From Claire Walter:
Thanksgiving presents a dilemma for skiers.
On one hand, the lifts are running, the slopes are white and most people have at least a four-day weekend that can sometimes be stretched to make a trip to Colorado even more worthwhile.
On the other hand, would Thanksgiving be Thanksgiving without turkey and all the trimmings? Hardly.
The best of both worlds is to dig into a turkey and the trimmings in ski country after a good day on the snow. Thanksgiving will fall just two days before a full moon, so if you dine someplace with a view and the sky is clear, you may get the bonus of silvery snow and mountainscapes bathed in moonbeams.
Some restaurants offer table service for multicourse meals. Others serve all-you-can-eat buffets. Prices rarely include alcoholic beverages or specialty coffees; taxes and gratuities are usually additional. Ask when you make reservations, which are always required. In fact, many holiday dinner seatings routinely sell out, so now is not too soon to book.
One option for visitors who can't miss Thanksgiving Day football is to have dinner delivered to their condo. Some resort catering departments (Keystone, for example) or restaurants (such as Breckenridge's Hearthstone) do this. Check when you make lodging reservations.
If all else fails, there's always a turkey sandwich for lunch. But let's hope for better, such as these memorable restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner in the Colorado mountains:
As one of the closest resorts to Denver, Winter Park is a practical choice for a short holiday getaway. It also offers three Thanksgiving options for different budgets.
An original 1930s homestead remains the core of the elegantly rustic Ranch House Restaurant and adjacent lounge, expanded and remodeled with enormous picture windows to take in views across the meadows toward the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Chef Ken Ohlinger can be expected to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving menu with a contemporary twist. There might be the option of a boned turkey leg stuffed with giblets, cranberries and dried fruits. Instead of pumpkin pie, a pumpkin crème caramel might appear.
Winter Park Resort's annual dinner buffet at the Lodge at Sunspot starts with a ride in gondola cabins to the summit of Winter Park Mountain. Guests gawk at the panoramas of the Continental Divide and Fraser Valley from the lift and through the lodge's huge windows, but it can be argued that the buffet is the real scene-stealer.
It's laden with classics: roasted turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans almondine, cranberry sauce and the signature Dessert Extravaganza.
In the valley below, the Vintage Hotel's recently renovated Five Mountain Tavern sets out a group-pleasing, family-friendly feast that won't break the bank. The adult price is comparable to the children's price elsewhere. It, too, consists of traditional dishes.
Colorado boasts one even loftier dinner venue than Winter Park's Lodge at Sunspot, and that is Keystone's Alpenglow Stube in the Outpost lodge at 11,444 feet. Reaching it takes about 45 minutes via two gondolas. The experience on a moonlit night can't be beat. The Alpenglow Stube serves its regular and also Thanksgiving-inspired dishes presented in lavish Stube style.
The Keystone Ranch, once a rustic Snake River Valley homestead, has expanded to house the resort's golf club (summer) and cross-country center (winter) and also a warm, welcoming and elegant restaurant. Its dinner will no doubt be a fine rendition of turkey with traditional fixings. Dessert around the massive fireplace is a Ranch tradition.
Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving an official national holiday in 1863, less than 25 years before the Breckenridge Victorian that is now the Hearthstone Restaurant was built. Executive chef Michael Halpin enjoys a reputation for his fine preparation and presentation of meat, game and seafood dishes. The desserts are exemplary as well.
Chef Richard Beichner of Chap's Grill & Chophouse at the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa is passionate about using as many Colorado ingredients as are seasonally feasible for the restaurant's holiday board, presented buffet-style. Colorado-raised game, fowl (including turkey, of course) and even fish anchor the entrée offerings. For dessert, Mr. Beichner ventures a bit further from tradition with such specialties as white chocolate orange pot de crème with cranberry gelée.
Those pilgrims at Plymouth were happy for the simplest cabins to protect them from harsh winters in what is now Massachusetts. There's nothing simple about The Cabin, an atmospheric fine-dining mecca in the Steamboat Grand Hotel. There's nothing simple about the Thanksgiving buffet, either.
Colonists and their Wampanoag friends could have survived for a year on the chef's cold station with five selections, the chef's carving station with three (roast turkey, lamb and ham) with six accompaniments (eight if you count the trio of stuffings as three separate side dishes) and the dessert station with a half-dozen sweets.
Christopher Keating, chef at Aspen's historic Hotel Jerome, puts on a refined Thanksgiving buffet, reflective of the hotel's ambience. Historians know the pilgrims enjoyed shellfish, so oyster chowder is a choice for one of the starters.
Another classic offering is a sweet potato casserole. The dessert table includes pumpkin pie. After all, Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without somethin' pumpkin.
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