2 replies to this topic

[Sundae in the Park]

I'm not sure it this should stay as a stand-alone topic, or if it should be reassigned into, say, a small cities and towns of CO topic, so I leave it to Don's judgment.

I did want to mention the fantastic Hot Tomato Cafe in Fruita, CO, though, just in case anyone happens to pass by the town driving through the state or before/after a trip to the CO National Monument (gorgeous park, seems to host a lot of cyclists). They specialize in GREAT pizza that I would probably compare to Pete's Apizza in the DC area. Fresh, interesting toppings, with a charred and sturdy yet slightly floppy crust, it was a delightful surprise after a long morning in the park. It's a mostly open-air atmosphere (the patio door seems to stay open and they have both indoor and outdoor seating - which is great except for the flies) and seems to be frequented by youngish outdoor enthusiasts (i.e., dirty, happy people). Bonus points because they have a pizza called "Thai me up." The small pizza is 14" (we had the mean green) so is plenty for 2 people and they seem to be pretty serious about their beer (lots of stickers everywhere from a localish brewery and lots of folks indulging in drafts at lunch). We also had a tasty slice of the stromboli. This was one of the best finds from our road trip! It was a case where the good folks of Tripadvisor are not on crack. The little downtown area also looked cute and worthy of exploration.

[aaronsinger]

I'm not sure it this should stay as a stand-alone topic, or if it should be reassigned into, say, a small cities and towns of CO topic, so I leave it to Don's judgment.

I did want to mention the fantastic Hot Tomato Cafe in Fruita, CO, though, just in case anyone happens to pass by the town driving through the state or before/after a trip to the CO National Monument (gorgeous park, seems to host a lot of cyclists). They specialize in GREAT pizza that I would probably compare to Pete's Apizza in the DC area. Fresh, interesting toppings, with a charred and sturdy yet slightly floppy crust, it was a delightful surprise after a long morning in the park. It's a mostly open-air atmosphere (the patio door seems to stay open and they have both indoor and outdoor seating - which is great except for the flies) and seems to be frequented by youngish outdoor enthusiasts (i.e., dirty, happy people). Bonus points because they have a pizza called "Thai me up." The small pizza is 14" (we had the mean green) so is plenty for 2 people and they seem to be pretty serious about their beer (lots of stickers everywhere from a localish brewery and lots of folks indulging in drafts at lunch). We also had a tasty slice of the stromboli. This was one of the best finds from our road trip! It was a case where the good folks of Tripadvisor are not on crack. The little downtown area also looked cute and worthy of exploration.

New Belgium is one of the countries' largest craft breweries. Not quite local to Fruita/Grand Junction, as they're in Ft. Collins, 300 miles away on the northern end of the Front Range.

I had never heard of Fruita before this thread, though I do recall reading an article in the NYT recently about old Victorian homes and architecture in nearby Grand Junction, as well as biking in the city and its environs.

[Sundae in the Park]

New Belgium is one of the countries' largest craft breweries. Not quite local to Fruita/Grand Junction, as they're in Ft. Collins, 300 miles away on the northern end of the Front Range.

I had never heard of Fruita before this thread, though I do recall reading an article in the NYT recently about old Victorian homes and architecture in nearby Grand Junction, as well as biking in the city and its environs.

Just goes to show how ignorant I am about beer. In my mind, draft + stickers!! = craft = small. Also, somewhere in CO counted as localish in my mind since it's all far from DC! Luckily Don linked up my post so no one will be fooled. Sorry y'all!

We'd never heard of Fruita before either, until emerging from the CO Ntl. Monument and needing something to eat. You can enter/exit the park most easily from either Grand Junction or Fruita. We'd stayed the previous night in Grand Junction but it was completely dead, kind of creepily so, by 8 PM (we took the long way into town so drove through a lot of it). We saw some pretty Victorian homes, but it felt very Baltimore-ish, with somewhat grand and decaying architecture. Take this all with a hefty grain of salt as our views have been tainted by a meal of crappy Asian food and a sleepless night in a sketchy motel (both our fault so I didn't post about it but we looked and looked and couldn't find anything we'd consider solid recommendations so rolled the dice and lost, hard).

I found this NYT article about the Co. Ntl. Monument. It's really a beautiful place, doesn't take a huge amount of time to get through if you don't do any serious hikes, and retains that hushed feeling of discovery, since so few people are there on any given day. It's easy to get to off of I-70 and definitely worth a look if you're into that sort of thing.