Eating in Aspen
 

I don't mind spending good money on good food, but I hate spending good money on not-so-fantastic food. I've checked around and find that nice restaurants in Aspen tend to be on the very expensive side (it seems like you're paying more for the privilege of being in Aspen). Are any of them worth it? (Remember I'm coming from San Francisco, where good restaurants are not in short supply, so what I really want to know is, is it worth it compared to San Francisco to eat in the high-end Aspen restaurants. If it is, I'd appreciate recommendations. If it's not, I'd appreciate recommendations for "second-tier" places - we're just as happy eating at the bar at Outback or at the local great Italian place as we are eating great food in a beautiful restaurant. I'll be there 3 nights -- two of them just my husband and me, and the third with two of his friends (they'll all be staying the week, I'm coming home). Thanks.

Here's a link to a recent thread on this topic http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35089983. As you can see, I really like Jimmy's, the bar at the Hotel Jerome and Blue Maize. All of them are pretty casual but good food. You will need reservations at Jimmy's and they are also a good idea at Blue Maize. My husband is not a fan of the "chi-chi" high end places, so we usually stick to places like these. Enjoy Aspen - we've been there many times and love it!

Just a follow-up in case anyone else is interested!

I was in Aspen for 3 nights with my husband (1 night) and his two friends (2 nights) and the three of them then stayed and skiied for the week. Here are my.our thoughts:

Jimmy's - we liked it very much. We each had an appetizer (crab cakes for him, mussels for me), we shared what turned out to be a gigantic ribeye, and we also shared a dessert (apple tart). The food was very good, the service was excellent, the ambiance wonderful. Like all of Aspen, anything goes when it comes to dress -- from ski clothes, to totally done up and bejeweled. $115.00 for two, with shared entree, no wine. By the way, they did not charge us to split the entree, and served us separately, both with the side dishes. Nice touch.

Mezzaluna - good, not great, but a nice place. Relatively inexpensive (pizza - $14, pastas in the $15 range). $50.00 for two - pizza, pasta, salad.

Pacifica - excellent seafood and wine list. Very pleasant place. Nice to look at, nice people. If you exclude my whole Maine lobster, it came to about $85 a person, with one bottle of wine shared by 4 people.

They also ate at:

Kenichi - very good. Expensive for the type of food (Asian fusion?) $120 per person with a couple of bottles of wine shared by 3 people.

Pinion's - outstanding. $130 per person. My husband said the ribeye was even better than the one at Jimmy's. More elegant/upscale than the other restaurants (but they still didn't dress up).

In general, we found that prices at the higher-end Aspen retaurants are about 20% higher than comparable San Francisco restaurants.

I should have said (re Pacifica), exclude the "premium" for my Maine lobster, which was about $25 more than most entrees.

Glad you enjoyed Jimmy's - it's one of our favorites places. We've also heard good things about Pinion's so we'll have to try it next time.

The same group (excluding me) has eaten at Krabloonik before. You have to like game. It was a hit with two, less so for the third person in the group.