Chains changed: Pizza Hut

Oh, poor Pizza Hut, still struggling to find a role, pulled between the chundering hell of being a kiddie's canteen and the desire to move upmarket. It doesn't have any new ideas this time round, except adding the word "fantastico" to some menu items.

Some of the upmarketesque flourishes have survived - the goats cheese still lurks on the menu, like a bizarre misprint, and, on the back to the sticky, laminated card touting the (usually broken, never very-hygenic-looking) Ice Cream Factory some not-bad desserts are on offer. The salad bar seems to have changed again, but it was impossible to tell when we went yesterday lunchtime what had been dropped and what had merely run out and left unfilled, but there was some insulting couscous sitting in one of the tubs.

The horrific dip-cheese-stuffed-crust in fondue thing is still there - and surprisingly popular - but the quesadilla starter has been foofed up with the pointless addition of ham. (Or reformed ham containing water, as the menu fesses up in small print.)

When Little Chef finally folds, the tolling bell will be calling for the Hut.

Chains changed: Pizza Express

The chain restaurants have shed their skins (and wings) and launched their new menus.

At Pizza Express, the Northern Italy themed offering has gone, replaced by Rome - it's all nicely done and well thought-out (the menus are tricked out like busy, snatched holiday snaps) but the pizzas aren't as nice as the Northern ones - the loss of the Funghi Di Bosco is a bit of a blow, especially as the replacement vegetarian offering is one of those "bits of everything" lobbed on which ends up being a bit of an unsatisfying mess.

It would also be nice to see a themed pasta dish on the the menu, too. If you hadn't seen Northern Italy, this would have seemed appealing, but Rome can't compete with the tales of truffle-hunting pigs and donkey festivals. The big city just doesn't have the charm.

Recommended Restaurant: Beau Jos

Counting down to the next trip to Denver, I'm looking at Beau Jo's Pizza place. They do Colorado Pizzas - the twist being that you get honey to dip the crusts into.

They do a lunch buffet, with a range of pies and salads to pick from, but looking through their website, I'm starting to wonder why I've never had their skillets. Listen to this:

We line the skillet with our signature roasted garlic cream sauce, and then toss in sweet roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms, fire-roasted red peppers and fresh broccoli florets. This masterpiece is then crowned with a three-cheese blend of part-skim low-fat mozzarella, feta and smoked provolone.

The atmosphere is faux-mineshaft - kind of a Coloradian take on British pubs built in the 1980s but with beams and ingelnooks, I suppose - and the pricing is almost ridiculously cheap. A place to go when you're hungry.

They're down to just one branch in Denver, but they're scattered across Colorado.