Vail Valley Food Tours

Food is a big part of a culture. Just like I mentioned in the intro of this blog, one of the best ways to get to know a culture is to sample their dishes. As I researched for the itinerary of our Vail trip, I came across this food tour called Vail Valley Food Tours.  There were several tours to choose from among which was a craft beer tour. However, I remembered the Alaska beer tour we had last year.  I still get a pounding headache every time I think about that. Beer is not for me. I decided on the gourmet Food tour instead. Beans opted to get snowboarding lessons today, so this will give me a nice distraction from my absolute fear that he will end up breaking both legs in the snow.

We started out by meeting our guide, Freddy, at Terra Bistro.

We had our welcome champagne.

Terra Bistro  is a sustainable restaurant. The menu is based off things they grow or locally raise. Even the water that they serve is from the mountain-tops, going through their own filtering system.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP – with spiced pepitas, chive oil, apple cider reduction. Beside it is the CHORIZO STUFFED DATES – Medjool dates, house-made chorizo, pancetta, roasted Peppadew pepper sauce.
This is Gore Creek. Because this is also a village tour, the guide also showed us “prime spots” for pics and a good historical background on how the city of Vail came to be.

Next stop is Blu Cow Cafe. This is an uber cool apres-cafe that’s been here since 1967. Click on the link and you’ll see how smug they are in their intro, because they really don’t need one!

Had to take this pic of D next to all the cool cowbells.
Their specialty is the Swiss bratwurst. It’s the only thing written on the menu board. There’s a whole bunch of craft beers so D was obviously delighted.
The covered bridge! This reminds me of the bridge in Lucerne
Next stop is Fuzziwig’s.

Fuzziwig’s is a candy factory. If you are a Kardashian fan, you will remember this as one of the candy shops that they use to frequent when they were younger. I don’t know why I have a memory for these kind of details…

Salted Caramel Fudge— yumyumyum!

Next stop is La Tour. Self proclaimed as the best restaurant in Vail, Colorado. Location is excellent, right at the heart of Vail. Menu is extensive and hip.

Enjoying our drink called The Remedy.
The Remedy — grey goose citrus vodka, st. germain elderflower liqueur and cranberry juice
Since octopus is “hip” now, the restaurant had it’s own take. Sizzling Octopus A La Plancha–with cumin almonds, charred scallion, water chestnuts, chile caribe aioli

We are so stuffed at this point but there was one more restaurant in the itinerary. Last but definitely not the least was AlpenRose Tea Room. This is a 30 year old German-Austrian pastry shop featuring home-made baked goods plus beer and wine.

Apple Strudel with home made vanilla ice cream on the side. It was served with home made gluwein. We also had bread pudding but had to box it up because there’s simply no room…

So that, in a nut shell, is the Vail Food Tour. It’s one of the most delightful food tours I’ve been to, and I would highly recommend it to those wanting to sample Vail food and culture. It is the priciest of all the food tours I’ve been to, but hey, Vail is not really synonymous to cheap… Plus, there really was a lot of food and drinks and the place is the most ideal to walk around due to so many sights to see. The 3 hours passed so quickly.

Before we knew it, it was getting dark. Beans texted that he is done and he still has both his legs. This day is a success!

On our way back, we saw these ice sculptures so we took this quick selfie before we literally froze our butts off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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