For visitors or locals with an appetite for great fare and a fun adventure, downtown Colorado Springs has just the right order for empty stomachs and eager taste buds – the Colorado Springs Food Tours.
Going strong since May, the food tours offer a variety of main dishes, drinks and desserts, along with interesting facts about the town. Tours are given weekly every Saturday morning and afternoon in Colorado Springs, and recently have expanded to Manitou Springs on Wednesdays.
Local tour guides and mother-daughter team Karen Kelley and Samantha Bruner have partnered with some of the best restaurateurs to provide top-quality menus. On each three-hour tour, foodies can enjoy hearty samplings from up to seven dining locations.
Because the groups are smaller, with no more than 12 participants, the tours also allow for a more personal experience – both with food, as well as each other. Not only do the tours introduce participants to specialty dishes and drinks, but they also offer the chance to get to know fellow foodies and allow the group to gain insider information about the restaurants and cooking techniques featured on the tour, straight from the owners themselves.
As a welcome gift, each participant also receives a reusable grocery bag that includes a bottle of water and lotion sample from one of the food tour retail partners, Hoity Toity.
Some of the pre-selected items on the menus include hand-tossed pizza, handcrafted Colorado Springs beer, barbecue pork and beef burnt ends, fresh Colorado wild game, Thai noodle salad, spicy peanut chicken satay, tapenades and spreads, grilled artichoke, blueberry cheesecake crepe, berry-infused martini, homemade Mexican cheesecake, award-winning margaritas, decadent chocolate truffles and local cheeses. And a food tour of Manitou Springs wouldn’t be complete without taking a sip of the natural mineral springs, also offered on the tour.
If You Go
The year-round tours in Colorado Springs are every Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., for $65 per person, and in Manitou Springs every Wednesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m., for $49 a person.
Each tour features different eateries and itineraries. Advance ticket purchase is required. For more information, go to coloradospringsfoodtours.com or call 719-322-5731.
Laura Hartgerink is a freelance writer who lives in Golden, Colorado.