Rock Inn Mountain Tavern

The final post for places we ate while on vacation in Estes Park, Colorado is definitely saving the best for last. The Rock Inn was my absolute favorite restaurant in Estes Park. The hostess that greeted us was unbelievably nice, and made small talk and asked if we had a favorite table (even though I could tell by the look on her face that she knew by our accents that we weren't from around here). Our waiter was not only helpful, but bent down while talking to us which you don't see often, and made us feel like people who were regulars and ate their all of the time. The decor was gorgeous. It felt like we were in the middle of the mountains somewhere in a cozy lodge.

I didn't feel like an alcoholic beverage or soda, and water was too boring so I decided to get fancy and order the French press coffee. It was some of the best coffee I have had in years.  My husband, who is a tea person, also said it was delicious coffee.

For an appetizer we ordered the "Devils on horseback", which were dates stuffed with roasted garlic, and wrapped in bacon served with a fresh aioli. The only bad thing I have to say about these are that there weren't enough on the plate! The garlic and dates were so creamy, and the bacon had a perfect crunch on the outside.

My husband ordered the bacon wrapped meatloaf. The meatloaf was very moist and served with a garlic mushroom gravy on top. He also had a side of red potatoes and a carrot salad.

And now, for the best dish that I have had in months, and the best steak I have had in YEARS, is my main course. I ordered the Filet Mignon, bistro style which was peppercorn crusted and served in a port wine sauce. I also had the carrot salad on the side, and ordered mine with creamy polenta. The plate, taste aside, was gorgeous. Mine was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the slices were fanned out. The port wine sauce was rich and creamy and went perfectly with the hot peppercorns. It was definitely not one of the cheaper items on the menu, but sometimes you just have to treat yourself to something decadent.

I highly, highly recommend this restaurant if you are in Estes Park. We ate here on a Saturday and they even had live music. I wish I would have figured out the singer's name so that I could give her recognition on here because her voice was beautiful. The food is to die for, the staff makes you feel like family. If I could pick this restaurant up and bring it back to the Upper Peninsula I would.

Rock Inn, Main Site
Rock Inn, Facebook Page

Bob and Tony's Pizza

While in Estes Park, Colorado and walking around down town looking in all of the shops, it happened to be lunch time and my husband and I couldn't figure out what restaurant this amazing garlic-y smell was coming from. After about 5 minutes of walking around, letting our noses lead the way, we came across Bob and Tony's Pizza.

We grabbed two menu's and picked out the table that was closest to the door, but had actual armchairs to sit in. While picking out what we wanted from the menu, we watched a few people walk in the door and have the same reaction we did. We all pulled the door open, stood there for a minute and just smelled the air coming out of the restaurant. It is enough to make your mouth water.

For an appetizer we ordered the cheese bread. Description wise, it was a pretty standard cheesy bread. Crispy toasted garlic bread, strong but not over powering garlic flavor, and lots of melted cheese and Italian herbs. Very good.

Instead of picking one of the pizza flavor combinations from the menu, we decided to make our own. We ordered a small pizza with white pizza sauce (like an Alfredo butter sauce), with garlic, basil, spinach and pepperoni. The combination was amazing. I love spinach and garlic on pizzas but throwing the pepperoni and basil in there brought it over the top. We both had about two pieces and brought the rest to devour in our hotel room as we needed a quick snack. The best part? It was even better cold.

Bob and Tony's Facebook Page
Bob and Tony's Pizza, Main Site

Smokin' Dave's BBQ and Taphouse

While my husband and I were vacationing for a long weekend in Colorado a few week's ago, we both had a hankering for some good barbecue. I am that type of person who always looks up restaurants and things to do while on vacation before hand, usually on TripAdvisor. Smokin' Dave's was one of the top five restaurants that I wanted to visit while in Estes Park and had great reviews.

And pulling into a backdrop like that, how could you not gravitate towards this restaurant to eat there? Even with an overcast sky, it was still a breathtaking sight.

We chose to get an appetizer since we were both famished, and ordered the Pit Master Sliders. These freshly made buns are packed full of meat, two with Carolina pork and two with the Texas beef brisket. They also come with a container of coleslaw to top the sandwiches off, and I highly recommend, even if you don't care for coleslaw like myself, that you top those sandwiches off with coleslaw. At your table you also have a variety of BBQ sauces (homemade of course) to choose from, and I added the mustard BBQ sauce to my sliders.

For dinner I ordered the Dave's Double. Now, I obviously didn't plan that very well on the trying different things area, because the two meat's that I chose were the brisket and pulled pork again. The pulled pork was my favorite. The smokey flavor was very pronounced and the meat was still juicy. The brisket was also good. The smoke ring on the edges of the slices just reminded me of how much time they actually put into cooking their meats on the smoker. I tried the meat with all of the different kinds of BBQ sauce and I would have to say, although I liked all of them, that the mustard was still my favorite. For my two sides I ordered the Southern corn bake, which was my favorite thing other than the cornbread on my plate. And I also chose Grandma's tater salad. The tater salad wasn't bad, but I hate a large mayonnaise based sauce and that is all that I could taste.

For dessert, my husband ordered the apple cobbler. The apples were very tender and I highly suggest ordering a scoop of vanilla because the cobbler melts the ice cream making it into an amazing creamy vanilla sauce.

I ordered the creole bread pudding that is baked with bittersweet chocolate and pecans, and topped with a whiskey cream sauce. There was I think a little bit too much sauce for me. It isn't thick, more of a watery type sauce, but had really great flavor. And a bite of everything together, including some whipped cream was perfect.

I highly recommend stopping here if you are in Estes Park, or near their other location in Lyons for that matter. The proportions, depending on what you order, are more than enough. We ended up taking most of our desserts and part of dinner back to the hotel with us. And nothing against the Famous Dave's chain, because they also have amazing food, but Smokin' Dave's might have beat you this time as far as the meat is concerned... Delish!

Smokin' Dave's Facebook Page
Smokin' Dave's, Estes Menu

Cascades Restaurant of the Stanley

My husband and I recently took a trip to Estes Park, Colorado for the Strange Escapes "The Stanley" paranormal convention. We got our tickets early enough that we were able to stay in the hotel. We visited the Cascades Restaurant on two different occasions while we were staying there, once for a late night snack, drinks and dessert, and once for dinner. The service was pretty good, considering the entire dining room and bar area (and hotel in general) were packed the entire weekend and it was very chaotic. There was copper everywhere and it was beautiful; the light practically danced off of it. They also had signed pictures of actors, actresses, politicians, or any "famous" people that have been there.

While in Colorado, I HAD to order my favorite drink of all time, which is a "Colorado Bulldog". Here in Upper Michigan, about 95 percent of the bars I have attempted to order it from had never heard of it and I had to explain to them what the ingredients were. Well, I also try to tell them that if you mix them in the wrong order the entire drink curdles and so I normally don't order it at a bar and end up making them myself. I was expecting like many bars I have been to, that the drink would be over boozed and you wouldn't be able to taste anything else. That ended up being far from the case. I could even taste the splash of Coca Cola that is added. It was one of the best drinks I have had in a long time.

For an appetizer on the first night we dined there, we ordered the Montaditos. You were served three pieces of grilled baguette (which I thought was a very odd number, because usually two people split it), Manchego cheese, Prosciutto, and a tomato "confit" (which was more like baby greens and sliced grape tomatoes of various colors). Other than some odd terminology in the description, the dish was very good and refreshing. Even with the fact that it was bread, meat and cheese, it didn't feel heavy at all. And of course I always like to make my dish look amazing and play with my food, so that was also fun.

For dessert we ordered the Creme Brulee to split. I am not going to go into much detail because you can either make a creme brulee or you can't. The texture was on point, the caramelization on top was very crunchy and sounded perfect, but the flavor was lacking. Normally you would use fresh vanilla beans in the custard to bring out that vanilla flavor, but there was really no flavor at all. I don't know if the macaroon was made in house, but it was amazing. I would have ordered a whole plate of those.

The second night we ate there, we attended for dinner. I ordered the Buffalo Bolognese. It was pappardelle pasta mixed in with the buffalo bolognese sauce, and topped with truffle pecorino. They also have a "side" of carrot puree. The dish was not bad. It wasn't a very flavorful bolognese but the sharp cheese on top helped give the dish some of the salt it was lacking. My issue with the carrot puree, which was pretty good flavor wise, was that it looked like a skid mark on the edge of my bowl. That, and there was literally one "fork full" on the plate. I think they were trying to use it as more of a fancy decor aspect, but if you say in the menu that there is a carrot puree in or with the dish, you should use enough to make an impact.

My husband ordered a side of Mac and Cheese with his main dish. The sauce was made with a sharp cheddar and the dish was topped with applewood smoked bacon. Again, it was a good dish, but still nothing spectacular. The sauce was a little runny for my taste, but the flavors were there.

The best dish of the night, and it wasn't even mine, was the Macgregor Burger that came with truffle fries. I was not expecting a burger of all things to be the star of this restaurant, but it took center stage. The truffle fries were the best I have ever had, no ketchup needed. The burger was topped with melted sliced brie cheese, and came with a bacon marmalade that was to die for. Considering I only had one (very large) bite of it, and don't really like beef burgers, I would have switched dishes with him in a heartbeat. It was one of the best beef burgers I've ever had.

The overall experience here was great. All of the food was good, and some of the most different types of dishes from a restaurant in a hotel that I've had to date. If I lived near the Estes Park area, that burger is the one thing that would keep bringing me back. It is mouth watering. Also the fact that this restaurant is located in the famously haunted Stanley Hotel helps...


Stanley Hotel, Cascades Restaurant
Stanley Hotel, Facebook Page