The Hide-Away Restaurant & Lounge

We were staying in a cozy cabin in the snow fields of Grand Mesa. Not a lot of food choices here… unless you’re into pine needles and bark. In search of a hot meal for lunch we drove down the road to Thunder Mountain Lodge. To our joyous surprise a restaurant had just opened there about two weeks previous! Now out in the middle of the forest without a lot competition around (OK…Without any!) we weren’t expecting anything more than something warm and filling to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Well… Shazaam! This place was actually very good! So good that we returned for dinner that evening! (Yeah! Like we had any choice!) We had another great meal then, too! Here are the details:
The lunch menu featured burgers and hot dogs, but had a interesting variety of appetizers, hot and cold sandwiches, soups, salads and green chili stew. (I LOVE green chili stew!) We shared the chicken burrito smothered in green chili stew! (Actually it turned out to be a chicken and pork burrito because of the big chunks of pork in the green chili stew!) Good thing we were sharing the burrito! It was huge! It filled the whole plate! The green chili literally smothered the burrito and filled up any empty spots on the plate! There was a dollop of sour cream on top and it was sprinkled with cheese and tortilla chips. The chicken was real chicken, not the cubed processed chicken. It was moist and flavorful. It was delicious! We had been eyeing the homemade pie, but after cleaning our plates we had no room for even a wafer-​thin mint!
When we returned that evening we had the special slow-​roasted pork loin with steamed veggies and sauerkraut. It included soup or salad (surprisingly not iceberg lettuce!) and fresh baked herbed dinner rolls. Everything was delicious! This time was had saved room for dessert! We were planning on having pie, but we were talked into the warm-​out-​of-​the-​oven bread pudding with a butter-​bourbon sauce! (Now I’m not a big fan of bread pudding because it tends to be stodgy, dry and not have a lot of flavor.) This was some of the best bread pudding I have ever had! It was warm, moist and had a mother load vein of cinnamon running through it! What made it especially amazing was the warm butter-​bourbon sauce. Unfortunately we weren’t the only ones in the restaurant so we couldn’t lick our plates!
The woman (Patrice) running the restaurant has never owned or operated a restaurant before, but she seems to be doing the right things. She has a baker come in every day to fresh bake all the pies, breads, etc. She is very attentive to her patrons and strives to make sure everything is to their liking. She also serves generous portions!
Her small restaurant & lounge is located off the main road in Thunder Mountain Lodge. Inside the tables are situated by big windows that look out through the forest. A nice place to come for a good meal. This is not gourmet dining, but good, hearty home-​style cooking that should please most palates.
If you are visiting Grand Mesa (The largest mesa on the planet… At least that is what them claim!) this is well worth a visit. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.