If you still think breakfast is the same old-same old anywhere you go, think again. Jason and Kelly Landers, proprietors of the Creekside Cafe & Grill demonstrate otherwise.
There are a lot of good eats to be had in the Yampa Valley, but it will be hard to beat this charming 5-year-old restaurant. It’s off the main drag in Steamboat Springs, in the middle of a relatively quiet block hard by Soda Creek.
There’s still time before weather forces diners inside to snag a table on the spacious deck, and if your luck runs right, you’ll get one creekside.
There are a dozen versions of eggs Benedict and more than a dozen omelet permutations. Try the Goodman, a version made with turkey, melted Monterey Jack and avocado purée served on an English muffin and topped with homemade hollandaise sauce ($7.89)
French toast ($5.49 for plain, $6.49 with toppings) also features a version with multi- grain bread dredged in a house special cinnamon cream batter. Not hungry yet? The menu also includes pancakes and waffles with toppings to blow your mind, from the sedate (plain or with strawberry and whipped cream, $4.49 and $5.49 respectively), to the outrageous Waffelaughagus ($9.29), topped with sausage gravy, melted cheddar, sausage (or bacon or ham), two eggs and a side of fried potatoes. Presumably this is designed to fortify a skier for the day or fill a fullback for, say, two or three hours.
Buttermilk or whole wheat pancakes ($4.49) can be topped with caramelized bananas, strawberries, three-berry sauce, chocolate chips or blueberries (for $1 extra).
Along with these choices are croissants, home fries, grits, chile rellenos, all under $10. Steak and eggs ring in as the most expensive dish ($11.99).
Creekside serves soup, sandwich, salads and wraps for lunch, and there is no reason to suspect they would be any less wonderful than breakfast, but it is significant that, while breakfast is served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., breakfast fixings are offered a la carte, so you can still build your own.
Our harried server stopped long enough to say the restaurant is situated in the historic Soda Creek Building which dates to the 1900s. At one time or another over its varied history it housed a nightclub, bakery and a laundry on one side, with a dry cleaning shop on the other.
She then graciously excused herself to tend to another table. Since Creekside doesn’t accept reservations it’s best to relax and enjoy the water music provided by the cascading creek. Everything is cooked to order, and on Sundays, the place is packed. You can recognize the locals; they bring something to read until their name is called, unless they run into friends and neighbors.
The staff is pleasant and efficient, the prices are reasonable and the food is mighty fine and worth the wait.
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-820-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
Creekside Cafe & Grill
AMERICAN, BREAKFAST
131 11th St., Steamboat Springs, 970-879-4925|up to $11.99|Open daily, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. breakfast; 11:30-2 p.m. lunch; Discover, MC, Visa.
Front burner: Fresh food prepared to order; beautiful creekside patio.
Back burner: Long waits on busy mornings.
