What was once old, is new again. New owners are breathing new life into the iconic El Rancho Colorado restaurant in Evergreen.
“We get all kinds of stories about folks that are very happy to have the place back open again, this was from folks from Genesee down the hill through Evergreen down to Idaho Springs, we’ve had people that have been coming here for 50 years,” said Bob Vincent, who’s the buildings co-owner.
The restaurant is a true family owned and run spot. Bob Vincent and his wife bought the place and brought his brother out from California to run the kitchen. However, today’s version is a more casual version of it’s past.
“Back in the day it used to be the white table clothes, you come in with your coat and tie on and since we’re a brew pub, it’s more casual,” said Vincent.
The dining room and bar was updated, the former hotel upstairs has been turned into office space and the basement that was destroyed by flood waters is now banquet space. Perhaps the biggest difference now, is the brew house that takes up the old guest shop area.
“It’s neat to kind of have an old building and an old iconic restaurant and kind of a new thing, kind of a new industry with micro brewing here in Colorado and include one here into this space,” said Barn Nielson, who’s a brew master at El Rancho Brewing Company.
The dining room is slowly filling up with locals and ski traffic. Vincent says renovating and re-opening the restaurant is their way of giving back to the area.