Restaurant Review: Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs, Colorado

Rocky Mountain Pizza Set in an Old Mining Town

 

Picturesque Views and Delicious Food

 

I've been a little disconnected from blogging for a few weeks. We went on a road trip from Detroit Michigan (more specifically Royal Oak) to an ultimate destination of Utah. I say that broadly because we explored so many areas of that massive state and we also had many targeted stops both on the way there and on the way home. We did all of this in a Jeep Wrangler and it wasn't for the faint of heart.

One of the benefits of a road trip, as opposed to flying, was getting to try new restaurants along the way. We always have a goal of hitting at least one of the joints featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives but often this can be challenging with timing and traffic. We had an app this time called TV Food Maps which was really helpful but because we were out so far west our phones and internet were often unavailable to use this as a reference. There was also the consideration that our Jeep was not really the most secure vehicle to leave with all our items in it for long periods of time so often restaurants had to be picked on how close we could park and what our vantage point would be from our table.

We had stopped in Denver first as there was a slew of restaurants to choose from that had been visited by Guy Fieri but it just wouldn't work. . . There was a lot of traffic due to a baseball game the streets were teeming with people. We couldn't find secure parking easily so we decided to continue to head west. The app told us about a restaurant specializing in Colorado called Beau Jo's. I wasn't exactly thrilled by the notion of pizza. We have a ton of pizza places locally including our own Detroit version with Buddy's and Loui's Deep Dish and Chicago interpretations with Uno and Pizzapapalis. What could Colorado truly offer?

The whole town was a lot of fun, set in the mountains. The decor and the whole town played to the tourist's notion of an old abandoned mining town. There were plenty of the typical tourist traps with places to buy t-shirts (I may have bought a few especially since Jeeps were featured), postcards and bumper stickers. The restaurant itself showcased mining history, sometimes a little tucked out of obvious sight as you can see from this man that was down a little shaft that caught your eye if you were at the right angle.

While pizza is obviously the mainstay here, there were plenty of other items on their extensive menu, including cocktails. I chose a Mountain Sunset, which featured Amaretto, Vanilla Vodka, and banana liquor with a little bit of orange juice. At this time it was raining and this really did brighten up my day.

There were also plenty of appetizers to choose from but we started with Honey Cheese Bread. It started with the pizza dough as a base, with Rocky Mountain Honey and cheddar cheese. Definitely worth the extra calories. You might ask how we could do this AND pizza but it wasn't a problem.

Well they offered up this pizza and it was good. That kind of sounds biblical. . . Beau Jo's Mountain Pie pizza is thick dough that they describe as a deep dish but it's nothing like a Chicago or Detroit style. It's round and it's thick but it's more of a bowl to hold in the goodness of the fillings. We tried two different combinations, both with the standard honey white crust. One was a traditional pepperoni because that's how some of us in the family are but the other was chicken, mushrooms and pineapple and Alfredo sauce. The people there dip their crust in pure Colorado honey and that was good too! Pizzas take a little while to make but they are worth it.

We also did dessert. . . With the drive ahead and the time we had already spent in the car, stalling was probably a motivation. . . But we ordered two. The first was a cobbler, again with a pie dough base (lots of carbs that day) basted with butter and topped with cherry  pie filling and a sweetened rolled oats topping. The cookies, baked on a pizza stone were really very good, with that salty taste that resembled homemade.

This restaurant did not disappoint. This pizza was very different and worthy of a road trip destination. I would definitely visit again if we end up in Colorado. They have several locations in their chain but this definitely would be the one to visit for the ambiance of the small mining town.