The Best Restaurants in Aspen, Colorado

Head to Element 47 for fine dining inside the reputable Little Nell hotel, but since this is Colorado, there’s no need to pull out your black-tie attire. Inside, the decor is sophisticated, and service is top of the line, accented by an award-winning wine program, with rare bottles on display in tall glass cases in the dining room. Serving Colorado contemporary cuisine, the restaurant emphasizes local ingredients, including wagyu beef and house-made pasta, on a seasonally changing menu. For the ultimate Element 47 experience, request a private cellar wine tasting with a customized menu and wine pairings.

The White House Tavern sits inside a stunning miner’s cottage – it’s one of Aspen’s oldest structures, built in the Carpenter Gothic style in 1883. Don’t let the name fool you because it’s more than a bar, although the alcohol menu is supreme, with local beer, wine and cocktails. The small, simple menu is reliably delicious, with excellent sandwiches, burgers and salads, such as the rotisserie chicken Macho Salad. Imbibers should try the Jackrabbit cocktail with tequila, Campari, fresh grapefruit juice and mint.

This small, intimate restaurant downtown feels like a European brasserie and offers a menu to match, featuring Mediterranean cuisine from France, Spain, Greece and Italy. Dishes include house-made pasta and clams, but fish is the Wild Fig’s specialty. Try the whole fish of the day – yes, a full fish, marinated in garlic and grilled to perfection. Alternatively, there’s the fish served in a bag, packed with tasty veggies and herbs.

If you’re looking for a unique dining experience, one that changes every few months, head to the St Regis Aspen Resort, home of the Chefs Club Aspen. Via a culinary residency program, this restaurant invites an ever-rotating list of top chefs from around the world to come together and work in the same kitchen. They bring their different backgrounds and talents to the town and work together under the leadership of executive chef Todd Slossberg. The food is always changing and always incredible. It’s no surprise Chefs Club has been named one of the best 100 restaurants in the country.

Wine connoisseurs, this French-American restaurant is for you. Cache Cache brings a massive wine list (more than 100 pages) to its upscale, sleek restaurant. It has earned a reputation since it opened in 1987 for serving up some of Aspen’s finest dishes, emphasizing local meat and in-season ingredients. Start your dinner with the likes of caviar and escargot, and choose from more than 6,000 bottles of wine to pair with your main dish, which may include Colorado rack of lamb or farm-fresh rotisserie meats.

Bosq, the vision of Aspen chef C Barclay Dodge, has to be on any list of the town’s best restaurants. Dodge’s travels around the world inspired its hip location – revered for its gorgeous patio with cozy couches – and menu, putting an international spin on Aspen flavors, such as sweet and sour eggplant or Szechuan steak tartare with sesame rice crackers. However, the most beloved menu item is the peking duck, served with pancakes. It’s available in limited quantities, so reserve it in advance.

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