Places To Eat

Acquolina Trattoria and Pizzeria
415 East Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-8222
Note: Excellent food and service.  We celebrated New Year’s Eve one year (2009?) here (when it was Gisella) – great time. This restaurant, formally Gusto and then Gisella, has been redone and renamed for the 2014 season under the same owners and chef, the Giordani family and executive chef Filiberto Paglia, who originally came to Aspen from his native Abruzzo to open Campo de Fiori. Striving to provide an authentic Italian experience with an all-Italian wine list, Acquolina has so far received excellent reviews.  They kept all the favorites from the 2 prior restaurants on the menu.

BB’s
525 East Cooper Avenue
970-429-8284
Note: Dinner only (as of 2014)
They revamped the restaurant for 2014 so I do not know the details yet.  BB’s Kitchen, now called just BB’s has totally shifted its focus this winter. Owner Bruce Berger and executive chef Katie Lorenzen-Smith have introduced a globally inspired small plates menu, along with some of traditional entrees — and they’re serving dinner only. The idea is to offer a unique dining experience around shared plates and a huge variety of ingredients, influences and flavors. And it works — you won’t want to miss some of the most creative and tasty cuisine in Aspen.  There breakfast was excellent and we always chose to sit outside on the porch. We will miss that.

Boogie’s Diner
534 East Cooper Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-6610
Note: Has 1950′s and 60′s music playing in a retro setting. As close to a New York diner as you’ll get – including the malt shakes!

Bootsy Bellows 
308 East Hopkins Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-3700
Note: It’s more nightclub than restaurant, but Hollywood hot spot Bootsy Bellows opens an offshoot location on Restaurant Row just in time for the 2014 holidays. Offering a menu by chef Nick Melbourne, the “speakeasy lounge” replaces Syzygy (one of the longest-running restaurants in town) in the basement of the building that also houses the Ute City Grill. And it’s boasting a big New Year’s party with actor David Arquette, who is apparently part of the ownership group.  David Arquette, John Terzian, and Brian Toll own the Los Angeles location.

Brexi – same owners as the Wild Fig and Steakhouse No. 316 (formally LuLu Wilsons)
411 South Monarch Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-2838
Note: Good food. Eat there with Danny pre-Annie play.  I’m not running back for any reason.

Cache Cache Restaurant*
205 South Mill Street
Aspen, Colorado
(970) 925-3835
Note: This is one of the top restaurants in town.
Jodi Larner – co-owner – old time friend of Perry Weitz’s from grade school days
Chris Lanter – chef and co-owner
Alex – maître d’
It’s a scene.  It also has an active bar scene.  Also, one of the most expensive – make that THE most expensive in town.  Everything is excellent.  Call after Labor Day for reservations for December.

Camper De Fiore Restaurant
205 South Mill Street
Aspen, Colorado
(970) 920-7717
Note: Very good food.  Great bar “scene”

Cantina Mountain Coastal Mexican
411 East Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-3663
Note: Good Americanized Mexican

Caribou Club – This is a Private Club
(We do not have a membership)
411 East Hopkins Avenue
Aspen, Colorado 81611
970-925-2929
Note: Great bar “scene”, excellent food.  I would say one of the top restaurants in town.  Many of the celebrities go there to get away from the hustle and bustle of Aspen.  Sean was there on one night with Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton!

Chair 9
675 East Durant Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
Note: For 2014, this is the new bar in The Little Nell Hotel, a casual après-ski bar replacing the Terrace Bar.  Chair 9 promises an approachable food menu; affordable beer, wine, and “retro” cocktails; and daily live music or DJs.  For 2014, The Little Nell has brought back Bryan Moscatello, a Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef of 2003, to the position he held for most of the 1990s. In overseeing Element 47, Ajax Tavern, Chair 9, and the Sundeck, Moscatello brings to the Little Nell his style of alpine mountain cuisine, and will continue the farm-to-table ethos and emphasis on local products that it’s known for. Cloud Nine Euro-Hut restaurant Highlands (on Highlands’s mountain). Mentioned as a favorite in Aspen Magazine

CP Burger
Note: Same owners as the Wild Fig, Brexi and Steakhouse No. 316 (formally LuLu Wilsons)

Element 47 at the Little Nell
675 East Durant Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-920-4600
www.thelittlenell.com
Note: Complimentary valet parking
Breakfast, lunch & dinner

This maybe the priciest restaurant in town, even more so than Cache Cache.

Ellina
430 East Hyman Avenue
Aspen, Colorado 81611
970-925-2976
Note: Good

Explore Bistro (Vegetarian)
221 East Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-5338
www.explorebooksellers.com
Note: (New York Times – 6/8/08)

Gordon’s (Gwyn’s) Restaurant
Finest on-mountain breakfast and lunch (Snowmass). Reservations a must.
970-923-5188
Note: Very nice waiter service on-mountain-lunch

Hickory House Ribs
730 West Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-2313
Note: Good, not great ribs in my opinion: breakfast

Jimmy’s An American Restaurant
205 South Mill Street
Aspen, Colorado
(970) 925-6020
www.jimmysaspen.com
Note: Very good food and a very active bar scene.  A very popular place.

Justice Snow’s
320 East Hyman Avenue (corner of South Mill Street)
Aspen, Colorado 81611
970-618-7667
Note: Very good bar and very good “not so fast” food.  Great location – middle of town, next to the Wheeler Opera House and at the Hyman Street pedestrian mall.  Perfect for an early meal before a show if you don’t have time or it’s too early for a full dinner.

Keniche of Aspen
533 East Hopkins Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-920-2212
Note: Went there will Willie & Fran on the night of the ballet (7/20/13). Food was very good.  They had Akaushi beef.  Ambiance was also nice.  Food is likely better than Matsuhisa.  Ambiance certainly is.

Krabloonik Restaurant
4250 Divide Road, Snowmass Village
970-923-3953 Restaurant
970-923-4342 Dogsled Ride
www.krabloonik.com
Note: Krabloonik is mainly a dogsledding business but they have a good restaurant in a log cabin.  The dogsledding includes lunch or dinner.   You can also go just for the restaurant but I wouldn’t – too many better places to go.  Call after Labor Day for lunch or dinner rides and/or reservations for Christmas/New Years.  If the snow is good, this is a ride you will not forget.  Ride takes about 2 ½ hours +-

Little Annie’s
517 East Hyman Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-1098
Note: No reservations. Very casual.  Local place. Very good food. In 2014, they were in tax trouble.  May not be open.

Little Ollie’s Chinese
308 South hunter Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-544-9888
Note: Decent, not great Chinese food.

L’Hostaria
620 East Hyman Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-9022
Note: (Chitarrucci all’Amatriciana and branzino)
This is a very nosy restaurant and has a terrible draft even deep into the restaurant (from a/c vents).  Good at best.  With so many excellent restaurants in town, the only reason to come here is you can’t get into any of the others.

Main Street Bakery & Cafe
Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
Note: Great pastries and breads.  Excellent breakfast.  This place is a “scene” in the mornings, especially the weekends.

Matsuhisa*
303 East Main Street
Aspen, Colorado
(970) 544-6628
Note: Nobu Matsuhisa is a very famous sushi chef.  This restaurant consistently has excellent sushi. It is one of the best restaurants in town. (Tiradito and tatki, black cod with miso and Chilean sea bass with truffles).
Todd, a manger is friends with Beckett.
On the 1^st floor, its 1^st come, 1^st serve – no reservations.  There is outdoor seating, weather permitting on the 1^st floor.  The main dining room is downstairs, where reservations are a must!!

Mezzaluna
624 East Cooper Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-925-5882
Note: Very good local – hot spot.  For me, it’s a lunch place rather than dinner.  Food is good but for some reason it has a big attraction.  We met Paris Hilton and her sister there on the same day that Charlton Heston was there.

N9NE
414 East Hyman Avenue
Aspen, Colorado
970-920-1090
Steak
Note: Closed 2014 – new restaurant coming

Olives (at the St. Regis)
315 East Dean Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-920-7356
Note: Very good.

Pacifica
307 South Mill Street
Aspen, Colorado
970-920-9775
Note: Excellent fish and raw bar.  Located on the Mill Street pedestrian mall.
Closed for 2014

Pine Creek Cookhouse
970-925-1044
Ashcroft, Colorado (Castle Creek Valley)
Note: Located 12 miles up Castle Creek Road at 13,000 feet. The restaurant is a log cabin.
Options to get to the restaurant.  1. You drive up to the restaurant.  2. You drive to their “ghost town” and park and then have a sleigh ride to the restaurant (in the winter) or 3. You drive to their “ghost town” and park, rent show shoes and poles at the small store they have their for that purpose & walk the trail to restaurant through the wilderness.  We walked this in a blizzard that resulted in 10′ of snow falling that week, with serious winds and freezing temperatures.  It took us an over an hour and a half for what was a 15 minute walk.  We couldn’t see where we were going.  Some thought we wouldn’t make it since we couldn’t see IF there was any signs – IT WAS A WHITE OUT – Don’t ask.

Call after Labor Day for reservations for December
However, in my view, it’s way too expensive for the quality of the food – $95.00 PP plus $25 PP sleigh ride = $120. PP plus wine. Food is decent, at best.  Maybe prices have changed since it has closed and reopened several times over the past several years.  When we went the snow and wind conditions were so bad they took us back to the car in a large “tracked” vehicle.

Breakfast in America
58 El Jebel
El Jebel, Colorado 81623
970-928-9918
Note: This place is VERY local, but very good too.  Machacas is a breakfast dish with shredded pork, scrambled with eggs, fresh salsa, cheddar cheese, green onions, tomatoes, beans and hash brown potatoes – excellent!

Cafe Bernard
200 Midland Avenue
Basalt, Colorado 81621
970-927-4292
Note: Very French!  Bernard is the owner and chef.  His wife works the small dining room of about 8 tables inside and 3 outside.  Everything is excellent.  Bernard has a reputation of being “fussy” – I do not think he takes kindly to requests to change the dish.  Neil Diamond who like just outside the town, on the way to the reservoir, eats there about twice a week.  Also serves breakfast and lunch.

Heather’s Savory Pies
166 Midland Avenue
Basalt, Colorado
970-927-0151
Note: Sandy & I were taken there by the owner of the hotel in Aspen.  Excellent chicken pot pie.

HO Palace Chinese
123 Emma Road
Basalt, Colorado 81621
Note: It’s been a few years since we were here but my memory was that the food was pretty good considering it’s not New York

Smoke Modern BBQ
241 Harris Street
Willets Town Center – Whole Foods Shopping Plaza
Basalt, Colorado
970-927-5158
www.smokemodernbbq.com
Note: Excellent Louisianan BBQ

Double Black Noodle Bar
Note: Wildwood Hotel next door to The Westin
For 2014, they opened this restaurant, which is a Japanese-style ramen restaurant.  It is on the second level.

Nest Public House
Viceroy Hotel
Note: The lower-level slopeside eatery, has been transformed into Nest Public House, offering gastro-pub dining with hearty yet sophisticated comfort dishes such as stews, craft sausages, and BBQ pork sliders.

Fuel
Snowmass Village Mall
Snowmass
970-933-0091
Note: Offers very good breakfast and lunch. Outdoor seating. All self-service.