From a cart serving elk sausage brats to a French bakery and bistro, these spots are nicely definitely worth the drive up I-25.
With its pioneering craft breweries, walkable downtown, charming boutique resorts, vibrant power from college students at Colorado State University, easy-to-access climbing trails, and bike-friendly streets, Fort Collins is the proper place to plan a weekend getaway. Whilst you’re on the town, you should definitely go to Fort Collins’ favorites like Social, Odell, Ginger and Baker, New Belgium, the Silver Grill Cafe, and the Emporium, but in addition save room for these 11 new locations to eat and drink.
Additional Arts & Drafts
If you happen to at all times regarded ahead to arts and crafts time as a child, now you may partake in a barely extra grown-up model at Extra Arts & Drafts, an interactive bar that opened in February 2021. Half bar, half artwork studio, Additional Arts & Drafts offers patrons with all of the supplies and directions they should full a DIY mission whereas sipping beer, wine, cider, or a nonalcoholic beverage. Initiatives usually take one to 2 hours to finish and vary from making leather-based wallets to customizing cheese boards with wood-burning instruments.
“It’s a cushty place the place you may strive one thing new and study a brand new ability,” says Jeff White, who co-owns the enterprise together with his spouse, Amy. “Making artwork together with your arms has so many private advantages, corresponding to decreasing stress and boosting your creativity, so Additional Arts & Drafts is as a lot a sanctuary for self-care and socializing as it’s a crafts workshop.” 115 E. Mountain Ave., Fort Collins; 970-893-2985
The Nook
The following time you go to a northern Colorado restaurant, you might end up eating privately inside an lovely, tiny house-esque trailer. Meet the Nook, an 80-square-foot, moveable room that creates additional outside eating area for partnering native eateries, the place it parks for choose days. Previous collaborating eating places have included the Farmhouse at Jessup Farm and Mobb Mountain Distillers. It’s one of many many inventions that arose from the coronavirus pandemic, when house owners received artistic with igloos, huts, tents, and different intelligent apparatuses to abide by restaurant capability limits and make patrons really feel secure and comfy.
Because the pandemic drags on, the Nook stays a vivid spot amongst restaurant-goers. “The inside has a sales space that seats six adults, so it’s been widespread with everybody from women’ nights to school college students to households with younger youngsters,” says Seth Pearson, who launched the Nook in February 2021 with Sean Hudgens. Varied areas (discover the most recent by following the enterprise on Instagram); 970-219-2087
Little on Mountain
Little on Mountain, aka Little, is nestled among the many historic properties and tall timber of Fort Collins’ Previous City West neighborhood. The restaurant is lengthy, slim, and, because the title suggests, small, however that intimacy is a part of the attraction. As a result of it has a centralized open kitchen, diners really feel like they’re a part of the motion, says Dan Smalheiser, who co-owns the eatery with Brett Jackson. The pair opened Little in December 2019, only a few months earlier than the pandemic reached Colorado.
Like many eating places, Smalheiser and Jackson had been compelled to pivot: They constructed a big heated patio and erected canvas huts with rotating themes like Morocco, outer area, and fungi forests. Nowadays, Little serves up brunch and supper, with seasonal menu gadgets that spotlight native elements from purveyors like Jodar Farms and Hazel Dell Mushrooms. 1046 W. Mountain Ave., Fort Collins; info@littleonmountain.com
Duff’s Previous City Sausage Cart
When Garrett Overlee and Josh Olson misplaced their jobs on account of the pandemic, the duo put their heads collectively to brainstorm their subsequent steps. “We determined that Fort Collins wanted a scorching canine cart,” says Overlee. And so, in September 2021, they launched Duff’s Old Town Sausage Cart, a roving meals stand that serves up an array of scorching canines and sausages. It’s named in honor of Overlee’s Olde English Bulldog, Duff, who loves taking walks in Previous City “and scorching canines, for that matter,” Overlee says.
On the rotating menu, you might discover choices like: a mac-and-cheese-stuffed frankfurter, served with mac-and-cheese sauce; a vegan canine comprised of pea protein, wheat gluten, and smoked seasonings; a wild boar brat with apricot, cranberry, and maple; and the Fratelli, an Italian sausage topped with onion, bell pepper, marinara, and oregano. The cart operates from April by way of November and, weather-permitting, is open for lunch, late-night eats, and after Colorado State College dwelling soccer video games. Varied areas (discover the most recent by following the enterprise on Instagram); focodog.garrett@gmail.com
Stodgy Brewing Firm
For greater than 30 years, the quirky property at 1802 Laporte Avenue in Fort Collins served as a well known fire restore and retail store. Then, the location sat on the true property marketplace for 10 years. In 2019, Tyler Olpin and Natalie Yoder determined it was the proper location for his or her new brewery, Stodgy Brewing Company. They diligently renovated the property—reclaiming and repurposing as a lot wooden, slate, soapstone, and different supplies as they may earlier than opening in September 2020.
The result’s a one-of-a-kind brewery and taproom with a big outside patio and yard area. Stodgy’s title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the truth that beer could be heavy and carb-y, but in addition acknowledges that the tasting room is unpretentious and open to all. Beers right here vary from a light-weight desk saison to a daring rye whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout, with a lot of types in between. 1802 Laporte Ave.; 970-232-9702
Ciao Vino Wine Bar
It’s not day-after-day {that a} restaurant closes for almost twenty years, then reopens once more. However Ciao Vino Wine Bar has made a triumphant return to Previous City after closing almost 18 years in the past. After first opening the wine bar with different house owners in 2000, chef Antonio Race determined to give attention to different ventures and, in 2004, Ciao Vino closed. In September 2021, Race reopened the normal Italian wine bar, which provides greater than 120 wines, small plates, chilly cuts and cheeses, and salads. 255 Linden St.; 970-484-3717
Philippe
Previous City welcomed a family-owned French bakery and bistro with the opening of Philippe on South Faculty Avenue in early February. Chef-owner Philippe Boutinet grew up on a cognac winery in Cognac, France, and started apprenticing as a chef when he was simply 13. He moved to the U.S. and labored underneath famend cooks like Thomas Keller of the French Laundry and Patrick O’Connell of the Inn at Little Washington. Now, he’s bringing his ardour for French delicacies to Northern Colorado, with traditional dishes like quiche lorraine, croque monsieur (or madame), onion soup, boeuf bourguignon, and duck confit on the menu. Philippe serves brunch, lunch, dinner, and pastries in an informal environment. 133 S Faculty Ave.; 970-631-8482
Extra New Fort Collins Spots to Examine Out
- Kujira Ramen, which opened in February 2021 and serves up ramen, pork buns, and different Japanese and Chinese language fare
- Josh & John’s, a Colorado Springs ice cream chain that opened in Fort Collins’ Jessup Farm Artisan Village in June 2020
- Ace Cafe, the brand new pandemic-born patio and foyer bar of the Armstrong Lodge
- Locust Cider & Brewing Co., a Washington-based cidery that additionally has areas in Lakewood’s Belmar neighborhood and Fort Price, Texas (the Boulder location closed in September 2021)
[Read 7 New Mountain-Town Restaurants to Try this Ski Season]
