During our trip to Steamboat Springs earlier this year, the weather took a decidedly ugly turn from summer to winter in less than 24 hours. One day, it was sunny with temperatures in the low-80's. When we woke up the next morning, the wind was blowing hard with gusts close to 60 miles and hour, it was snowing and 33 degrees. Not wanting to have the breakfast at the hotel, my wife said she would rather go out. We happened upon a restaurant that we had noticed on our first visit to Steamboat Springs over two years ago that was walking distance from the hotel we stayed at back then. But the place was always packed. This morning, however, with the weather so bad - and only stupid people like us being out in the elements - there were only a handful of cars in the parking lot. We pulled into the parking lot at Freshies Restaurant to have breakfast.
Freshies has been around for 17 years when original owners Scott and Kristy Fox took over a building that was originally a Tastee Freez which had been converted into an Arby's on the south end of Steamboat Springs. The Fox's were already seasoned restaurateurs - they owned the popular Winona's Restaurant and Bakery in downtown Steamboat. The Fox's started the little breakfast and lunch spot in 1993 in a building that used to house a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. They named the restaurant after the wife of the building's owner at the time.
Winona's was a huge hit with locals and tourists with breakfasts and lunches made with locally-sourced foods and ingredients - long before it was fashionable to serve locally-grown foods. They also made a name for themselves for their giant cinnamon rolls garnering national attention from publications such as Bon Appetit magazine.
The small restaurant - which is still there - was always packed and the Fox's were looking to expand. They were sort of landlocked in downtown Steamboat, but a building on the south side of town had become available when the Arby's franchisee closed the restaurant down. The Fox's took over the building and renovated it into a new restaurant that took the locally-grown breakfast and lunch concept a step further. They hired a chef that had been trained by the Culinary Institute of America and had him come up with a dinner menu for the new restaurant. In the summer of 2003, Freshies opened for business.
The Fox's sold their interest in Winona's a year later and concentrated fully on Freshies. After a while, they decided that having a dinner menu wasn't all that lucrative in a growing field of restaurants that catered to evening dining in Steamboat and went back to what they did best - breakfast and lunch. Freshies underwent a full renovation in the fall of 2010 adding an outdoor patio and a new entry way that could accommodate people who were waiting for tables. (And when we were there two years ago, people were ALWAYS waiting for tables when we would go by the place on our morning walks.)
By 2019, the Fox's had been in the restaurant business for over 25 years and they decided they needed a break. They hired a broker to see if they could sell the business. The broker contacted some other restaurateurs in the area and business partners Seann Conway and Scott Buchler were immediately interested in Freshies. Conway and Buchler owned the popular Ore House at Pine Grove steakhouse, a restaurant that is housed in a barn which was originally built in the early 1900's and had been open since 1971. They viewed the opportunity to buy Freshie's as an extension of the Ore House with the same tradition of locally-sourced foods and friendly service both restaurants were known for. Conway and Buchler took over Freshies in October of last year.
It was an extreme shock to the system as we made our way to our car that morning. The 50 degree temperature drop was accompanied by snow (that didn't accumulate very much) and gusty winds. Due to the high winds that day, we had to dodge some birch trees that had fallen along Lincoln Avenue going into Steamboat Springs from our hotel on the outskirts of town. We pulled into Freshies around 9:30 after checking to see if they we open. (see map) We had never seen so few cars in their parking lot. But there weren't a lot of people out and around that day either. Not having a lot of cars in the parking lot allowed us to get a full look at the colorful mountain scene mural that's painted on the side of the building near the entrance.
We got inside just after another couple walked in. Due to social distancing guidelines for the pandemic, seating was limited to 50% of total capacity at Freshies. We had to wait while the first couple was seated and it was another five minutes before a table had opened and fully cleaned for us to sit down.
We were shown to a booth with a window that overlooked the outdoor patio and parking lot at Freshies. The dining room was a lively and well-lit space, but had kind of a homey feeling to it, as well. A bar area was upfront toward the kitchen and the walls were painted with bright pastels.
Our waitress that day was a fun and very friendly young lady by the name of Amanda. She came over with breakfast menus for us to look through. One thing that I was happy to find out was that they had liquor at Freshies! I was on vacation, I may as well go for it. I also found out they had espresso. I love a heavy duty espresso to get me going in the mornings.
I ordered a bloody mary, a Storm Peak Brewing Chowder New England hazy IPA and an espresso. Amanda was laughing at the combination. "I can't say that I've ever had anyone order those three things together before," she said laughingly.
My wife said in a somewhat disapproving manner, "Well, this isn't first time I've seen him order that before."
Amanda came back moments later and said, "I'm sorry, but we're out of the Storm Peak IPA." I said they probably didn't have the Butcherknife IPA either since that local microbrewery had been closed down due the coronavirus. "No, we're out of that, for sure," she said. I said that I didn't need a beer, I guess. My wife was somewhat relieved with that news.
But moments later, Amanda came back with a fresh squeezed orange juice and a coffee for my wife, the bloody mary and espresso, and she also had a can of the Chowder hazy IPA. "I found one," she said excitedly. "We had one left. Do you still want it?" Sure! I don't think my wife was happy that Amanda found the can, but she was resigned to the fact that I was going to enjoy my vacation day.
The bloody mary was very good. It had a zesty taste with a bit of a spicy bite on the back end. It was garnished with a dill pickle spear, green olives and a strip of bacon across the top. The Chowder hazy IPA - which I fell in love with on our visit out here and even smuggled some back home via UPS - was a great combination with the bloody mary. And the espresso zipped me up enough that I was buzzing the rest of the morning.
My wife, on the other hand, went head over heels for the coffee they had at Freshies. She asked Amanda what kind it was and she said it was from a local coffee roaster - Steamboat Coffee Company. My wife liked the coffee so much, we went to Steamboat Coffee afterward to check the place out. However, they don't sell their coffee over-the-counter retail, just mail order. But we were told they have many different varieties of their coffees at shops around Steamboat. It turned out that our hotel sold different flavors of the Steamboat Coffee Company 12 ounce bags at the front desk. My wife bought some to ship home with the beer and other things we had picked up on our trip to Steamboat.
The breakfast menu was pretty interesting. They had protein and vegetarian bowls, Mexican-style breakfasts, omelets and egg scrambles, pancakes, French toast, and specialty items such as smashed avocado on wheat toast with eggs any style, and European-style croque sandwich with garlic/basil eggs topped with white cheddar cheese in between sourdough bread. Of course, they had their famous cinnamon roll, but they were so big that we would have had to have two other people with us to help eat it. Vegetarian options were available, as well.
My wife went with one of the protein bowls they had at Freshies - the Popeye. It consisted of scrambled egg whites with spinach, diced green and red peppers, and green onions. Black beans came with the eggs along with avocado slices on a bed of greens. My wife took one look at the bowl and said, "Perfect!" She always tries to eat healthy a couple times a day. The Popeye protein bowl was right in her wheelhouse and she loved it.
One pass through the menu and I had already made up my mind. I got the Sedona Omelet - shredded beef with aged white cheddar cheese and avocado slices. What tripped my trigger on the breakfast was that it was all topped with pork green chili. And for my side I had a choice of home-fried potatoes or pork green chili grits. Well, of course I took the grits topped with pork green chili! My world stops for good pork green chili and what they had at Freshies was exceptional.
Actually, my whole breakfast was exceptional. The shredded beef had a bit of a spicy zip to the taste, and the combination of the chopped avocado with the white cheddar cheese was a great complement to the beef and eggs. The pork green chili just made it even better.
After driving or walking by Freshies on our visits to Steamboat Springs, we finally made it in. And we're glad we did because the food was great, the service was great, the atmosphere was homey, and they had beer, bloody mary's and espresso - a winning combination to start any breakfast with. My Sedona Omelet was simply outstanding in taste and preparation. My wife was thrilled with her Popeye protein bowl as something that tasted that good isn't supposed to be good for you. Freshies is an institution in Steamboat Springs and I would recommend a visit there for breakfast - even if you have to wait a while to get a table.
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