South Park Brewing ~ Colorado Springs, Colorado

First visit: Sep 2024

On this fine Sunday, Mrs. RJG and I decided to visit the local flea market for the first time. It wasn't really our kind of shopping, but we each found a few things to take home and/or resell. After a couple of hours of that and another local antique mall, it was time for lunch, right after the noon hour. There's a new brewery / brewpub in town that I wanted to try, and I was pleasantly surprised Mrs. RJG wanted to join me. The matter is settled.

South Park isn't really new, just new to us denizens of the Springs. They had been located in the small mountain town of Fairplay for about a decade. In talking with the owner, I had mentioned my desire to try them while passing through. But the timing was always wrong. Too early to drink and too far to drive on winding mountain roads. And she said that is what many told them, and thus the decision to move to a much larger and static thirsty populace. So they took over the old Smiling Toad Brewery (who retired last year and is also in this blog) just off the main drag in Old Colorado City. They did a very nice job of sprucing the place up, and adding a menu. As one of the waiters told another group "the food is legit". Cool, that's mighty praise in Hipster talk.

When first walking in, go to the stairs immediately to your left. They have indoor and outdoor seating and a full bar setup. After grabbing a couple of (delicious) beers we proceeded to order. I got the spicy chicken sandwich which is the Nashville Rub variety. Very flavorful, cooked perfectly and crispy. Nice soft bread that was lightly toasted. For the fries I asked for a spicy sauce. They gave me Buldak, a sauce from Korea which we hadn't tried before. More spicy than their Vietnamese Sriracha equivalent with a nice touch of sweet. Great back end heat. We'll have to order that. And yes, the fries were simple but great. Mrs. RJG went with the cheeseburger, known as a Butter Burger (Culver's?). Almost like a Freddy's style, flat with crispy edges. She loved it and even bemoaned that she didn't order a double! Mrs. RJG? You heard it here first, Mrs. RJG wanted a double hamburger. Who knew? Our waitress is the sweetest gal we've met in a long time. Very pretty too. There's hope after all for our youth. And I can't say enough how wonderful the owner was to us. What a nice and positive lady. And I'm sure her co-owner husband is the same, as he was super busy making sure everything ran smoothly.

We even bought a 4 pack on the way out. Yep, South Park won us over big time. Next level experience for us. Into the RJG rotation it goes along with Phantom Canyon for annual splurges.

---9/10/24 (new entry)