Skip to main content

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)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Five Guys Burgers and Fries ~ national chain : Colorado Springs, Colorado

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Colorado Springs - Interquest) First visit: Jan 2007 (Reston, VA) Locations: 49 states + DC. Only Alaska is missing. There are 30 in Colorado (4 in the Springs). That's +3 from last year. Texas has 68 (our former locale of Southlake is closed, so Hurst would have been the closest). There are 123 in California which is their largest state presence. The original Reston location that I first went to is still going.  In what appears to be a recurring theme, I state each year this will be my last visit to Five Guys. Only to return anyway. This year's excuse is I wanted to try their new location, which very recently opened up close to our house. This is definitely the closest we've ever lived to a Five Guys - even the Reston location was further from my office at the time. And I thought maybe it would make a good choice for a weekday lunch while working from home, thus putting Five Guys back into the rotation. I put that idea to the test here this Saturda...

Denver's Old School Italian Restaurants

I know, I know... I haven't posted anything in 6 months. You were checking back every week, then every month and now I've fallen completely off your radar. Sorry about that. My only lame excuse is that I've been "saving up" for a good one. I've been wanting to write about Denver's Italian restaurants since we returned part-time last year. And you all know how the RJG feels about this style of restaurant . As someone who grew up in Dallas, perhaps I've been more drawn to cities that embrace their history rather than completely demolish it. Only recently has Dallas become more acutely aware of their past. Previously, any buildings not in use have been razed as fast as possible, to make way for the next brand new shopping center - all in the latest architecture naturally. Contrarily you have cities like St. Louis that are 19th and 20th century industrial ghost towns - places frozen in time because for most everyone who could, they just up and left to ...

Pietro's Italian ~ Dallas, Texas ***CLOSED***

Last visit: Feb 2016 First visit: Sometime in 1984 When Mr. Music told me this earlier in the year, my heart sunk. It was reason enough to stop talking and writing about restaurants. All I can say is this: We did give you advance notice. The below was published on  March 28, 2010 , so Pietro gave you a good 7 years to check it out. If you missed it, then I'm sorry to say there is no replacement. No other place like it. A part of me went with it too... January 2014 update: Pietro's is as magnificent as ever. Mrs RJG and I just had another exquisite meal here. It remains my all-time favorite restaurant even after 30 years of going here. I beg and urge you all to try it at least once if you have a hankering for Old School Italian food. I'm sure it will not be here forever. Pietro must be close to 80 now, and it's hard to imagine the restaurant without him. We try to go 3 to 4 times a year, almost always on a Saturday or Sunday because of the traffic to get to inner Dalla...