Courses Worth Savoring

Five public Front Range facilities prove that private clubs no longer have a monopoly on gourmet golf-course cuisine. 

 

The Ridge Bar & Grill at Castle Pines North

1414 Castle Pines Pkwy., Castle Pines

playtheridge.com or 303-688-4575 

Bedecked with wooden beams, stone accents, arched ceilings, natural sunlight and a fireplace-flanked sitting area that could grace the cover of a Ralph Lauren home furnishings catalogue, the restaurant at Castle Pines North achieves the ideal mix of affluent magnetism combined with down-to-earth friendliness. The globetrotting menu, a catchall of American, Mexican, Mediterranean, Italian and Cajun dishes, isn’t earth-shattering, but the roasted red pepper hummus, staggeringly large heap of nachos, chicken quesadilla lobbed with papaya, roasted red peppers and spring onions, and 100 percent Angus beef burger, stacked with all the required accoutrements, are standouts. And of all the public courses in and around Denver, none is as abundant with wildlife as this spray of green, where birds and butterflies co-exist with foxes and wild deer darting across the lush landscape—a scene that occurs often while whiling away the afternoon on the mood-elevating patio. 

 

The Grill at Legacy Ridge 

10801 Legacy Ridge Pkwy., Westminster

thegrillatlegacyridge.com; 303-438-8524

At the Grill at Legacy Ridge, the spacious patio, which sits on the first and ninth holes of the picturesque course, doesn’t just trumpet spectacular views of both Longs Peak and Long Scraggy Peak, but it’s also the perfect perch for breakfast, available every day until 4 p.m. Everything, from the Denver omelet puffed with onions, peppers, ham and cheese to the plate-spanning, fluffy pancakes plopped with fresh strawberries, is delicious, but the king of the breakfast glories is the Long Drive breakfast burrito, a seam-splitting bundle stuffed with sausage, scrambled eggs and crisp-fried potatoes crowned  with cheddar, tomatoes and a medium-thick green chile that packs a punch. The melodic hummingbirds whizzing by are an added bonus, not to mention a welcome distraction from the hackers. 

 

Honors Pub at Bear Dance

6630 Bear Dance Drive, Larkspur

beardancegolf.com; 303-996-1563

The dining room doubles as a forgettable banquet room far more conducive to weddings than to winding down after a long day of play, but the pub at Bear Dance cops a whole different attitude. Beautifully cozy and comfortable (love the rolling chairs), helmed by a fantastic bartender who infuses his own vodkas and proffering a killer menu from exec chef John Daly (yes, that’s his real name) that should get far more attention than it does, this is the kind of watering hole that every golf course wishes it had. It’s an untapped lair for foodniks who want to sample terrific dishes like Daly’s flatbread smeared with goat cheese and topped with duck confit, spiced walnuts, cranberries and baby spinach or his textbook perfect calamari, thin-crusted pizzas or slab of sesame-encrusted tuna, just seared and served with Thai-inspired vegetables, coconut sticky rice and wasabi cream.

 

Three Tomatoes Steakhouse & Club at Fossil Trace

3050 Illinois St., Golden

fossiltrace.com/Restaurant.html; 303-277-8755. 

The course, named for the fossil-rich limestone cliffs through which it weaves, is simply stunning, and the restaurant, Three Tomatoes Steakhouse & Club, proves that golf course restaurants don’t have to be relics. The elegant dining room, furbished with white tablecloths, light woods and leather lounge furniture bolstered by sidewalk-to-ceiling windows framing the contoured greens and pools of water that make for tough play, is lovely. And so is the food, a leaderboard of whimsical starters, like the grilled shrimp and guacamole assembled in a jumbo margarita glass; excellent, well-seasoned steaks (I highly recommend the flat iron and the bone-in rib-eye); pastas, seafood and salads, including a fantastic salade Niçoise. And the dino-bites—mini cheeseburgers wrapped in wax paper—are my new favorite snack.   

 

West Woods Bar and Grill

6655 Quaker St., Arvada 

westwoodsgolf.com; 720-898-7370

While the bar and grill at West Woods Golf Club wouldn’t have to do a whole lot to position itself as a major player in the restaurant backwater of Arvada, the kitchen more than makes the cut, turning out a gallery of Southwestern-inspired dishes that are anything but amateur. In fact, the table side guacamole, mashed in a deep molcajete, makes you wonder why you’d want to get it anywhere else. The housemade green chile, made with tomatillos and carnitas, could benefit from a jolt of heat, but the pozole, concocted with guajillo chiles, is powerful and piquant. Although the dining room is simple, the verdant views from the patio are anything but.