Editor’s note: Welcome to the third installment of our 15-week series Colorado 150, marking 150 years of statehood with our favorite Colorado things.
Food creates memories and I’ve collected tasty souvenirs in my head of experiences that are just so Colorado to me.
Like wandering into the old Palisade Cafe after a day of wine tasting to discover the PLB (ripe peaches, lettuce and crispy bacon folded into a pita and drizzled with garlic aioli). My family duplicates the meal at home every peach season.
Or stopping by Colie’s Cakes & Pastries in Trinidad after hitting up the local history museum and wondering how to buy one of those red bricks stamped with the city’s name. While Colie’s had no answers, I can still taste the decadent almond croissants served there.
Or the time five of us squeezed into the tiny Lao Wang Noodle House on Federal Boulevard in Denver for a rushed meal of handmade dumplings before my brother headed home, only to realize his calendar was set on California time so he missed the plane.
Sadly, all three have closed and are now just true memories. But there are still plenty of great Colorado meals out there. Enjoy them while you can!
Tamara Chuang | Business/Technology Reporter
Beau Jo’s
Perhaps Colorado’s most iconic pie was born more than 50 years ago in a 15-seat pizza shop in Idaho Springs. Founder Chip Bair created the “Colorado-style mountain pie” in the 1970s by hand-rolling crusts so his pies could hold more stuff, turning them into a meal for four. Beau Jo’s was among the first pizzerias in the country to offer a whole wheat crust, and used honey instead of sugar in his dough. Bair’s legend grew in 2023 when he attempted to sell his pizza empire — now with locations in Arvada, Denver Evergreen, Fort Collins, Lone Tree and Steamboat Springs — to his employees, on the 50th anniversary of his start in Idaho Springs.
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The Slopper
Next time you’re in Pueblo, it’s a culinary imperative to make your way to Gray’s Coors Tavern, or The Sunset Inn, or Cactus Flower for a hand-shaped beef patty, dressed with American cheese, placed on a thick slice of slightly charred sourdough bread and baptized with a ladle of spicy green chile. If you read that ingredient list and thought, “That’s not a Slopper!!!” then welcome to the high-stakes world of defining the Slopper. Depending on your chosen level of Slopper orthodoxy, you need a bun, not bread. Or shredded cheese on top of the bun. Or serve the whole thing open-faced. But no matter which way you order it, make it or serve it, everyone in the Steel City agrees: It should be with Pueblo green chiles.
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Santiago’s
Southern Colorado might have a hold on the state’s green chile crop, but one Front Range restaurant chain has become almost synonymous with it: Santiago’s. The family-owned, fast-casual restaurant has stamped itself all over Denver metro and beyond, opening nearly 30 spots and collaborating first with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and later Gov. Jared Polis to establish “Breakfast Burrito Day” on the second Saturday of October. The famous green chile recipe has stayed the same since the first restaurant opened in 1991.
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Vicco’s Charcoalburger Drive In
You will find a fine patty at the Glenwood Springs staple that seems like it belongs on the old Route 66, and not along an Interstate 70 access road. If it feels like you’re stepping back in time when you pull up, that’s because Vicco’s opened in 1953 and has been going strong since. The original 1950s menu remains, but it has been upped to third-pound Angus beef burgers and bison, turkey and veggie patties also are served off the flaming grill. They also deliver classic crinkle cut fries, just the right texture to dip into one of their thick shakes or malts.
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Pine Creek Cookhouse
Just over the hill from the glitz of Aspen, is a cookhouse where you can slow down and soak in the neverending views of Castle Creek Valley. At the end of the paved road past the historic Ashcroft ghost town, the cookhouse opened in 1971 and remains popular year-round (calling ahead is advised). It’s not as easy to get to in the winter when the road closes at Ashcroft, which serves as a cross-country skiing hub, when a mile trek (or sleigh ride) along the groomed trail is required to get to the restaurant, which sits at around 9,700 feet.
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El Mexicano
It’s hard to pick just one taco truck to represent in this category, but outdoor reporter Jason Blevins made a strong case for El Mexicano in Leadville with four simple words: “those tacos barbacoa … bruh.” The truck is typically parked on the north end of town near Safeway, and offers Jalisco-style Mexican food with a steady taco menu, a highly recommended salsa selection and one-off specials like menudo and ceviche advertised on their Facebook page. Wait times can climb to 45 minutes during peak hours, so if you’re hoping for a quick stop you might want to call ahead. But it’s worth the wait. How many chances do you get to eat a Frito Burrito at 10,000 feet?
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Tocabe
An American Indian eatery in Denver that combines Osage family recipes with contemporary cuisine. The restaurant’s philosophy for sourcing ingredients is to go “native first, local second,” bringing in rice from the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, beans from a farm on the Gila River Reservation and bison from Rock River Ranches here in Colorado. In 2020, the restaurant’s founders launched Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace, connecting Native producers directly with customers. Stop by to try the Indian taco, your choice of proteins and toppings stacked open face on a piece of frybread, or the Posu bean and rice bowl topped with Osage hominy sauce.
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Casa Bonita
Oh, where to begin with Casa Bonita? With the divers? The sopaipillas? The guy in the gorilla suit? Or maybe its two bankruptcies under previous ownership and a more recent performers’ union strike? The long and short of it is that Casa Bonita is a fever dream of a restaurant, once a predictably insane birthday spot at the corner of strip mall in Lakewood that got its hot pink profile raised in 2003, when Comedy Central’s “South Park” featured the restaurant as a key plot point in an episode — with its own theme song and everything — and then again in 2021 when the South Park creators bought the place and renovated it.
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Chipotle
When Chipotle founder Steve Ells opened a humble burrito shop in Denver in 1993, he had dreams that were both much bigger and much smaller than what he’d eventually create. In short, Chipotle — which opened as Chipotle No.1 — was meant to be a cash cow that Ells could eventually funnel into a fine dining establishment. But the BYOB (build your own burrito) joint blew up, and is now synonymous with the fast-casual, counter-serve spots that are crucial to every roadtrip, ski day and bout of dinner indecision the world over. The original location, 1644 E. Evans Ave., is still a Chipotle.
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Buckhorn Exchange
If you’re looking for a solid steak dinner with a side of Western lore, the Buckhorn Exchange is your place. Billed as Denver’s oldest restaurant, the Buckhorn opened up in 1893 to serve the early cattlemen, miners, silver barons and railroad men passing through town via the Rio Grande Railroad yards across the street. Over the years, the Buckhorn has hosted U.S. Presidents and Hollywood stars. The dining rooms are lined with memorabilia from its colorful past along with more than 500 taxidermy pieces, creating a dining experience that’s both old school and over the top.
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