Haven't found steakhouse meat that compares with Chamberlain's in Dallas or Gene & Georgettes in Chicago, up here. I haven't been to Elways at the Lodge in Vail, it might be good. Local places don't do the long, dry aging that makes great steaks. Mirabelle is good Belgium food updated to new American. I like the setting at Grouse better than Splendido. Also, David Wolford is no longer the chef/owner at Splendido...he was pushed out by the folks running the Chateau.

Everything they have tried to do at the Bachelor Gulch Ritz has been "kind of stop gap". Times I've been the place, it has no energy.

We have been back to Juniper in Edwards several times and seem to be very good now. If you can be sure of getting a table in the back, they are more comfortable. For fun and funky (not steaks) try the Rose in Edwards or French 75 wine bar.

If you are staying in the Beav and don't have a vehicle, then its some place in the Village. We had bad service and not good food at the Chophouse last spring. The locals hit the Coyote after skiing, its fun. Dial-a-ride (free van service) stays in the Beav. If they will take you to Vista in Arrowhead, that might work. Taking transportation to the Beav entrance, you can walk across the Eagle River to Box Car, still one of our go to places. I like the bar area better than the dining room. Northside in Avon would work well for a group, good prices, good food and kind of slow service.

LulusMom, a place that might work is stay in Crested Butte (Crusty Butt), which has 4 or 5 very good places to eat and some trail ride/ranch dinners. You can get all the hiking you want, maybe even a multi-day hike to Aspen and back. They claim to have discovered mountain biking, which is superb in all directions out of Town. As is road biking over Schofield Pass and Cottowood Pass (Crested Butte to Buena Vista). Both Passes were used in recent Pro Cycling Races. CB is a very cool town, its has done a better job of protecting its Western Heritage then any other High Rockies Towns.

We have lived in the Vail Valley for 15 years, the local saying is "I came for the Winter, but stayed for the summers". In the summer, lot's to do and good food, its only an hour over to the Roaring Fork Valley (Aspen Area).

But every year we do a bike, wine and food trip to Burgundy and Champagne (sometimes include Paris), All 3 activities seem to be more enjoyable in France to our crew. Last year we even skied Trois Valleys and the crew agreed everything in France was better with the exception the actual skiing.

OK, I'll try one more time. I've been in DC in August, it makes you sweat, yeah its really uncomfortable. But if you are not prepared for the desert in July and August, it can kill you. As for food, not a lot of choices between Denver/Boulder and the "Coast" with the exception of Spring Mountain in Vegas. I've read your posts on the France board and you really appreciate wonderful food, you won't find the same here in the American West. Lot's on individual places in each location, but not like a village in France. Look at "dude" ranches for place to hike and ride out of. Almost all road bicycle rides are on roads with traffic, but mountain bike rides and hikes have unbelievable views and will take you back in time.

The one place that is completely different than what you have seen anywhere else is Southern Utah and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, the good food and wine available in Utah is fairly limited to Salt Lake and the ski areas close by. Also, in June, July and August it can get very warm. Yellowstone in July and August approaches grid lock, however, you can find some good "out west" food in Cody at the east entrance.

If you are going to visit during the summer, try to plan to be above 5000 feet in elevation or it gets uncomfortably hot out here. We had lunch at Hell's Backbone Grill and it is really good, but the place is a long way from anywhere. Another option is Devils Thumb Ranch (http://www.devilsthumbranch.com/) not far from the west entrance to Rocky Mountain NP. The East entrance, Estes Park lack any good dining options.

Parn,
It is not just Paris, airb&b has taken a lot of "workforce" housing off the market here in the Vail Valley. Local governments are counter-acting with requiring business license and taxes, as well as inspections for safety equipment. The US West Coast Cities are enforcing new rules that let folks share accommodations, not set them aside for visitors.

The Chowhound play on this is the local restaurants can't figure out if the "shot term rental" folks are good for them. From observation, I know its good for the local food stores.

As for outdoor markets, Vail's is on Sunday mornings, its large and probably about 25% food, Minturn's is Saturday morning, large and some food. Avon and Edwards markets are also Saturday mornings, small and mostly food.

My go to places are now Boxcar in Avon or Mountain Standard in Vail. Both have al fresco, casual dining. Boxcar opens at 2pm and has just started a brunch on weekends. For lunch, really good sandwiches and salads at Eat/Drink in Edwards. Sweet Basil is still the tops for fine dining.

Thank you folks for letting us know about Chada. We tried to get into LoS last Sunday evening, but an hour wait, so off to Chada.

Wow, what a cool place with the best meal I've had in Vegas since Rosemarys. All 4 dishes we had were terrific, with Hor Mok my favorite. And we did a Mosel Riesling pairing with the food, inspite of my usual dislike of "sweet wines". Boy was I surprised how well it went together with the food. And we had professional and personalized service, a hard thing to pull off.

Thanks again for the heads up.

Not speaking French in Cote d'Or has never been a problem for us, but you need to open and close conversations with common French phrases. The guys who rent the bikes will have detailed maps and many suggestions for sites, meals and tastings.

Ouvert is French for Open. So if the shingle is hanging out, they "may" be open. Sometimes they just forget to take the sign down. The 2 Montrachet Villages, Puligny and Chassagne are next to each other. I have found that the producers in both Montrachets usually don't do drop in tastings. However, the Caveau in Puligny which the Path goes right by, has local wines by the glass. I'm told by locals that the best cellar tour is Château de Chassagne-Montrachet (http://www.chateaudechassagnemontrach...).

Most folks ride to Santenay, have lunch at the hostel (Germain Fabrice) or Le Terroir and ride back. Remember, if you aren't seated for lunch by 1:30 (not 2 as they claim) you may not get lunch.

Your Hotel will show you how to easily get to the well marked path through the vineyards.

Good decision, if you want to ride a bike through vineyards, the best marked bike route is from the southwest side of Beaune to Santenay and back. It takes you through Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, both Montrachets to Santenay. Nice reds and the great whites, but the ride is "killer", lot's of places to stop for lunch from reasonable (hostel on Santenay Square) to upscale (Le Montrachet)in Puligny.

Have the bike company deliver(also checkout http://www.bourgogne-randonnees.fr/1....) to your hotel, don't ride through central Beaune, the pavers (cobblestones) are difficult to navigate.

When it comes to visiting a producer, think about hitting one cellar and then doing "tastings". A cellar tour will take a couple of hours and a tasting only as long as you want. Riding a bike, after a couple, will take care of any residual tasting effect. When riding we stop at the ouvert signs along the way.

A couple of things to think about,the center of Beaune is very touristy, but still worth a couple of hours. That being said, I'd rather stay in a "wine village" than Beaune or Dijon; say Gevrey-Chambertin, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Meursault or (my favorite) Puligny-Montrachet. They all have "good" places for food and of course wine.

Of the choices of the tours you list, I like Mike McAndrew's (http://www.frenchwineroutes.com/). He has access to many small producers for tastings, plus he is very easy to "hang with". He lives in Cote d'Or and knows all the cool things about the culture, food and wine.

His blog: (http://pstruve-france2011.blogspot.co...) is very enjoyable to read and gives a wonderful sense of life in Burgundy. In the spirit of full disclosure, I post the "blog" for Mike.

BlueOx

The advice given so far is spot on. However, if I had two days, would take the RER to Melun, get a rental car from Europcar a couple blocks of the RER station. Then drive the two and half hours to either Nuit St. Georges or Puligny Montrachet and spend a couple of nights in a B&B (lot’s of great suggestions by searching this board). There are very good B&B’s in each town (some are table d'hôte). You could also do a drive-by on Château de Vaux le Vicomte on the way to or from. I find driving in France easier then in much of the US.

Do one day in Cote d’ Nuit and one in Cote d’ Beaune, maybe even Cote d‘ Chalonnaise. If it’s not during August or September there will be many ouvert (open) signs hanging out at smaller vignerons. If you want to do a full cellar tour, checkout some of the larger négociants. To me, after one cellar tour, I stick to just tastings. And peruse Bergman’s website http://www.bourgogne-info.eu/index.html. If you are there on Sunday, hit the Chagny Market, it is very “real”. By the way you can take the autoroute (France’s Interstate) from Nuit St Georges to Beaune South and miss almost Beaune completely.
Blue Ox