Best Restaurants in Eagle County: Fine Dining, Local Gems & Where to Eat
There is a particular smell to Eagle County in the early evening – pine resin cooling in the mountain air, woodsmoke beginning to drift from somewhere you can’t quite locate, and underneath it all, something being grilled over an open flame that makes the decision about where to have dinner feel considerably more urgent than it did five minutes ago. The light turns amber around six, the ski boots come off, and the valley’s restaurant scene shifts gears in a way that consistently surprises people who thought they were heading somewhere to ski and ended up having some of the better meals of their lives. Eagle County – encompassing Vail, Beaver Creek, Avon, Edwards and the wider valley stretching toward Glenwood Springs – punches considerably above its altitude when it comes to food. Which, at 8,150 feet, is already rather high.
The Fine Dining Scene in Vail and Beaver Creek
Eagle County does not currently hold a Michelin star – Colorado as a whole has been slow to receive the guide’s full attention – but do not let that administrative gap mislead you. The quality of cooking in Vail’s upper tier restaurants would be entirely at home in a major metropolitan city, and frequently employs chefs who have earned their stripes in exactly those places before apparently deciding that cooking at altitude with a mountain view was preferable to the pressure of a city kitchen. Sensible people.
Elway’s in Vail is the name that serious carnivores will have heard of, and for good reason. It is a steakhouse in the truest sense – confident, unfussy, deeply attentive to the quality of its product – run under the name of legendary NFL quarterback John Elway and delivering on the considerable expectations that association creates. The dry-aged prime cuts are the main event, and ordering anything less than medium-rare is technically your own business but will attract the quiet, professional disappointment of the kitchen. The wine list is long, and the room – warm wood, mountain-lodge elegance – does exactly what it should.
At Beaver Creek, Splendido at the Chateau is the destination for a full, unhurried fine dining experience. The menu changes with the seasons and draws intelligently on both classical technique and Colorado’s increasingly impressive local larder. This is the kind of restaurant where the bread arrives before you’ve even fully processed that you’re sitting down, and the sommelier actually listens to what you say before making a recommendation. Reserve well in advance, particularly during ski season. The kitchen does not need you to arrive at 9pm.
Beano’s Cabin deserves its own sentence, and probably its own paragraph. Accessible in winter by snowcat or sleigh and in summer by horseback or foot, it sits up on the mountain above Beaver Creek and serves a five-course dinner that manages to be genuinely romantic without once tipping into self-parody. The setting does most of the heavy lifting, admittedly, but the food – Colorado lamb, local game, seasonal produce – holds its own in distinguished company.
Local Gems and Valley Favourites
The best meals in Eagle County are not always the most expensive ones. This is a truth that applies almost everywhere and is never less true than in a mountain valley with a strong sense of community and several generations of locals who require good food on a Tuesday night as much as visiting hedge fund managers require it on a Saturday. The restaurants that have survived in Edwards, Avon and down the valley tend to have survived for a reason.
Mirabelle Restaurant in Beaver Creek is the kind of place that exists quietly and excellently, the sort of discovery that regulars guard with a certain proprietary satisfaction. Set in a converted farmhouse, it serves French-Belgian cuisine that is precise, classical and cooked with the kind of care that makes you realise how rarely you encounter the real thing. The duck, when it is on, is remarkable. The room is intimate. Book early and dress reasonably – not in ski gear, despite what the altitude suggests is appropriate.
In Edwards, Zino Ristorante has long been a local institution that visitors often stumble upon and immediately wish they’d found on the first night rather than the last. The Italian menu is approachable and generous, the wine list better than you’d expect, and the atmosphere achieves that particular warmth that only comes when a restaurant has clearly been loved into existence by people who eat there regularly. The handmade pastas are the thing. Order two.
The Sweet Basil in Vail Village is another local landmark that has earned its longevity – an American contemporary kitchen that moves with the seasons and manages to be both ambitious and welcoming, which is a harder balance than most restaurants achieve. The bar is worth knowing about independently of the dining room for those evenings when you want a very good cocktail and something from a shorter, sharper menu.
Casual Dining, Après-Ski and Mountain Lunches
A significant portion of eating in Eagle County happens on the mountain, in ski boots, in a state of cheerful appetite that only two hours of cold air and vertical descent can produce. This is not the moment for nuance. This is the moment for Buffalos Bar & Grill at the base of Beaver Creek, where the comfort food is abundant, the atmosphere is cheerful, and nobody is judging you for ordering a burger at noon. This is also, incidentally, where après-ski culture does its most honest work – the bar fills from around three o’clock and the mood is excellent.
Los Amigos in Vail Village has been serving the après-ski crowd for decades from its prime position on the mountain, and the margaritas have maintained their reputation through conditions that would have finished a lesser cocktail. The Mexican-influenced menu is not trying to be anything other than what it is: satisfying, generous and exactly right after a long day on the slopes. This is not the place to order cautiously.
For on-mountain dining with actual culinary pretension, Two Elk Restaurant at Vail Mountain is the answer. Perched at 11,570 feet with views that would distract a professional from almost any task, it serves lunch that rises considerably above the standard of mountain dining and has the architectural bones to match its surroundings. On a clear day, which in Eagle County is most days, eating here is one of those experiences that becomes quietly difficult to explain to people who weren’t there.
Food Markets, Artisan Producers and Local Drinks
Eagle County’s food culture extends beyond its restaurants, and increasingly so. The Vail Farmers Market and Art Show, running through summer weekends in Vail Village, draws local producers from across the valley with a range that reflects Colorado’s considerable agricultural diversity – heritage meats, artisan cheeses, local honey, baked goods and seasonal produce that make a strong case for cooking in your villa rather than eating out. (A private chef using this market as a morning starting point is a combination worth considering seriously.)
Colorado as a whole has developed a drinks culture that goes well beyond the predictable. The state’s craft beer scene is now extensive and Eagle County benefits from proximity to several serious producers – Bonfire Brewing in Eagle being a particularly well-regarded local operation, with an approachable taproom atmosphere and a range that changes with the seasons. The Colorado Rockies also sit within one of the country’s younger wine-producing regions, and while Vail Valley is not itself wine country, a number of local restaurants have made a point of championing Colorado wines alongside their more established European counterparts. Trying at least one Colorado red over the course of a stay is an act of both curiosity and regional solidarity.
Whiskey is taken seriously here, as it tends to be in mountain communities with long winters. Several of the better bars in Vail stock selections of American craft whiskey that would satisfy a serious enthusiast, and asking a knowledgeable bartender for a recommendation is rarely a wasted exercise.
Reservation Tips and When to Eat
Eagle County’s restaurant scene operates in two distinct modes – ski season and summer – and both require forward planning if you want to eat well without disappointment. Peak ski season runs roughly from mid-December through early April, and the top tables at Splendido, Mirabelle and Beano’s Cabin can be booked weeks in advance during holiday periods. Christmas and New Year in particular should be treated with the same respect one might afford a restaurant in Paris during Fashion Week.
Summer is increasingly busy, particularly July through August when Vail’s festival calendar draws significant crowds and the hiking season is in full swing. Restaurants that might have availability on a Tuesday in May will be fully committed on a Saturday in July. The general rule is to book before you think you need to, because by the time it occurs to you that you should, the good tables have already gone to people who planned ahead.
Dining times in Eagle County lean earlier than in many European destinations – a function of mountain life, early mornings and the fact that most people have been outside for the better part of the day. Seven o’clock is a reasonable standard; nine o’clock will occasionally feel like you’re the last guests at a party. If you prefer to eat late, the bar menu at several of the better establishments can accommodate without sacrificing quality, and is sometimes a more interesting option than the formal dining room anyway.
The dress code across the valley is smart-casual in most settings, with a handful of exceptions at the higher end where making some effort is appreciated without being absolutely required. The mountains create a natural informality, but that is not quite the same thing as suggesting ski gear is appropriate for a five-course dinner. It is not.
Eat Well, Stay Well: Villas with Private Chef Options
There is a particular pleasure, after a succession of very good restaurant meals, in a dinner that comes to you. The best way to experience Eagle County’s remarkable local produce – the heritage meats, the seasonal vegetables from the farmers market, the Colorado cheeses that the better restaurant kitchens have been quietly championing for years – is often in the setting of a luxury villa in Eagle County with a private chef who can tailor a meal entirely to your group, your preferences and the rhythm of your day. It is, frankly, an excellent use of a mountain evening: the fire lit, the wine already open, dinner appearing without any of the logistics that even the best restaurant requires of its guests. Combining this with a wider exploration of Eagle County’s restaurant scene across the rest of a stay represents, in this writer’s considered opinion, the correct approach to eating well at altitude.
For everything else the valley offers – from skiing to summer hiking, seasonal events and the wider landscape – the Eagle County Travel Guide is the place to begin.
