Big Horn Restaurant; Estes Park, Colorado

Say what you will about the often-labeled tourist trap of Estes Park, Colorado; but there is one thing there that is worth battling the over-crowded streets of the city: breakfast at  Big Horn Restaurant.

I'm speaking specifically about one dish in particular.

Huevos Rancheros.

It's very rare that I am impressed with restaurant food, particularly when traveling. I often find myself unimpressed with the restaurants that come highly recommended on sites like Trip Advisor or Lonely Planet. But when a local person recommends going to a cafe you know it is going to be good.

The strange part of this story is that I really don't care too much for breakfast food...I'm not a big egg and omelet kind of girl. So this dish totally took me by surprise and swept me off my knees.

Big Horn Restaurant is located on the western edge of Estes Park. From the exterior, it doesn't look like a fantastic place. It looks more like a place you would find in small town America that could go one of two ways:

1. Be a complete dive with really terrible food and service
2. Be a complete dive with really amazing food and great service

Thankfully, Big Horn is the latter of those two.

The inside has a very comfy country cafe feel from the decor to the mismatched coffee mugs.
I saw the description of the huevos rancheros and almost immediately fell in love: two eggs, refried beans, and pork chili verde poured over the top of a large flour tortilla, garnished by diced tomato and lettuce.

How could you NOT order that dish?

I rarely have "oh my god" food moments. But this was one of them. The flavor of this dish was out of this world. It was spicy, but not too spicy. The chili verde was chock-full of green chilies, providing that distinct, roasted flavor. I ordered the eggs scrambled, and they cooked them perfectly; not loose but definitely not overcooked (something that you think would be obvious, but you rarely find done right).

Probably the best feature of this dish is the way that the tortilla sops up the excess liquid from the chili, while the outer edges of the tortilla remain dry and ready to be torn off in small pieces to eat along with the rest of the dish.

I left the restaurant with the intention of coming back the following day to have the exact same dish again.

However, a few hours after I went to this restaurant, a wildfire broke out a mile or so down the road and spread about 20 acres. Quite a few places on that side of town were being evacuated and I assumed that Big Horn Restaurant would be closed down due to this. But they didn't even bat an eye, remaining open throughout the mass of panic that spread through town, mostly among tourists.

I was excited (and relieved for them) the following day to be able to come back to this wonderful establishment...this time with my camera equipment (having been previously taken off-guard by the quality of food they served). Sadly, I wasn't quick enough with my camera equipment to snap a photo or two of what I witnessed outside the restaurnt: a stampede of about 75 horses were being herded through the main street by police escort. They had had to evacuate the horses the day prior, due to fires, and were returning them to the ranch where they were from. That is definitely not a site you see every day. I ran outside when I saw it happening, they were at full gallop, a small handful of cowboys (swoon) on hand to keep them in check. It was truly an amazing and unique site. And sound! The clanking of that many hoofs on pavement was almost hypnotic!

But I digress...back to huevos rancheros.

As you can see, I was VERY excited to partake an another breakfast of huevos rancheros...a dish that will probably be ruined for me at every other restaurant for the rest of my life.

As I mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of Estes Park, but the surrounding areas just outside of the city provide beautiful scenery if you are more into the small-town local feel and less of the tourism scene. However, after going to Big Horn Restaurant, I now have an excuse to wander into town when I am in the area! 

Bon appetit!