Woody Creek Tavern — Restaurant in Aspen

Let me begin by saying that I've been coming to Woody Creek Tavern with the same group of friends on and off for the past ten years, often for pitchers of CO beer and an unhealthy amount of soyrizo topped nachos. Unfortunately, those blissful and bloated days on the roaring fork have come to an end with the newly remodeled Woody Creek Tavern.

I'll get the good parts of this review out of the way first: they've done a nice job remodeling. Gone are the restrooms that make a dive bar's look like the Hotel Jerome, replaced instead by ones with rusted metal siding and a number of surprisingly risque 20's style photographs. #freethenipple indeed.

I'll also say that the food is a definite improvement. It's no greasy pile of soyrizo nachos, but there is a wider array of options, and they're general very flavorful and well cooked.

Lastly, they've gotten out of the Stone Age and accept credit cards (but not Bitcoin).

That said, the new Woody Creek Tavern can best be described as, "what someone thinks a restaurant for rich people looks like."

The menu has expanded from it's humble "Western saloon fare with the odd vegan option" to include oysters on the half shell ($4 each), Peruvian ceviche ($17), and lobster rolls (MP). I can only assume the copious seafood options are flown in daily on one of the many private jets parked at Atlantic Aviation. There are three different bottles of Pappy at the bar (I didn't even ask, but if they were $200 a pour I wouldn't be surprised) and Cristal ($705). Unfortunately, it seemed they'd spent all of their money on maintaining a wine list longer than the average CVS receipt, since their keg of 90 shilling had blown at some unspecified time prior to our arrival and had yet to be replaced.

Yet, under this veneer of opulence, a more miserly attitude prevails, one not present at the previous incarnation.

Unless specified, entrees aren't served with sides, each of which are $9 and are fit for between one half and two people. We got some fries that were... Basically like any other French fry? But with some chopped herbs? That didn't even stick to the fries? They were advertised by our server as able to feed the three of us, but the faux newspaper cone inserted into a julep cup (+10 fancy points, rich people love this) barely fed half that.

More stingily, when I asked for some lettuce and tomato on my burger, I was informed that, "LTOP is extra." After parsing the restaurant industry acronym, I was forced to reckon with the fact that my $19 bison burger with aged cheddar, caramelized onions, and mustard aioli didn't come standard with five cents of lettuce. I have since reviewed menus for a number of downtown Aspen restaurants and none of them charge for lettuce (unsurprisingly). Interestingly, the gentleman behind me ordered jalapeños for his burger and those didn't vocally have an explicit cost associated with them, so... ¯(ツ)/¯

When our server came back mid-meal to check in on our drinks, one friend asked if refills were complimentary (a necessary question after the $2 lettuce), to which our server responded affirmatively with, "it's nice to see some working class folks where that matters come in, we don't see too many of you." I still can't tell if he was serious or attempting to make fun of us.

I recognize that opening a restaurant is extremely difficult, especially now, and I don't mean for this review to make that any harder. I think there are plenty of folks who will love the new Woody Creek Tavern, and that's good for them! There were definitely a number of changes that had to happen that finally did. I also can imagine that neither food nor labor are cheap here, and know that prices will be higher than elsewhere.

That said, I also think that there are a group of people who went because you could get a good meal for a good price without needing to order overpriced champagne (Krug is better, don't @ me) and get nickle and dimed for standard things. Woody Creek Tavern wasn't trying to be "every other restaurant in Aspen", but now that it is, it just doesn't seem...

The Woody Creek Tavern is a famous bar and restaurant located near Aspen, Colorado. Best known to be frequented by the author Hunter S. Thompson, the Woody Creek Tavern is now visited by tourists and locals alike, and when I visited this past Thursday at 1.15pm, it was packed.

Parking is free across the street along the road, and there were TONS of bicycles parked in their bicycle parking area. In fact, many guests stop in for lunch during their bike ride, which is super cool.

There was a 15-minute wait for an inside table and a much longer wait for the sought-after patio. If you need to kill some time waiting, there is a store next door to the restaurant where you can peruse mountain apparel.

We decided to sit inside, which was bustling with families and guests crowded into the kitschy interior.

Service was fast and friendly, and the food was what you would expect for refined bar fare.

We began with chips and salsa and guacamole. Unfortunately, some of the tortilla chips were soggy with too much oil, and we had to ask for some more chips (which the server was very friendly about).

For our entrees, we had the Philly Cheesesteak, the Blue Cheese Burger and the Fried Chicken along with a side of fries.

The Philly Cheesesteak tasted just like the world-famous Pat's in Philadelphia, with the perfect melting together of cheese, meat and bread. The Blue Cheese burger was also very good, but I thought the blue cheese taste overwhelmed the taste of the burger, which is totally fine if you are a big fan of blue cheese. My fried chicken came with a breast and two small wings and was coated with local honey and a chili-style powder making it sweet and spicy.

Overall, I thought the vibe was fun and the food tasty, but I thought that the prices were a little steep for what it was (although it is Aspen, so I understand). Also, the fact that our appetizer was not great because of the tortilla chips is what makes me give Woody Creek Tavern 4 stars instead of 5.

All in all, if you are a big fan of divey-style bars with great history or are a fan of Hunter S. Thompson, you should definitely check out Woody Creek Tavern. Just don't expect a world-class dining experience, and you won't be...

Getting to Woody Creek Tavern is a trip. The road is not Independence Pass. But its twisty, turny. You cross a tiny bridge across the Roaring Fork River. But that's half the charm, right? Woody Creek is an elegant enclave deep in the mountains surrounding Aspen. The Wood Creek Tavern opened in 1980 so the neighbors didn't have to drive into town for a drink. One of the most famous neighbors was Hunter S. Thompson. He decamped at the Tavern most days. Well, the bar at the tavern. Today it's a favorite of mountain bikers. They are dozens of bikes parked across the street; they have their own parking space. The food has Aspen price tags but is outstanding. We ate a Philly cheese steak sandwich that was as good as anything we sampled in Philadelphia. (My son Austin lived there for years so we know this delicacy.) My favorite was the famed bison burger. It was as big as a, well, bison. A huge knife held the dill pickle in place. I needed the knife to cut the burger in two because my hands weren't large enough. Bison is just as tasty, juicy as beef but without the fat. I am now a convert. Don't miss the fried chicken. The skin has a honey spicy breading that gleams when the pieces arrive. This glaze locked in the juices because the breast was sweet and juicy. We started with guac and chips. Both are homemade right there. Yes, Wood Tavern bakes its own chips. Crispy and salty and multi-colored. The menu is limited but that was OK with us. The wine list was interesting. Some of the most famous champagnes are on the list. Not your usual bar food liquor but hey this is Aspen. The bar is always busy. It's worth the driving to visit the dining room. The decor is total Polaroid. (I remember those cameras. Do you younguns know what it is?) The walls are jammed with Polaroids of customers probably taken in the 1980s. We looked around our table and there was John Legend above my head. Parking is a challenge since there's not much room. I advise going early or late. If you are tired of the Aspen hauteur and want a great, down home meal in the mountains, buckle up and white knuckle it to Wood...