Tennessee Pass Cookhouse

Let me just say what an amazing night I had venturing to the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse for my mom’s birthday dinner. Everything about it was wonderful.
Half of my group went with snowshoes, half went with cross country skis. Despite it being very cold that night and the route mostly up hill, it was a great trek through the woods to the cookhouse a mile out. The cookhouse was surprisingly cozy and warm. It was also very intimate, with only about 10 tables available for dining.
Everything on the menu sounded delicious (you place your order in advance). Half of us went with the elk medallions and the other two had the stuffed pheasant and vegetarian dish (baked risotto cakes). Every one of us licked our plates clean the food was that good. I had low expectations because their cooking resources are a bit limited in a remote yurt that acted as their gourmet kitchen. Other courses were really good two and included an appetizer platter with various bites (fruit, boar sausage, crustinis, mozzarella-​tomato skewers), soup or salad, and strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. I wasn’t going to have dessert because I don’t normally like pie and I was so full, but I actually ate most of it it was that good.
For drinks, there’s a nice selection of wines, craft beers and specialty cocktails. Oddly, however, they didn’t have a simple spirit like vodka. It seemed they had other randoms spirits, but not the basic vodka.
Although the route back was mostly downhill, it was a bit difficult on a full stomach and two bottles of wine. Not ideal but good to burn off some of the calories, I suppose.
Even though we had one of the most spectacular experiences, I subtracted a star due to the service that left something to be desired. When we checked in, no one showed us where to go or helped us get set up with skis (it was my first time!). Because of that, our three pairs of skis did not get matched up with the proper users: I ended up with my tall brother-in-law’s poles and my short sister’s skis. We had to stop halfway and trade so we were equipped appropriately. And when we walked in the yurt, no one greeted us or showed us where to sit. We just saw a table that looked big enough and sat at it. Our waiter was very friendly, but we just didn’t see him a lot. There weren’t many tables to wait on and there was plenty of other staff, so I was just surprised that service wasn’t better.
Regardless, I’d definitely go back. And all-​in-​all it was an amazing time that I’ll definitely remember and recommend to anyone.

We had a great dinner, stuffed rainbow trout with asparagus and strawberry-​rhubarb pie. Beautiful views and great staff. Can’t wait to get back and stay in the yurts, looks like fun.

A truly amazing experience. Treat yourself to the Cookhouse and stay in an overnight yurt. Amazing sunsets over the big mountains off the west facing deck of the Cookhouse. Gourmet 4 course meal and great wine list. Friendly, helpful staff. Walk up in the wildflowers in the summer or cross country ski up in the winter. Leave your phone in the car and get ready for an evening you will not soon forget!

Trekking a little over a mile in snowshoes in the middle of a whiteout blizzard in the dark (headlights) w/​temps in teens only to have the clouds float the flakes away revealing God’s beautiful sky full of bright stars and a sliver of a moon shining on us was a 15 star experience!!! Finally reaching the warm cozy and very comfortable yurt for a lovely dinner was another 15 star experience. The chef prepared plates w/​a choice of chicken elk lamb salmon or veggie was oohhhh and awhhhhhdddd by all. My fav was the delicious apps, and rhubarb pie!!! The servers were true servers — not minding we (22 of us) were late for dinner do to the major blizzard causing several to miss the ski cooper turn-​off and drive all the way to climax!!! Wonderful CO adventure!!!

Long story short: my wife and I stayed with some friends in one of the yurts overnight. We loved it.
Our dinner at the Cookhouse though: meh.
Just so you know: you place your order a week or so in advance because the Cookhouse doesn’t have much room to store food for an a la carte style menu. That’s fine. Charming, even. But knowing exactly what everyone has ordered ahead of time means that your game should be on, especially at $ 85/​person. A captive audience eating inside a fancy tent in the woods a mile from the nearest parking lot doesn’t mean that you can cut corners. Even though there is no internet access, we humans have memories and will internet later if we are even slightly smoted.
You ski, snowshoe or hike in to the Cookhouse. That’s pretty cool. In a non-​hunter/​gatherer society this is about as close as we get to working for our meals anymore. I am okay with that.
The Cookhouse yurt is charming and the dining area is well-​heated in the height of winter by a beast of a pot-​belly wood burning oven. There is one seating at six pm and the room filled up with about 30 people. Only a two top was left unpeopled.

We ordered a bottle of Malbec wine and it was subpar. One dimensional and dull.
First course was a shared app plate with enough fig crostini, sliced sausage, fruit and a corn-​niblet sized piece of cheese for all of of us. Presentation was amateurish and crowded the plate. (Please don’t slice strawberries like that and batonnet a pineapple and think that it is interesting.)
Second course was a choice of tortilla soup (which seemed terribly out of place with regard to the rest of the somewhat American menu) or an arugula/​kale/​candied pecan/​goat cheese with maple-​something vinaigrette salad. I was sad/​bored when I then saw the described salad being delivered to another table on a comically undersized plate while our server asked me for my choice so I ordered the soup hoping for less boredom. Turns out I would be bored either way. My tortilla soup came in a diner-​type bowl and didn’t even have the decency to have a garnish of crushed tortilla chips or cilantro or some bullshit Mexi-​crema squeeze-​bottled over the top. It didn’t taste like it had any tortilla in it, but otherwise, the flavor was pretty good
Third course. There is only one vegetable side for all the entrees: sauteed baby carrots and haricots verts. The haricots verts had been under par-​boiled before service so that they weren’t texturally correct after being sauteed. To the chef’s credit, though, much effort had been spent making sure that each carrot was separated from each bean on the plate, boy-​girl-​boy-​girl fashion.
If you ordered lamb chops, it came with mashed potatoes.
If you ordered elk, you got mashed potatoes, too.
If you ordered salmon, you got a rice blend.
Temps were right on around the table, but the extruded collagen on the salmon had not been thoughtfully removed. The whatever-​berries that came with the elk were not incorporated into the sauce. It wasn’t even a sauce, really, just berries macerated with wine (maybe?) and a mild sweetener, then heated and placed next to the elk slices and allowed to thinly and unattractively juice all over the plate. The lamb… the lamb was pretty good, but not very lamby in flavor. That’s not the chef’s fault, though.
Fourth course: Strawberry-​rhubard pie. Excellent execution on this. Flaky crust with a properly sweet, slightly tart filling and a piping of correctly sweetened whipped cream. Clean plate club for all of us on this course, unlike all the others. A pedestrian but well made dessert that shined above all the other phony nonsense we were served.
Overall: not too great. I would stay in the yurt again, but I’ll skip the Cookhouse. The cooks/​chef need a course in plate presentation and continuity. These are teachable things but if you can’t do fancy, don’t charge fancy prices. I know you have to snow mobile everything in, but that’s not a justifiable excuse for the prices. Your food cost should hover around 30% not 20%. (You know what I’m talking about here, chef.)
Chef: If your boss is making you charge these prices, then continue to do the best you can. I can see and taste that you have some solid skills but that you just need some focusing. For the interim, just think about each meal as a whole rather than a series of unrelated courses.
Boss: I know that you are booked every night and that’s a good thing for your bottom line, but you won’t be filling those seats forever if you keep this up. Your restaurant is in the woods, for crissake. Keep it woodsy, simple, clean and smart. If you do that you won’t go wrong.

Went here Jan 2015, a few work friends and I booked dinner and stayed overnight in a ski yurt. The cookhouse yurt is awesome and has amazing views.
You are given the menu when you book the dinner and order in advance. It is $ 85 a person and doesn’t include any booze, tax, or tip. Very expensive.
Pros:
The food. First you get a small appetizer platter to share, and choice between salad or soup. They had an African Sweet Potatoes soup when I was there and it was amazing. Then you are given your main dish which you chose in advance. I had the Colorado Rack of Lamb which was incredible. Really A++. Dessert was some type of pie.
So you get a 4-​course meal for $ 85. Mine came out to $ 102 after just tax and tip. Pretty damn expensive but maybe worth it for a special occasion.
Cons:
The service. We got there about 15min early for a 6:00PM dinner. We got our appetizer around 6:45PM, our Soup around 7:30PM, our main dish around 8:30PM, and dessert around 9:15PM. After begging our waitress to bring us our check right away we left at 9:30. After all that we spent about 4 hours in a hot and steamy yurt with 20+ other people and ate our meal at a snails pace. I’m all about enjoying each others company but not for 4 hours. Maybe 2 or 3.
Anyway overall, the food was great, but service was meh. Not likely to dine again.

My girlfriend had seen the Cookhouse on a trip to Ski Cooper and had been dying to try it out. She has a thing for yurts… go figure. It was her birthday last weekend so I made a reservation for dinner and also for a night in one of the sleep yurts. I was a little reluctant based on the price, but sometimes you’ve gotta spend some cash to make the girlfriend happy!
We arrived to check in and were immediately impressed with the friendliness of the staff. And not the forced/​fake kind… these people seemed seriously happy to be helping us! This genuinely friendliness continued throughout our stay, from check-​in, to dinner, to the people that hauled our bags to the yurt, to the owners who helped us pick out handmade mugs at the end of our trip. I don’t usually buy souvenirs, but the mugs were really cool and I wanted to remember this place!
The XC skiing was great, with well groomed and marked trails and incredible views. The yurt was perfect, with a nice warm fire burning when we arrived and super comfy bedding to stay toasty at night. Seriously, we’re now researching the purchase of our own yurt, that’s the effect this place had on us! And the dinner was incredible. Everyone (staff and guests) were happy and enjoying the sunset and the atmosphere. We both had grilled elk tenderloin, which was delicious, and neither of us was hungry until about 5PM the next afternoon, despite the 6+ miles of skiing.
After we checked out and started to drive home, my girlfriend couldn’t stop talking about how great the weekend was. She even threw around the phrase «best birthday weekend ever»… SCORE!!! So in the end, even though this wasn’t a cheap experience, it was well worth it, and we’ll be back for more yurt adventures and skiing.

Really really great. I went up with my wife and our 12 year old son. We showshoed and laughed the whole time. The food was great and the people who worked there are «boss» as our son would say.

After researching available restaurants near Leadville, we HAD to go here, and I am so glad we did! Great 1 mile hike (wear good shoes and take layers). About a 300 ft climb, but felt like more since we live at lower elevation. Beautiful views, clean outhouse, and very unique. We walked back in the dark and it was drizzling, but we were prepared, so it was fun :) They provide miners lights, so that was a highlight for my kids. I was not quite prepared for the total price, tho, so just know what you are getting into. After dinner for 2 adults, a bottle of wine, and tip, it was $ 240. Pretty pricey, but so worth it! Aps outside while the weather was still great, salad & dinner by sunset then dessert by candlelight.
So now, about that food… oh the food… EVERYTHING was amazing, but my favorite was by far the elk tenderloin, it melted in your mouth. The service was outstanding! Very friendly, on top of anything you need before you asked for it. Highly recommend this!

I don’t think I can say amazing enough. This dining experience is truly unique. I chose to hike to the yurt on a beautiful trail that lead to an open clearing where the yurt was nestled on the edge of the forest. The views of the continental divide and neighboring valleys are mouth-​dropping. Gorgeous sunset! I chose to have the elk tenderloin and the flavor was better than any beef I have ever had. For summer you can hike or get a ride and in winter you can cross-​country ski, snowshoe, or snowmobile in. This venue is a must see/​do.

Went here for a dinner in the winter of ’09. It was and continues to be the best dining experience I’ve ever enjoyed. Over a year later I still fondly recall each course and every detail. Dinner is $ 75 per person, this doesn’t include tip or drinks. Most expensive meal I’ve ever had, but it was well worth every penny!
I made the reservation a week ahead, at the time of the reservation I put in our orders. We parked in the Ski Cooper parking lot and checked in the Nordic Center. There we had the choice of snow shoes or cross country skis (rental fee is included in the dinner price tag). My boyfriend and I chose skis and enjoyed the 1 mile adventure to the cookhouse yurt. It was a gentle incline, after being in Colorado for the ski season I fared well. However, my boyfriend from Minnesota, struggled a little bit due to the elevation. When we arrived to the deck outside the yurt, we enjoyed the sunset over the rocky mountain horizon with a glass of wine. We snapped a couple of pictures and soaked in the setting.
After the sunset the yurt doors were opened to guests. The ambiance was romantic, rustic, and charming. They said they can seat up to 30 guests, but I would say there were maybe 15 – 20 people at the most. There was a cheese and fruit plate appetizer and salad. My boyfriend ordered the rack of lamb and I got the Elk tenderloin, we shared our entrees and both were AMAZING. For dessert we had a simple yet wonderful slice of apple pie. We were warm, fuzzy, and full at the end of the meal until we remembered we still had to ski back down to the nordic center. The waitress gave us a quick how-​to-​stop lesson and then off we went on our skinny skis and head lamps illuminating against the starry sky. We laughed and enjoyed the ride down (even though we ended up taking our skis off half way down).
I’m grinning with recalling this memorable dinner adventure, I HIGHLY recommend! I would encourage couples to arrive early in order to take advantage of the skiing/​snowshoes/​hiking and the deck before dinner.

Are you kidding me? First I get a gorgeous hike, then I get wonderful food with local ingredients, and on top of that I get to eat in a YURT??? Heck yes, sign me up.
Tennessee Pass Cookhouse is legit, people. And it’s awesome. We had the absolute best time here. I mean, it’s a yurt. On top of a mountain. How many times will you have THAT experience in your lifetime? Go here if you are anywhere NEAR Leadville.
The atmosphere is wonderful. It’s like stepping back in time — a pot-​bellied stove heats the room, the tables are rustic wood, light comes from candles. Rows and rows of pottery mugs line the walls, each one with a primitive line painting of the cookhouse. Treat yourself to one; it is a fantastic souvenir. I use mine at work so when I make my coffee each morning I’m reminded of the great meal and experience I had at Tenneessee Pass!
You might think that TP is all about the experience, and the yurt (the yurt !), and that the food might not be all that. It is. It’s all local — elk, Colorado lamb, salmon. It’s prepared wonderfully, seasoned perfectly, and creative. So, so happy to have heard about this place and to have been able to enjoy some time here.
Oh, some things to know: if you can’t do the hike, they’ll take you up by vehicle. You must make reservations ahead of time, and give them your meal selection when you do. There is only one seating per day. AND IT’S A YURT!

What a great experience! The hike up to the cookhouse was beautiful at sunset and the food was excellent! I reAlly enjoyed my experience here…

Drive 20 – 30 minutes from I-​70 to Tennessee Pass, grab a coffee at the Nordic Center, then hike a mile or so to a small Yurt style restaurant. My brother and I surprised our parents for their birthday, it was one of my favorite dinners of all time with the family. Make sure to bring a camera to take pix before dinner… incredible views. I also recommend a down jacket, hat, and gloves… the walk after dinner is crisp and enjoyable if you have the right gear on.