Will Travel for Food: Where To Eat and Drink in Telluride This Winter

Driving into Telluride feels like stepping inside a storybook, where tiered red-rock walls are streaked with ribbony waterfalls and characters ride a steep and soaring town-to-resort gondola, flitting from powdery peak to fireside feast.

Whether you work up an appetite carving Revelation Bowl this winter or trekking the boulder-strewn path to Bridal Veil Falls in summer, you’ll find plenty of delicious fare to refuel in the town’s Hallmark-esque village. Since it’s impossible to taste your way through all 12 blocks of breweries, bakeries, and brunch spots, though, we’ve pulled together a guide to Telluride’s most delectable destinations—plus where to stay between bites.

221 South Oak

• Address: 221 S. Oak St., Telluride
• Cuisine: New American

Step inside this refurbished historic home steps from the gondola and settle in for an intimate Sunday brunch among clean-lined designs and eye-catching contemporary artwork courtesy of the current featured artist. Treat yourself to comforting plates of buttermilk fried quail with bleu d’Auvergne, greens, and spicy honey and soft-shell crab benedicts crowned with crisped pecan praline bacon and tangy tomato relish.

Brown Dog Pizza

• Address: 110 E. Colorado Ave., Telluride
• Cuisine: Pizza

Always a crowd-pleaser, this buzzy Colorado Avenue sports pub is a Telluride staple. Brown Dog Pizza—an ode to the owners’ chocolate Labrador retrievers—began as Pacific Street Pizza on the west end of town in 2001 and quickly soared to celebrity status for its rectangular Detroit-style pies with red sauce on top and mozzarella caramelized into the edges. Load up the kids’ pockets with quarters to pump into the old-school Pac-Man console while you order another Telluride Brewing Co. Face Down Brown Ale.

Black Iron Kitchen and Bar

• Address: 568 Mountain Village Blvd., Telluride
• Cuisine: New American

Warm up at a signature outdoor high-top fire table and take in the resort base area action at this cozy, casual eatery inside the Madeline Hotel. To help you defrost, chefs serve steaming bowls of red chili ramen topped with fried hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, BLTs stacked with Orchard Mesa heirloom tomatoes and Benton’s bacon, and other goodies plucked from Western Slope farms.

Siam

• Address: 200 S. Davis St., Telluride
• Cuisine: Thai

Sophisticated and traditional with a nuanced tendency toward perfectionism, Siam transcends pad Thai and green curry with textured scratch dishes that gently detour into France, Malaysia, and sometimes India. The kitchen crew is classically trained in the art of Thai cooking, splitting time between Thailand and Telluride and impressing ski town guests with rich duck breast swimming in exotic banana curry, short rib khao soi, and grilled deep sea scallops in a Thai brown garlic and ginger sauce. Yes, Siam is busy, but for good reason. Nab a reservation to be on the safe side.

The National

• Address: 100 E. Colorado Ave., Suite B, Telluride
• Cuisine: Tapas

Executive Chef Chris Thompson has returned to his hometown after decades circling the world, studying at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa and rising to the top at San Francisco’s Michelin-starred Spruce. The National’s menu pulls from Thompson’s culinary jaunts to Morocco, Italy, Israel, and beyond, introducing bold flavors to the 120-year-old space that was once the National Club, a beloved bar for billiards, dancing women, and debauchery. Dredge warm focaccia through sweet ricotta and black truffle honey, slice into cinnamon-crusted Colorado lamb, and twirl squid ink spaghetti with velvety confit garlic.

Allred’s

• Address: San Sophia Station Telluride Gondola Stop
• Cuisine: New American

Hop out at the top of the Telluride gondola and après at 10,551 feet. Visit the first-come, first-served bar area and munch on marinated olives and goat cheese-stuffed peppers over generous pours of pinot while drinking in the famous peak-loaded vistas.

The Butcher & The Baker

• Address: 201 E. Colorado Ave., Telluride
• Cuisine: Bakery and deli

Approach this hearty menu with a leisurely mindset. Take your time nibbling on cheddar cheese curds, share the cheese steak with its signature chili lime aioli, and dissect the Bloody Mary’s house-harvested garlic scape, pickle, cucumber, and dilly bean garnishes. Grab a buttermilk-glazed carrot cake hunk from the small-batch bakery case for later.

Baked in Telluride

• Address: 127 S. Fir St., Telluride
• Cuisine: Bakery

Upon entering this legendary pastry haven, give your eyes a second to take in the massive wall of puffy donuts, fruit-studded scones, artfully twisted fritters, and custard-filled long Johns. It’s a lot to take in, especially on an empty stomach. Grab a gigantic glazed donut from the case and perhaps a pre-rolled chorizo and egg burrito or turkey and swiss breakfast croissant from the warmer. If it’s later in the day, get the hot deli reuben on fresh-baked Jewish rye and taste why locals have been flocking to Baked in Telluride since 1977.

Bon Vivant

• Address: Located at the top of the Polar Queen Express (Lift 5)
• Cuisine: French

Wrapped in views of Palmyra and the Wilson Range, this al fresco experience is known for its exclusively French champagne, wine lists, and chef’s selection of artisanal cheeses. Cruise by early in the day and get on the list for lunch (served 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at this popular skier’s rest stop; the tables beneath Bon Vivant’s 39-foot umbrella are extra coveted.

Last Dollar Saloon

• Address: 100 E. Colorado Ave., Telluride
• Cuisine: Bar

When in Telluride, there’s an unspoken rule: You have to grab a drink at the Last Dollar Saloon. Saunter through the watering hole’s historic doors and order a Prost pilsner. The Buck (what locals call it) is a straight-up bar, so no kids of any age are allowed. Grab a seat on the coveted rooftop, if weather complies, and watch alpenglow illuminate the box canyon walls while sipping.

Alpino Vino

• Address: Off Lift 14, down See Forever ski run
• Cuisine: Italian

The quintessential Telluride leisurely lunch glints in polished perfection at this European chalet off of Lift 14. At 11,966 feet, Alpino Vino is one of the highest-elevation restaurants in North America. Order antipasti and handmade pastas from the daytime menu or book a dinner adventure and arrive via heated snow coach for a prix fixe Northern Italian feast next to the grand wood-burning fireplace.

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Stay: Telluride Hotels with Delicious Menus

Posh ski-in ski-out Madeline Hotel & Residences is the pinnacle of five-star Telluride stays. Wander downstairs from your spacious suite to morning coffee service and gemstone-infused hydration stations. Play billiards in the elevated lounge, ice skate in the adjacent plaza, and retreat to the warmly designed Timber Room for shared presentations of Red Granite Ranch lamb and regionally farmed root vegetables.

Ease into boutique European comforts at the Hotel Telluride where downtown rests outside your front door and on-site West End Bistro fulfills post-excursion food fantasies with anchovy-buttered sourdough, cheese-and-leek tarts, and pan-fried rainbow trout with duck fat frites.

Book one of the 26 boutique rooms at the famed New Sheridan Hotel and enjoy steps-away shopping, as well as easy river, trail, and festival access. Though, with three restaurants and four bars at your disposal, you may not leave the property. If you can only visit one, make it the Chop House & Wine Bar for French onion soup, a dry-aged bison ribeye, and a to-die-for glass of red from the nitrogen wine bar.

Venture outside your luxe Mountain Lodge cabin or suite for instant access to Telluride ski runs and hiking trails. Spoil yourself over a refuel lunch at the View where thoughtfully angled tables invite soaring San Juan Mountain eyefuls through the immaculate lodge’s floor-to-ceiling windows.