Heading to Copper in Feb, wondering about the best bet for lunch on the mountain, also for dinner in the town area. OR should we head to Breck for dinner ( looking for famiy dining, but something with a local flavor!)

Lunch on the mountain or at base is the same for most ski resports. OK and touch expensive. Nothing stands out for lunch. Breck has more local flavor since it is old town. And there are some nice places in Frisco which you have to pass through on the way to Breck. I go there but don't pay a lot of attention to the exact names so I will see what I can dig out for you.

I've had a decent lunch at Solitude Station, at the top of the American Eagle lift.

It will mostly depend on where you're skiing. Solitude is at the top of American Eagle lift. Union Creek is at Union Creek Station and bottom of H lift. Jack's is at the bottom of the mountain and at American Flyer lift. T Rex Grill on the mountain( Union Creek area...Timberline Express lift) serves hamburgers al fresco. Fun if the weather is nice. All are much the same and expensive for what you get. However unless you bring your own sandwiches, it's the only alternative.

For dining at Cooper, the Alpenista Bistro is pretty good and there is a Mexican place ( Salsa Cantina ?) and CB Grille, although upscale, rivals anything at Breck or to some extent Vail. I've skied at Copper sometimes just to be able to dine there.

"ON" the mountain lunch establishments are rather limited at Copper. You have Solitude Station at the top of the American Eagle lift with it's indoor cafeteria. On weekends when it's nice outside, Solitude occasionally has an outdoor grill going with burgers and such. The T-Rex Grill at the base of the Timberline Express lift is also generally burgers & such, and is mainly an outdoor thing with some good rock & roll blasting from it's outdoor speakers. On weekends the Flyers Shack (between the tops of the American Flyer lift and the Timberline Express lift) serves some BBQ and soup selections...but as the name implies, it is basically just a slopeside shack with very limited seating if I remember correctly.

The selection of lunch establishments is much greater at the various BASE areas at Copper.

The large base area at "The Village at Copper" (the bottom of the American Eagle lift) offers the most varied selection, but nothing with what I would personally call a "local" flavor. The large outdoor deck at Jack's Slopeside Grill overlooking the base area here is a nice place to sit on a warm day and eat lunch while watching skiers & boarders coming down Bouncer & Main Vein or trying their hand in the Superpipe. But again, Jack's is kind of a cafeteria/burger place that on weekends will be very crowded at lunchtime.

At the Union Creek base area you have the "Union Creek food court" which is just basically a....... food court.

If you're looking for "Colorado" flavor to your lunchtime dining, the best place I can think of is probably over in the East Village base area at a place called JJ's Rocky Mountain Tavern - but again, nothing fancy. The East Village area is nice though in that it is usually the least crowded of the 3 base areas being as how the lift here serves only blue and black runs.