. Food trucks cook to order. For burgers, chicken sandwiches, and anything that depends on a hot crust or fresh texture, the difference in quality is dramatic. There's also the experience factor. Guests interact with the kitchen. There's energy around the truck. It becomes part of the event rather than just a logistical necessity. People remember the food truck wedding they went to. They don't remember the buffet line. ### What The Magic Food Bus offers for Colorado catering We load up the bus and cook on-site, anywhere on the Front Range, including Boulder County, Broomfield, Denver, Jefferson County, and surrounding areas. We set up at your venue, cook to order, and serve your guests the same food we run at Relish Food Hall: MFB Smashburgers, crispy chicken sandwiches, gyro wraps, and custom builds. Between the two of us, we have 35 years of professional kitchen experience. Gary trained at Johnson & Wales and worked under a chef from the Culinary Olympic team. We cook like a restaurant that happens to work out of a bus. ### Custom menus for your event We work with event organizers to build a menu that fits the crowd, the venue, and the service format. If you need a simplified menu for faster throughput with a large group, we can do that. If you want to feature a specific item or add something special for your event, we'll talk through it. No two events are identical and we don't treat them like they are. Gluten-free and vegan options come standard on every event. We don't charge extra for dietary accommodations and we don't treat them as special requests. ### Events we cater - Weddings and rehearsal dinners - Corporate lunches and office events - Brewery and winery partnerships - Festivals and community events - Birthdays and private parties - School events and fundraisers - Neighborhood block parties - Graduations and reunions ### Service area We're based in Louisville, CO and serve the entire Front Range. Boulder, Denver, Broomfield, Longmont, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs. If you're in Colorado and the event makes sense, we'll make it work. Reach out and we'll let you know if your date and location is available. ### How to book Submit a request at mfbusco.com/catering with your event date, location, and estimated guest count. We respond within a day or two. Food truck catering for Colorado weddings and events books out fast, especially for summer and fall weekends, so the earlier you reach out the better. We'd love to cook at your event. Come find us at Relish Food Hall in the meantime: 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. --- ## Where to Eat in Louisville, Colorado: A Local's Guide Published: June 1, 2025 · 4 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/where-to-eat-louisville-colorado Summary: Louisville, CO doesn't get as much food press as Boulder, but it should. Here's an honest guide to the food scene, including our spot at Relish Food Hall. Louisville, Colorado doesn't get as much food attention as Boulder, but it should. The city has grown into a genuine dining destination, and the options along McCaslin and in Old Town keep getting better. If you're figuring out where to eat in Louisville, CO, whether you're a local or just passing through on US-36, here's an honest read on the food scene. ### What makes Louisville worth eating in Louisville sits at a sweet spot between Boulder and Broomfield. Close enough to Boulder that it pulls real food culture, but without the downtown Boulder markup. The McCaslin corridor has developed into a solid stretch of options: food halls, breweries, fast-casual spots with genuinely interesting menus. You don't have to drive to Boulder for a good meal anymore. Old Town Louisville has its own character too, walkable, neighborhood-feel, good for a slower lunch or dinner. McCaslin is where you go when you want options and speed. Both are worth knowing. ### Relish Food Hall & Pickleball One of the better additions to Louisville's food scene in recent years. Relish at 550 McCaslin Blvd is a multi-vendor food hall with pickleball courts, the kind of place that works for a date night, a family dinner, or a post-game lunch. Multiple vendors under one roof means more options for groups with different tastes. We've been one of the vendors inside since early 2025, and it's become our permanent home after five years as a roving food truck. ### What we cook at The Magic Food Bus At our counter inside Relish, we make smashburgers, hot and crispy chicken sandwiches, gyro wraps, chicken strips, and a different weekly special every week. Everything is made from scratch when you order. Colorado angus beef, house-made veggie patties, sous-vide then hand-breaded chicken. Restaurant cooking at a counter price. The weekly special is worth tracking. We've done corned beef plates, firecracker dogs, steak with chimichurri, Mediterranean bowls, and chicken parmesan. Check our Instagram (@the_magic_food_bus) before you come so you know what's on. Gluten-free and vegan options are available on every visit, not special-order, just standard menu options. Our Crispy Tots and House Chips are naturally GF. Our Veggie Burger is house-made from a chickpea and whole grain base. ### When to come Weekday lunches are the sweet spot: fast service, full menu, no wait. Weekend evenings get busier with the pickleball crowd, which is its own kind of fun. If you want to be sure, order ahead through GoTab and pick up at the counter. We're open Monday to Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday to Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday 11am to 8pm. ### Find us Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Easy off-street parking. If you're coming from Boulder, it's about 10 minutes east on US-36. From Broomfield, about 10 minutes north on McCaslin. If you're figuring out where to eat in Louisville, Colorado, we're a good place to start. Come hungry. --- ## Hot Chicken vs. Crispy Chicken: What's the Difference? Published: May 22, 2025 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/hot-chicken-vs-crispy-chicken Summary: Both start with brined, hand-breaded fried chicken. After that, they go in completely different directions. Here's how to choose. It's the most common question we get at the counter: what's the difference between the Hot Chicken and the Crispy Chicken? They're both $16.50, they both start with a brined and fried chicken breast, and they're both on toasted brioche with Duke's mayo. After that, they go in completely different directions. ### The Crispy Chicken ($16.50) The Crispy Chicken is the everyday sandwich. Brined chicken breast, hand-breaded and fried until golden, with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and Duke's mayo on toasted brioche. It's clean, crunchy, and exactly what you want when you want a chicken sandwich without drama. No heat, no gimmick, just well-executed fried chicken on a good bun. If you need gluten-free, this is the one to order. We swap to grilled chicken and a GF bun (+$2.75). ### The Hot Chicken ($16.50) The Hot Chicken starts the same way, brined, hand-breaded, fried, but after it comes off the fryer it gets coated in our signature hot sauce. And yes, it's actually spicy. We get asked that every day. The answer is yes. Duke's mayo and dill pickles on toasted brioche are there to balance the heat, but the heat is real and it lingers. This is not a mild heat situation. If you have a low spice tolerance, order the Crispy. If you love Nashville hot chicken and want something with genuine fire, this is your sandwich. ### Which should you order? Order the Crispy Chicken if: it's your first visit, you're sharing with kids, you want a GF option, or you just want something satisfying without the heat. Order the Hot Chicken if: you love spice, you've had Nashville hot chicken and want more, or you've already done the Crispy and want to level up. Both come with house-made fresh fried potato chips. Sub shoestring fries or crispy tots for $2. ### Our Chicken Strips (a third option) If you want the crunch of fried chicken without committing to a sandwich, the Chicken Strips ($13.95) are sous-vide then hand-breaded and fried. More tender than standard strips because the sous-vide step ensures the inside is cooked perfectly before they hit the fryer. Eight dip options: Ketchup, Curry Ketchup, Ranch, Jalapeño Ranch, BBQ, Honey Mustard, Buffalo, or MFB Special Sauce. ### Find us in Louisville, CO We're inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open daily 11am to 8pm (9pm Fri to Sat). Order ahead through GoTab or walk up to the counter. We'll have the chicken ready fast. --- ## The Gyro Wrap: Louisville's Most Underrated Sandwich Published: May 15, 2025 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/gyro-wrap-louisville-colorado Summary: Shaved beef and lamb, feta, tzatziki, arugula, and cucumber on mediterranean flatbread. The Magic Food Bus gyro wrap is $15.95 and the most slept-on thing on our menu. The Gyro Wrap is the most underordered sandwich on our menu. People walk up to the counter, see the MFB Smashburger, and go straight for it, which is a great choice. But they're leaving something on the table. ### What's in the Gyro Wrap Shaved beef and lamb, cucumber, tomato, red onion, arugula, feta, and tzatziki on mediterranean flatbread. $15.95. The beef and lamb are shaved thin and layered, not pre-formed or pressed into a patty. The tzatziki is made in-house. Arugula gives it a peppery bite that cuts through the richness of the meat and feta. The flatbread holds everything together without overpowering the filling. It's soft enough to wrap cleanly but substantial enough to hold up through the last bite. It's a completely different register than our burgers. Lighter, herbier, brighter from the cucumber and tomato. If you've been eating smashburgers for three weeks straight, this is what you order on week four. ### Why gyros in Louisville, Colorado? Mediterranean food has a devoted following in Boulder County and Boulder has several excellent options, but Louisville specifically has fewer spots doing a proper gyro. We added the wrap because we love it, we make it well, and it fills a gap on the menu between our heavier sandwiches and something with more freshness and brightness. It's also become one of our more popular catering items. Gyro wraps travel well, they serve efficiently at events, and they appeal to a wider range of preferences than a chicken sandwich or burger alone. ### How to order it The Gyro Wrap comes as-is. All the components are there and they work together. If you want to add heat, ask for fresh jalapeños (free). It comes with house-made fresh fried potato chips; sub shoestring fries or crispy tots for $2. The wrap is not currently available in a gluten-free version due to the flatbread, but if you want the ingredients as a bowl-style plate, ask us at the counter and we'll work something out. ### Try it alongside the Smashburger If you're coming with someone, split a Gyro Wrap and a Smashburger. You get the full range of what we do: the heavy, caramelized beef of the burger against the bright, Mediterranean freshness of the wrap. It's a good way to understand the whole menu in one sitting. ### Find us in Louisville, CO We're inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open Monday through Sunday 11am to 8pm (9pm Fri to Sat). Order ahead through GoTab or walk up to the counter and tell us you heard the gyro was underrated. --- ## Inside Relish Food Hall: Our Permanent Home in Louisville, CO Published: May 8, 2025 · 4 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/relish-food-hall-louisville-colorado Summary: After five years on the road, The Magic Food Bus found its permanent home at Relish Food Hall & Pickleball in Louisville, Colorado. Here's what to expect when you visit. After five years cooking from a school bus at breweries, wineries, festivals, and private events across the Front Range, The Magic Food Bus found a permanent home in 2025. That home is Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd in Louisville, Colorado, and if you haven't been, it's one of the better food destinations along the Boulder to Denver corridor. ### What is Relish Food Hall? Relish is a multi-vendor food hall on McCaslin Blvd in Louisville, CO, right off the McCaslin corridor near the Boulder and Louisville and Superior line. Multiple food vendors under one roof, alongside a full pickleball court complex. The vibe is casual but lively: groups come for the courts and stay for the food, or come to eat and end up watching a match. Kids, date nights, post-game lunches, it accommodates all of it without feeling like it's trying too hard. For us, it means a real counter, consistent hours, and a place where regulars can find us every single day. That's new. For five years our guests had to check Instagram to know where we'd be that week. Now you can just show up. ### Why Louisville Louisville sits at the edge of Boulder County, close to Boulder, Superior, Broomfield, Lafayette, and Erie. It's a community that cares about food quality and where things come from. That matters to us. We've always used Colorado beef, cooked from scratch, and charged a fair price for it. Louisville is exactly the kind of place that gets that. The McCaslin corridor also just makes sense. It's accessible from US-36, from Boulder, and from the northern Denver suburbs. People pass through constantly. It's a good place to put down roots. ### What to order at our counter If it's your first visit to The Magic Food Bus at Relish Food Hall, start with the MFB Smashburger. Double-stacked Colorado angus chuck, sharp American cheese, special sauce, parmesan toasted brioche. It's the thing people come back for. If you want chicken, both the Crispy Chicken sandwich and Hot Chicken sandwich are house favorites. The Hot Chicken is genuinely spicy. We use a signature hot sauce, Duke's mayo, and pickle on toasted brioche. The Crispy Chicken is the more approachable option if you want the crunch without the heat. The Gyro Wrap is the sleeper pick. Shaved beef and lamb, cucumber, tomato, red onion, arugula, feta, and tzatziki on mediterranean flatbread. It's $15.95 and it's consistently one of the best things on the menu. Everything comes with house-made fresh fried potato chips. Sub shoestring fries or crispy tots for $2. The tots are gluten-free. The chips are too. ### The weekly special Every week we run something different. We've done corned beef with braised cabbage and house soda bread, firecracker hot dogs, steak with chimichurri and over-easy eggs, chicken parmesan over couscous, and Mediterranean bowls. The special is usually inspired by what we're craving that week, what's in season, or a technique we've been wanting to try. Follow us on Instagram at @the_magic_food_bus to see what's on this week. We post the special every week without fail. ### Hours and how to order We're open Monday through Thursday 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 9pm, and Sunday 11am to 8pm. Order at the counter inside Relish, or order ahead through GoTab through GoTab to skip the wait. Address: 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Easy parking in the lot off McCaslin. Come hungry. --- ## Why We Use Colorado Beef (And What 80/20 Chuck Actually Means) Published: April 28, 2025 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/colorado-beef-why-it-matters Summary: The most important ingredient decision in our smashburger is the beef. Here's why we use Colorado angus chuck, what 80/20 means, and why it makes a difference you can taste. We use Colorado angus chuck in our smashburgers. That's not a marketing line. It's the most important ingredient decision we make, and it affects everything about how the burger tastes. Here's why it matters. ### What is Colorado angus beef? Angus is a breed of cattle known for its marbling, the intramuscular fat that gives beef its flavor and tenderness. Colorado angus specifically refers to cattle raised in Colorado, which means shorter supply chains, fresher product at the counter, and support for regional agriculture that produces better beef than commodity alternatives. We source ours as close to the source as we can. Beef that's traveled less time from processing to your plate is measurably fresher. For a smashburger where the beef is the centerpiece of the sandwich, that freshness shows up in every bite. ### Why 80/20 chuck? 80/20 means 80% lean, 20% fat. That ratio is deliberate. Lower fat content, like 90/10 or 93/7, doesn't work for smashburgers. There isn't enough fat to develop the crust properly, the patty dries out under the smash, and the flavor falls flat. 85/15 is borderline. 80/20 is the standard for a reason. The fat in 80/20 does two things during the smash: it renders into the flat-top, basting the bottom of the patty as it caramelizes, and it keeps the interior moist while the exterior gets the crust. You end up with a patty that's crispy on the edges, deeply browned on the bottom, and still juicy in the middle. We use ground chuck specifically because the chuck cut has a beef-forward flavor that doesn't need anything added to it. No binders, no fillers, no seasoning mixed in. Just beef, formed into a loose ball by hand, smashed hard on a 450°F flat-top. ### Why we don't use pre-formed patties Pre-formed patties are compressed before they hit the grill. That compression works against the smash technique. The patty resists instead of spreading, you get less surface contact, and the crust is weaker. We form loose balls to order so the beef is as responsive as possible to the smash. More contact, more crust, better burger. ### What you're tasting When you eat the MFB Smashburger, most of what you're tasting is beef. The Maillard reaction products from the caramelized crust, the fat that's rendered into the bun, the clean mineral flavor of fresh Colorado beef. The sauce, cheese, and toppings support that instead of masking it. That's the whole point of using good beef. It doesn't need to be covered up. ### Find our smashburgers in Louisville, CO We're at Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open daily 11am to 8pm (9pm Fri to Sat). The MFB Smashburger is $16.25 double-stacked. Order ahead through GoTab. --- ## Gluten-Free and Vegan Options in Louisville, CO Published: April 10, 2025 · 3 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/gluten-free-vegan-options-louisville-co Summary: Finding genuinely good gluten-free or vegan food at a fast-casual counter is hard. Here's how The Magic Food Bus built it into the menu from the start, not as an afterthought. Finding genuinely good gluten-free or vegan food at a fast-casual counter is harder than it sounds. Most places offer one token option that doesn't get the same care as everything else. We built ours differently. Gluten-free and vegan options are part of the menu from the ground up, not tacked on after the fact. ### Gluten-free at The Magic Food Bus Every burger and chicken sandwich on our menu can be made gluten-free with a swap to our GF bun (+$2.75). That includes the MFB Smashburger, the Veggie Burger, the Crispy Chicken, and the Hot Chicken. Our Crispy Chicken's GF version uses grilled chicken instead of fried, still loaded with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and Duke's mayo on a toasted GF bun. On the sides, our Crispy Tots and House Chips are both naturally gluten-free. The Shoestring Fries are cooked in a shared fryer, so if you need strict separation, stick with the tots or chips and let us know when you order. If you're strictly GF, tell us at the counter so we can keep your food away from the flat-top surfaces used for breaded items. We take cross-contamination seriously because we've cooked for people who have to. ### Vegan at The Magic Food Bus Our Veggie Burger is genuinely house-made, not a store-bought patty from a bag. It's built from a chickpea base with quinoa, wild rice, flax, chia, and hemp seeds. It holds together, has real texture, and tastes like something we actually want to eat. It comes on our standard parmesan toasted brioche with sharp American cheese, special sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. To make it fully vegan: swap to vegan brioche (free), skip the cheese, and you've got a complete plant-based sandwich that doesn't taste like a compromise. We can also sub a bed of lettuce instead of any bread, free of charge. Fresh jalapeños are always free. Grilled onion or mushroom adds $0.50. The house chips are vegan and GF. ### Why we built it this way When you're cooking for 50 guests at a wedding or a corporate lunch, someone at that table has a gluten allergy. Someone else is vegan. If your menu doesn't accommodate them, you've made those people's day worse. We got frustrated with that early on, both as cooks and as guests at other people's events, so we built the menu so everyone at the table can eat something real. It also makes us better at catering. We don't have to tell an event organizer "sorry, we can't do dietary restrictions." We can say yes and mean it. ### Find us in Louisville, CO We're at Relish Food Hall & Pickleball, 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open 7 days a week, 11am to 8pm (9pm Friday and Saturday). Gluten-free and vegan options are clearly marked on the menu board, and our staff can walk you through any substitutions. If you're looking for gluten-free restaurants in Louisville, Colorado or vegan-friendly food near Relish Food Hall, come say hi. We've got you covered. --- ## The Best Smashburger in Louisville, Colorado Published: March 15, 2025 · 4 min read URL: https://www.mfbusco.com/blog/best-smashburger-louisville-colorado Summary: What makes a real smashburger and why the MFB Smashburger at Relish Food Hall in Louisville, CO has become the one people drive across Boulder County for. The smashburger has taken Colorado by storm, and honestly, it makes sense. There's something about pressing a loose ball of ground beef hard against a screaming-hot flat-top and watching it caramelize into a thin, lacy-edged patty that regular burgers just can't match. We've been making ours this way since we opened in 2020, and at our counter inside Relish Food Hall in Louisville, CO, it's still the thing people drive across Boulder County for. ### What actually makes a smashburger different A true smashburger isn't just a flat burger. The smash has to happen fast, while the beef is still cold, on a surface that's genuinely hot. 450°F or above. That contact creates the Maillard reaction across nearly the entire surface of the patty, not just the edges. The result is more crust, more caramelized beef flavor, and dramatically less grey interior. You get a burger that's fully cooked without being dry. It also changes the texture in a way that's hard to explain until you've had one. The edges get lacy and almost crispy. The center stays juicy. The cheese melts from the bottom up because it goes on while the patty is still in contact with the grill. It's a better burger. Just is. ### How we make the MFB Smashburger We use Colorado angus chuck, 80/20, never leaner, formed into loose balls and smashed to order on our flat-top. Sharp American cheese goes on immediately after the smash so it melts into the beef. Special sauce, crisp lettuce, tomato, red onion, and a dill pickle on a parmesan toasted brioche bun. The brioche gets toasted in butter on the flat-top and pressed gently until it's golden. It holds up without going soggy, which is the other thing most burger buns fail at. Ours comes double-stacked. Two patties, two cheese slices, one bun. You can add crisp bacon (+$2), go for a third patty (+$3.25), swap to a gluten-free bun (+$2.75), or load on grilled onion or mushroom (+$0.50). It comes with house-made fresh fried potato chips, or sub shoestring fries or crispy tots for $2. ### The MFB Smashburger: $16.25 We set the price to reflect what goes into it: Colorado beef, real brioche, fresh vegetables, and a sauce we make ourselves. A smashburger at this price point at a fast-casual counter in Louisville is a fair deal. You're getting restaurant technique without restaurant overhead. If it's your first time, order the double smash straight with no modifications. Get to know the burger before you start building on it. Then come back and try it with bacon and jalapeños. ### Find us at Relish Food Hall in Louisville, CO We're inside Relish Food Hall & Pickleball at 550 McCaslin Blvd, Louisville, CO 80027. Open Monday through Sunday, 11am to 8pm (9pm on Fridays and Saturdays). Order ahead through GoTab or walk up to the counter. If you've been looking for the best smashburger in Louisville, Colorado, or a great burger near Relish Food Hall, we'd love to be your answer. Come hungry. ---