Restaurants in Rocky Mountains
-
A
Ruebens Burger Bistro
An owner-operated temple to the all-natural, hormone-free, gourmet burger, all christened with cycling-themed names. The Mountain Biker comes with avocado, arugula and swiss cheese, while the Paris Roubaix is topped with whole roasted green chilis and swiss and cream cheeses. Ruebens also offers intriguing dishes like a build-your-own mac and cheese, and moules frites.
It's a good bet the owner shaves his legs.
reviewed
-
B
Dushanbe Teahouse
No visit to Boulder is complete without a meal at this incredible Tajik work of art, a gift from Boulder's sister city (Dushanbe, Tajikistan) that boasts incredible craftsmanship and meticulous painting. The fare ranges from Amazonian and Mediterranean to, of course, Tajik. Outside is a lovely, shaded patio. It's an intimate place to grab cocktails or dinner on a warm summer day.
reviewed
-
C
Med
A Boulder classic, this friendly, festive joint brings all the many flavors of the Mediterranean under one roof (and patio). Think wood-fired pizza, gyros and terrific tapas from gambas to bacon wrapped dates to bruschetta. There's a full bar and some fantastic deserts. Terrific happy-hour deals and a fun crowd most nights.
reviewed
-
D
WC3
- Aspen, USA
- Restaurants › Cafe
Next door to the famous tavern in ramshackle Woody Creek, this community center cum cafe is just as groovy but in a different way. Instead of drunken antics and mishmash wallpaper there's local art, a sweet front garden, plenty of indoor seating and healthy, soulful lunch fare.
Choose one of four kinds of curry or tuck into a bowl of gumbo or a panini. The vegetarian soups have earned high praise, and the coffee is tasty too. Plus there's a range of used books for sale. Lots of them. Including a corner dedicated to the Good Doctor himself. We're talking about a terrific selection of Hunter S Thompson's masterworks, including some vintage Rolling Stone issues from the 1970…
reviewed
-
E
Boulder County Farmers' Market
A massive spring and summer sprawl of colorful, mostly organic local food. Here you can find flowers and herbs, as well as brain sized mushrooms, delicate squash blossoms, crusty pretzels, vegan dips, grass-fed beef, raw granola and yogurt. The market stretches from Arapahoe to Canyon along Central Park and around the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, which offers free admission on market days.
Prepared food booths offer gyros and tamales. Live music is as standard as the family picnics in the park along Boulder Creek.
reviewed
-
F
SAME Café
- Denver, USA
- Restaurants › Café
This nonprofit cafe was founded by two former food-bank workers, who wanted to provide healthy, by-donation lunches for those who were struggling to make ends meet. The standard American cafeteria fare is delicious. Walk-in volunteers are welcome, though you can reserve a spot in advance online.
Volunteering here or dropping in for lunch is one of the most unique and heart-warming dining options in Denver, and demonstrates the most progressive thinking in the city's sustainable, local, community-oriented food movement.
reviewed
-
G
Salt
One of downtown's newest and most happening spots also serves damn fine farm to table cuisine. We're talking small plates like crispy pork belly BLT, heirloom tomato salad and local beet carpaccio. Entrees include fresh fettucine and slow-roasted leg of lamb, and several fresh seafood options. Cocktails are creative and personalized.
The house always feels good, whether you dine downstairs in the basement pub or in the bright brick-wall dining room with a glimpse of the open and rocking kitchen.
reviewed
-
H
520 Grill
A (mostly) healthy (kinda) fast-food grill, if there is such a thing. Sandwiches are creative, spicy cococtions. The achiote chicken is grilled and piled on the pita with roasted red peppers, avocado and cheese. The Veg Head is an alchemy of roasted portobello mushrooms and garlic, with a pepper medley dressed in balsamic.
It also serves a good-looking much loved kale and quinoa salad along with epic traditional and sweet potato fries. Locals are devoted to it. The best part? It's affordable!
reviewed
-
I
Frasca
Frasca has been considered Boulder's finest restaurant since it opened. The service is top shelf and the rotating menu features the freshest farm-to-table ingredients available. Reservations must be made days or even weeks in advance.
The menu includes dishes like braised pork shoulder canneloni, house made gnocchi and grilled quail served with local peppers, leeks and wilted pea shoots. This restaurant is as fancy and as snooty as Boulder gets.
reviewed
-
J
Boulder Cafe
Score a sidewalk table and check out the Pearl St Mall street performers while waiting for your buffalo burger. The perennially popular Boulder Cafe is one of those 'all things to all people' kitchens, which means anything from shrimp enchiladas to penne pasta or skillets of trout and teriyaki steak to a damn fine raw bar can be yours.
From 3pm to 6:30pm, all appetizers and drinks are half-price. That's the time to go raw.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Mateo
A casual new dining hall with minimalist panache, an upscale but not fancy-pants, crowd, and a damn fine kitchen specialising in French comfort cuisine. Think braised lamb shoulder served over pasta, pork belly over organic rice, and moules (mussels) frites. Cheeses are artisanal, ingredients mostly local and the wine is quite fine. Half-priced moule frites ($6) on Mondays.
reviewed
-
L
Dagabi Cucina
Hidden away in a North Boulder minimall off Broadway is this brickhouse of a Mediterranean joint with Italian and Spanish roots, and a popular tapas menu at happy hour (5pm to 6:30pm). That's when you can devour olives, bruschetta, grilled asparagus, steamed clams, and pancetta wrapped shrimp on small plates for just $3 to $6 each. Or there's always paella Mondays ($12).
reviewed
-
M
Sink
- Boulder, USA
- Restaurants › Pub
Waiters bob and weave under the low-slung, graffiti scrawled ceiling of the Sink, a Hill classic that's been around since 1923. Colorful characters cover the dimly lit, cavernous space – a scene almost worth a visit itself. Almost. Once you've washed back the legendary Sink burger with a slug of a local microbrew, you'll be glad you stuck around.
reviewed
-
N
Rio Grande Cafe
Always packed, this Tex-Mex institution consistently delivers potent margaritas, sumptuous beef fajitas and an addictive queso dip. Loud and chaotic but remaining family friendly, it has a buzzing bar scene top-side with awesome Flatiron views from the rooftop deck. Happy Hour (3pm to 6pm) deals include $2 tacos and $3 drafts.
reviewed
-
O
Spruce Confections
Boulder's go-to bakehouse, where the favorites are the Ol' B Cookie (chocolate, oats, cinnamon and coconut) and the Black Bottom Cupcake (a chocolate cupcake with cheesecake in the middle). Pair either with the Spruce Juice, possibly the world's greatest iced vanilla latte. They have sinful scones and filling salads too.
reviewed
-
P
Buen Tiempo Mexican Restaurant & Cantina
Buen Tiempo is one of Ouray's most popular restaurants - an unfussy casual place serving Mexican favorites and Tex-Mex spin-offs. The blue corn-chips and enchiladas are novel and fried ice-cream is another house specialty. They claim to have Colorado's 10 best margaritas. We only tried the one and it was pretty good.
reviewed
-
Q
Rocky Mountain Diner
If you're into things 'old-fashioned' and 'chicken-fried', then yee-haw yourself to this comfy-boothed, family-friendly restaurant. It serves sandwiches, salads and hearty American fare, and for the curious (and very hungry), more exotic dishes such as venison soup or buffalo meatloaf.
reviewed
-
R
Amuzé
Set in the spectacular 1936 Fine Arts Center (Colorado Springs' excellent art museum), where you'll see two Andy Warhols on the wall, inlaid murals, parquet floors and exquisite Rocky Mountain views (including Pikes Peak) through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
That's a lot of atmosphere for food to live up to, but chef Bill Sherman works magic in that kitchen. There's tempura-fried tarragon goat's cheese; beef carpaccio with fried capers and avocado Parmesan crisp; and red and yellow beet salad with mixed greens, feta, maple-glazed bacon dressed in sherry vinaigrette. And that bone in the ribeye is massive, with a wild mushroom demilglaze sweetened with palisade peaches. T…
reviewed
-
S
Osaki's
- Vail, USA
- Restaurants › Sushi
There is no finer sushi in all of Vail, and possibly the state of Colorado, than here. Osaki is a star disciple of Nobu Matsuhisa (yes, that Nobu). He worked in the LA restaurant, when Nobu only had one shop, and eventually opened this hole-in-the-wall temple devoted to all that is sweet, tender, raw and holy (we're talking about fish!).
It's not cheap, but what Vail haunt is? Plus, if you go with one of the combo dinners you'll get out for under $50. And whatever you do, do not leave without tasting the salmon. It's simply spectacular. Osaki offers 30% off rolls in the summer, and reservations are advised in peak season. You'll find it hiding behind Campo de Fiori.
reviewed
-
T
Steuben's Food Service
Although styled as a midcentury drive-in, the upscale treatment of comfort food (mac and cheese, fried chicken, lobster rolls) and the solar-powered kitchen demonstrate Stuben's contemporary smarts. In summer, open garage doors lining the street create a breezy atmosphere and after 10pm they have the most unbeatable deal around: a burger, hand-cut fries and beer for $5.
Look around town for Stuben's mobile truck, powered by recycled veggie oil and often seen dishing out portable versions of the restaurant's staples to thankful politicos at Civic Park. Follow the restaurant on Facebook or Twitter to get details about where the mobile unit will park.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
U
Blue Star
One of Colorado Springs' most popular gourmet eateries, the Blue Star is in the quiet Broadmoor neighborhood just south of downtown. The menu at this landmark spot changes regularly, but always involves fresh fish, top-cut steak and inventive chicken dishes, flavored with Mediterranean and Pacific Rim rubs and spices.
The colorful bar area, with metal and sleek wood decor and booth or high-top tables, is more social than the open-kitchen dining room in the back. There's occassional live jazz here, and the menu is slightly less expensive. Blue Star also has an impressive 8500-bottle wine cellar that includes organic varietals.
reviewed
-
V
Westside Cafe
- Vail, USA
- Restaurants › Diner
Set in a West Vail minimall right off the freeway, this is the most popular breakfast spot in the area among locals, and for good reason. It does terrific breakfast skillets, like the 'My Big Fat Greek Skillet' with scrambled eggs, gyro, red onion, tomato and feta served with warm pita. The 'Southwestern' comes with scrambled eggs, black beans, peppers, onions and tomatoes.
Staff will pour you freshly squeezed orange juice or a steaming large mug of coffee. The Bloody Marys get good word of mouth, and the always satisfying 'Local Special' never fails to bring a smile to the face of weary menu readers (and writers) everywhere.
reviewed
-
W
Root Down
In a converted gas station, chef Justin Cucci has undertaken one of the city's most ambitious culinary concepts, marrying sustainable 'field-to-fork' practices, high-concept culinary fusions and a low-impact, energy efficient ethos. The menu changes seasonally, but consider yourself lucky if it includes the sweet potato falafel or hoisin duck confit sliders.
Unlike the troupe of restaurants jumping on the sustainable bandwagon, Root Down is largely wind powered, decorated with reused and reclaimed materials, and recycles everything. It's conceptually brilliant and one of Denver's most thrilling dining experiences.
reviewed
-
X
Pine Creek Cookhouse
Now here's your set piece dining. Think gorgeous log-cabin restaurant serving outstanding, fresh fusion fare, set 11 miles up Castle Creek Canyon past the old mining town of Ashcroft. It does an outstanding shrimp tikka masala, a gorgeous grilled quail served over greens, a terrific house-smoked trout, and tasty buffalo tenderloin. The peaks of Taylor, Star and Cooper loom from the patio.
It's closed in October and May, but stays open all summer and winter, when you can get here from Ashcroft on your cross-country skis or aboard the cookhouse's horse-drawn sleigh! The road is closed at Ashcroft when snow falls.
reviewed
-
Zolo Southwestern Grill
Zolo has been delighting residents with award-winning Southwestern fare and easy parking (it has its own lot) for 15 years now. The menu is a Colorado take on classic Mexican. Perennial favorites include fundido (warm goat Oaxaca cheese fondue with red pepper jam, roasted garlic, flour tortillas), chicken enchiladas and the tortilla-crusted ahi tuna. Whatever you do, don't skip the tequila. There are more than 150 choices, which can be served neat or blended into what many argue are Boulder's best margaritas. Look for Zolo about 11 blocks southeast of the Pearl St Mall, tucked into a quiet shopping center.
reviewed
