Dining in Dallas.com

It’s been so hot outside these days that it’s gotten me thinking winter already. More specifically, Colorado… snow… and snowboarding. For the past 3 years it’s been an annual trip for me. Last year I went to Copper Mountain in Colorado, and it was my first year snowboarding. Boy I tell ya, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore in my life. I ached in places I never knew would ache. When the adrenaline was flowing during the day I was fine, but when the lifts closed and I was back at the lodge I literally could not move because I was so sore.

What’s a food fanatic like me to do when I’m in foreign territory? Why, try out the finest and best restaurants in the area of course! I think it’s gotten to be somewhat of a tradition to eat at a fine dining restaurant on every trip. I’d have to say we found some pretty good gems at the 3 Colorado resorts I’ve been to so far. At Crested Butte we went to Soupcon (now closed, so sad) which served French cuisine with a bit of Americanized flair. At Winter Park we went to Gasthaus Eichler serving German cuisine which I thought was interesting because I’ve been to only 1 other German restaurant my entire life. Last year at Copper we went to Blue Spruce Inn with a pretty large group. I think we ordered nearly everything they had on their menu, or at least it seemed like it.

I don’t even want to attempt to describe every dish we ordered because I’d probably need two pages, which will be too long, and mainly because I tasted only a couple of dishes so I can go into detail on just those two. As for the rest of the dishes, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

A foretaste of what’s to come.

You can browse through their wine selection while you wait.

Blue Spruce Inn has been around for quite a while.

Had to put together an extra long table for our group.

Just before I cracked open their menu to order.

Fresh baked bread with butter to start everything off.

Blue Corn Calamari. Fried calamari has always been my favorite. These were coated with just enough blue cornmeal and fried just right so the meat was tender and not chewy. The accompanying tomato and caper sauce provided just the right amount of sweetness and sourness to diffuse out any oily aftertaste.

All meals come with either caeser salad…

…or soup du jour.

I ordered the Crab Filet which was tenderloin stuffed with crab and covered in fresh bérnaise sauce. To the untrained eye this may look like a big yellow glob, but under this rich coat of sauce sits a perfectly seared beef medallion sandwiching generous flakes of crab. At a perfect medium, the beef was so unbelievably juicy it nearly matched the natural tenderness of the crab. I savored every bite slowly along with the chef’s potato (mashed potatoes with garlic and herbs), cabbage, and carrots. Everything was so good I even ate the decoration, a tiny skewer of pineapple and cantaloupe.

Slow roasted Prime Rib. Lots of marbling.

Caramelized Onion Sirloin, certified angus quality.

Roast Duckling. Slow roasted and served with a Grand Marnier lingonberry sauce.

Pomodoro Pasta with chicken.

Rocky Mountain Trout.

Grilled New York strip steak.

Bluegrass Baby Back Ribs. *Full* rack.

Ice cream cake with chocolate syrup and raspberries.

I love the homely feel of fine dining restaurants like this. Blue Spruce used to be an inn before it moved a couple of times and finally became just a dining establishment, but it still kept the “inn” atmosphere. When I think of an inn, I think of a place where you end up at the end of a day exhausted, and all you’re looking for is a nice hot meal before crashing in a nice soft bed. In our case, we went at the last day of our trip pretty much exhausted from all the snowboarding and skiing looking for a nice hot meal. The food just tastes that much better when you’re hungry *and* exhausted.

The fine dining experience was memorable, but it wasn’t cheap. Dishes ranged from about mid 20s to just under 30, but you get what you paid for. The full rack of ribs was especially a good deal. The slabs were so humongous that it hid almost everything else on the plate. Even some of the guys notorious for having a “bottomless” stomach cried mercy near the end.

Like I said, we had a pretty big group, and our server did a pretty good job of making sure our dining experience was enjoyable. We were relaxed while we ate and chatted, and the server only interceded when necessary. The rest of the time he wisely left us alone to mingle the night away.

The Blue Spruce
20 Main St
Frisco, CO 80443
(970) 668-5900
Website: thebluespruce.com/home/index.php

Atmosphere: 9
Food: 8
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 8.1

Tags: Blue Spruce Inn, Colorado, Frisco, Copper